Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1906 — DEAR GEESE GET WISE [ARTICLE]

DEAR GEESE GET WISE

Discover That Protected Manufacturers Pluck Them. BREAKDOWN IN SILK INDUBTBY The Effort to Produce Cheap Goods Induce* Adulteration The American Woman Interested lu Tariff Reduction Her Luxuries Limited by Increased Cost of Necessities. The silk industry is not prospering iu spite of tariff duties on manufactured silk of 50 to 221.27 per cent Raw silk 4s free of duty, so there Is nothing lu the way of free raw materials. It appears that tee protected silk manufacturers have killed the goose, the great American woman goose, Who has heretofore laid the golden eggs for the benefit of the silk and other protected people. The anxiety of these dear geese of ours for tee bargain counter has Induced manufacturers to sacrifice quality aud to adulterate the silk to meet the demand for cheapness. The lovely geese, however, who easily bite the first time and often the second time at what Is on the face of it a great bargain, have at last discovered that forty-nine cent silk will not wear like that they used to pay 89 cents for, and therefore most of them no longer buy It. So cheap silk naturally went out of fashion, with the result that the manufacturers, the jobbers and many department stores are overstocked with shoddy silk goods which the wise geese refuse to lay down their golden eggs or their equivalent currency for. - There will still be a lot of these cheap silk dress goods sold, but most of them are dear at any price, for they do not wear or even look as good as wool or cotton fabrics at an equivalent price, which out dear geese have discovered to their cost. Now for the political side of the breakdown of a highly protected industry, aud this the dear geese who skirmish for bargains should carefully note. The enormous tariff rates, which allow our silk manufacturers to virtually control the home market because foreign manufacturers could not pay the tariff duties, which op the average are nearly as great as the original cost, has led to overproduction, and many of the smaller manufacturers have “gone under” in the keen competition to sell at any price. The surplus stock cannot be dumped In foreign markets, for the geese there appear to be wiser than those here and refuse to buy American silk of poor quality when they can get better goods at less price, for they have no such exorbitant tariff to force up prices and the competition of French and English manufacturers regulate prices to a reasonable basis and the cheap Japanese and China silks also compete. In this country such goods-must pay from 50 to 200 per cent duty, so of course but little is imported except of such quality and class as the American manufacturer does not make. There was, however, $31,822,055 of silk manufactures imported last year, and upon that there was $17,010,130 paid in tariff duties. There was also $01,054,830 of raw silk imported, upon which no duty was paid, but when this raw silk had been manufactured into dress gqods the price it was Bold to these dear geese of ours had increased to nearly $200,000,000, and at least $30,000,000 was extra profit on account of the tariff protection to the silk manufacturers. If we knew how many and how much each dear goose had purchased we could figure just how much tbe tariff on silk had cost her. It is safe to say, however, that on every dress piece of .imported silk more than half that is paid is tariff duty and on the cheap home manufactured silk uearly the same increased price is due to protection. In the present struggle to market their overstock this tariff profit is no doubt being disregarded, but when the surplus has been forced off at bargain prices aud tbe silk trade resumes its normal condition tbe manufacturers will resume their large profits anil those who were able to weather the storm will make up for losses now being encountered. This silk tariff is but one of the ways that the American woman is taxed bj* the tariff, and this only on an article of luxury, but nearly all necessities a rtf likewise taxed, and tee protected man ufacturers get increased profits, with but a small percentage going to Uncle Sam. No one knows better than the Amer lean housewife that the cost of living has advanced 48 per cent since 1897, when the present tariff law went into effect, and this great increase in the price of necessities cramps the amount that can be expended for luxuries of which silk is but one item. When the tariff is revised so that the enormous protection to trusts, combines and manufacturers is reduced or eliminated, while still retaining enough tariff duties to support the government, then the’ American woman will have more left to spend Tor gopd quality clothes instead of wearing herself out hunting bargains that are usually shoddy. ,