Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1891 — TAXING AN INDUSTRY. [ARTICLE]

TAXING AN INDUSTRY.

THE PIANO MAKERS AND THEIR BURDENS. flow McKinley Taxed a Flou.-lslilnjj Ini dustry—Greed of tbe Makers of Keys, , Strings, Fins, Felt and Actions—How These Men Frey Upon the Piano Makers. Pianos were first manufactured in this country nearly one hundred years ago. The industry has grown rapidly, the production last year being double what it was ten years ago. Last year we made about 72,000 pianos, and it is estimated that since 1820 we have made 1,210,000. It is estimated that we now lave 200 factories engaged in turning out pianos or parts used in them —such as keys, wires, actions, etc. The estimated capital of these factories is SI ,- 000,000, employing 10,000 workmen at wages of ® 6, 500,000 a year, using $9,000,000 worth of material, and turning out a product worth $18,00),ooa New York alone has about two thirds of the factories, Massachusetts ranking next. McKinley’s dealing with the piano industry affords an excellent example of liow protection to minor industries may become very burdensome to more important industries. Our piano makers are so successful that they care nothing for protection for themselves; but they have a just grievance against McKinley for the great increase of duty which he placed upon the parts of pianos which are bought ready-made by many of the manufacturers. Such parts are the ivory keys, the wire used in making strings, the tuning pins to which the strings are fastened, the felt used in making hammers, and the actions which transmit the strokes of the fingers to the strings. There are only three establishments in this country engaged in making ivory piano keys, These establishments import their elephants’ tusks free of -duty. Under the oid law the duty on piano keys was 30 per cent. McKinley raised the duty to 40 per cent., and already it is said that a set of keys costs the piano manufacturer one dollar more than last year. The wire used in making piano strings is made almost entirely by Washburn & Moen, of Worcester, Mass. By one of the familiar tariff tricks, the McKinleyites made it appear that they had reduced the duty on piano wire from 3% cents a pound to 2% cents on one size, and had made no change on the other «ize. But at the end of the wire schedules a paragraph was added placing a -duty of 45 per cent, on all iron ana steel wire worth more than four cents a pound. Now piano wire is worth from thirty to forty cents a pound abroad. Thus the -old rates of duty, equal to an ad valorem of 11 per cent on smaller wire and 14 on the larger sizes give place to a 45 -cent, rate, which means increasing the rates over 300 per cent, on the finer and over 200 on the coarser wire. Where the piano manufacturers paid 2% cents a pound duty under the old law they now pay over 8 cents, and where they paid 3 cents they now pay over 12 cents. These higher duties were at once taken advantage of by the dealers. Ju s t as soon as the McKinley *jw went into effect they changed their lists, and wire which had been sold to the piano manufacturers at 50 cents per pound was advanced to 70 cents. The firm of Washburn & Moen, the principal beneficiaries •of the increased duties, were the moving spirits in the recent organization of the barbed-wire trust, they holding valuable patents which gave them a monopoly before the trust was formed. It is currently reported in the piano trade in New York that a large sum of money was corruptly used to secure the advance of duties on music wire.

Tuning pins bore a duty of 25 per cent, under the old law. Although they have never been manufactured in America, this duty did not satisfy the McKinleyites. The makers of piano actions came forward with a loud demand that the duty on “actions and • parts of” bo fixed at 50 per cent. These men did not make tuning pins, but in drawing up their paragraph they made thb language so sweeping as to include everything used in piano making. McKinley gave these men 40 per cent protection, but the Senate struck out the paragraph and tuning pins were made dutiable at 45 per cent. Immediately After the duty was increased the price of tuning pins was raised from ’#3.40 per thousand to 53.20. Another important item is the duty on the actions themselves. The old duty was 25 per cent., but the twelve actionmakers clamored for 50 per cent. Against this increase there was a vigorous protest from the smaller piano manufacturers, who do not make their own actions. In their petition to McKinley they said: “The undersigned pianoforte makers •of the United States would protest against such an advancement of duty as being unjust, obstructive and fatal to the piano-making industry of this country. There appears to be no.good reason for a higher rate of duty on pianoforte actions, since the manufacturers of this article in this couqjry have been .highly successful, having made large fortunes within a comparatively short time under the present protective duty. To raise the duty on piano forte actions would simp,y mean to create a monopoly for a few action-makers at the expense of hundreds of piano-makers.” The action makers, however, got nearly all they asked for. Their protection was raised from 25 per cent, to 45 per cent. Thisincrease was made despite the fact that only a very few actions are imported, and gives a complete monopoly to the domestic makers, two of whom manufacture one half of all the actions used here. A beautiful tariff trick was performed in regard t to the felt used in making piano hammers. There is only one factory engaged in the production of piano felt in the United States—that of Mr. Alfred Dolge, of Dolgeville, N. Y.—the annual production of which, according to Mr. Dolge, is about 300,000 pounds. The only piano felt imported into the United States comes from Germany, and amounts to from 25,000 to 30,000 pounds per year, so that only one-tenth of the lelt used here is imported. Under the old tariff law piano felt was taxed as “manufactures of wool not .otherwise provided for,” at 35 cents a pound and 40 per cent., this double duty being equal to 67 per cent The duty in this paragraph in the McKinley 1)111 was made $4 cents a pound and 50 percent. When, however, the bill was in the conference committee of the House and Senate, Mr. Dolge. acting through Senator Hiscock, had the thiee little Words, “felts not woven,” put into the readymade clothing paragraph, bearing the highest duty of all the manufactures of wool—49)s cents a pound and 60 per •cent By this little trick Dolge’s protection • . *%

becomes complete. Under the old tariff the duty paid en 100 pounds of felt was 8122; under tbq McKinley law it is sl9Jj Some importers have already raised the prioe of foreign felt one dollar a pound. The greedy Dolge had two objects in view with his tariff trick: (1) To shut out all foreign competition, and (2) being a manufacturer of hammers also, to drive out of business all the manufacturers hero of piano hammers who have been using imported felt. The result is that he will be free from all competition whatever in the American market At the same time he will continue to export felt to Germany as he has done in the past, on all of which felt drawbacks of duties will be paid by the United States Government. To compensate the piano manufacturers for having thus offered thorn as a prey to the greed of the makers of actions, keys, felts, and strings, McKinley raised the duty on piapos themselves from 25 to 45 per cent. As the piano makers nqvpr ask,ed for apy protection at all, McKinley’s gift to them is but a shallow pretense. The piano industry is independent of foreign competition, as our manufacturers export their instruments to the most musical countries of Europe. McKinley’s duty on pianos can therefore do them M> good, while his duties on wire, k?ys, felt, and tuning pins can only serve to increase the cost of manufacture, and to strengthen and enrich the monopolies engaged in making these articles.