Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1890 — THRIFTY COTTON MILLS. [ARTICLE]

THRIFTY COTTON MILLS.

A CASE WHERE PROTECTION FOSTERS A “ COMBINE.” Th« Great Profits of the Fall River, Mass., Cotton-Weavers—Duties Needlessly High —Cheaper Cotton but Not Cheaper Cloth. aud Wages Are Going Lower. Tne cotton mills of Fall River, Mass., have had their annual meeting, and the yearly report of earnings and dividends have been made public. These mills have been complaining of dull times, and they shut down for a short time in September in ordef that the stocks on hand might be worked off without necessitating a reduction of prices. Besides this, the manufacturers of that city are in a “combine” to prevent the sale of 64x64 plain cotton cloth for printing calicoes at less than 3 5-16 cents a yard. They have kept up this price notwithstanding the fact that cotton is nearly 8 cents per pound lowor than last summer. The capacity of these mills to more than meet the wants of the market may be seenby the fact that they are not infrequently shut down in order to prevent a decline in prices owing to a glutted market. They now have on hand 858,000 pieces of printing cloths, against 249,000 at the same time in 1889 and 68,000 in 1888. With these enormous stocks on hand, these manufacturers form combinations to keep up prices, in 9pite of the great decline in the price of cotton. The annual reports of the mills contain some information of much interest to the public in view of the facts just stated. The dividends as declared and the additional earnings laid by as a surplus, or put into improvements, are given in the reports. In order to simplify matters, let us take the actual earnings of a few of these mills, rather than the dividends as paid out, and sea what per cent, of the capital this will give. The Stafford mills have a capital of SBOO,OOO, and the net earnings for tho year ending Sept. 30 were $122,000, which is equivalent to 14% per cent, on tho capital. The Narragansett mills earned $61,000 net on a capital of $400,000, equal to 15%' per cent, on the capital. The Hargraves mill earned $63,000 net on a capital of $400,000, or nearly 16 per cent The net earnings of the King'Phillp mills were SIBI,OOO on a capital 0f51,000,000, or over 18 per cent. The Union mills made net earnings of 16 per cent., the Bourne mills declared a dividend of 12 per cent., the Tecumseh mills 14, and the Granite mills 19 per cent. Any.ono who will turn to the new tariff law will find that the cloth on which these prosperous manufacturers have combined to keep up tho price to 3 5-16 cents is taxed at 2% cents per square yard, or more than 64 per cent, ad valorem of the artificially high figure maintained by the Fall River manufacturers. Do the people of this country believe that this is a case where the McKinley duty is either needed or deserved by the manufacturers? The duty in this case is not merely protective, it is prohibitory, and the Fall River combination simply takes advantage of the favorable conditions which tho tariff creates for their benefit. There is only one remedy for a combination of this kind —let the people see to it that these trust duties are either lowered or abolished, in order that foreign competition may undermine the combination. So long as the people elect Senators like Sherman who will vote for the highest protective duties and then stand up in the Senate and warn tho muanufacturcrs not to takes advantage of the situation thus created, so long may the people expect to foot the bills which make these enormous trust profits possible. It is idle to say in answer to all this, as the protectionists do. that tho price of cotton cloth is much lower now than it was before the war. Of course it is lower; the numerous inventions in cotton spinning and weaving were bound to lower prices. The real question is whether our manufacturers should now be allowed prohibitory duties which enable them to keep up trust prices. These duties are certainly not needed on the score of labor, for labor In cottonspinning and weaving is actually cheaper in Massachusetts than In England, and still cheaper than on the continent of Europe. The daily wages are slightly higher with us than in England, but the wages paid by the piece are decidedly lower. An operative In a Massachusetts mill spins or weaves so much more in a day than tho English operative that the percentage of labor cost in the finished product is less with us than in England or in any other country. Notwithstanding this lower cost of labor, cheaper cotton, and great dividends, tho tendency in American mills i 3 toward lower wages. The facts already given as to the large earnings of the Fall River mills are taken mainly from an article in the New York Dry Goods Economist. In a column adjoining that article is the following news item: “The cotton weavers in Lonsdale, R. 1., have received a notice of a cut-down. They were getting 53 cents on a fiftyyard long cut, but they are to run a finer grade of goods, with five yards additional on the length, and will receive but 38 cents a cut Tho Valley Falls and Ashton weavers’ wages have been reduced about as much. ”