Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1909 — AN INDUSTRY THREATENED [ARTICLE]

AN INDUSTRY THREATENED

A Typical Illustration of How the Payne Bill Hurts Manufacturing—The Uncalled For Increases In Fur Duties and What the Women Will Have to Pay For Fur Articles. A good illustration of the unhealthy and dangerous condition into which tariff protection drives manufacturing interests is afforded by the recent plight of the American manufacturers of wearing apparel made from furs. By an increase In the duty on their necessary material, which the Payne bill provided, this industry was seriously threatened. The manufacturers and the Furriers’ union, composed of the workers, were much agitated over the Payne fur schedule and declared that if it were enacted about 50,000 women would be thrown out of work throughout the country. A certain result will be a heavy increase In the prices of many articles made of furs. Of course these manufacturers, like the manufacturers of woolen goods and all others, should be able to get their material free of duty, so as to have a fair opportunity to carry on and extend their Industry. But the Dingley tariff Imposes a duty of 20 per cent ad valorem on “furs dressed In the skin, but not made up Into articles,” and a similar duty on manufactures of furs not articles of wearing apparel when partly prepared for use as material. It also fixes the duty at 35 per cent on articles of wearing apparel of every sort partly or wholly manufactured of fur. Undressed furs are free of duty, but the manufacturers find it absolutely necessary In their business to import a great many skins both dressed and dyed. A Sop to One Kills Others. „ Now, the Payne tariff bill changes the wording of the schedule so that the 20 per cent duty on dressed skins Is raised to 35 per cent when they are “dyed, repaired, sewed or advanced in any manner further than dressed,” and as the manufacturers must Import or buy here a great many skins in these conditions to be worked up Into the finished articles of apparel and as the duty on the finished articles was fixed at 35 per cent by the Payne bill, the manufacturers in this line found their material about to cost them much more. They were therefore driven to demand an Increase to 50 per cent in the duty on the finished articles, or else a reduction in the rate on their material. If they could not get relief in either direction very many of them would have had to go out of business. Thus the tariff kills off a number of manufacturers in order to add to the profits of a few specially favored ones—in this case certain dyeing interests. What these dyeing interests really need, of course, is to get their dyestuffs and other materials free of duty and not to have another industry damaged to help them.

Th® People Pay Much More. The senate has relieved the terrors of the manufacturers by raising the rate on the finished articles made from fur to 50 per cent. The increased rates of the PayneAldrich bill will materially increase the cost to the consumers, principally women, of many fur articles. For examide, the little gray squirrel skins which have been used by the millions during the past few years in this market will be increased in cost 15 per cent by the Payne duties. As these are used almost entirely for low priced articles, a very large number of users will be affected. A gray squirrel muff that has heretofore retailed at $7.50 wilh'have to be sold at retail at $8.75 under tha Payne bill. Not less'than $5 will h:ivs to be added to the retail price of-one of the popular black dyed pony coats selling for less than SSO, with a proportionate increase in the higher priced coats. The seal dyed muskrat garments, known as Beasiun seal, Hudson seal and other trade names, will cost the wearer under the Payne bill as, it stands from $25 $6 SSO more, depending upon the qurnlty and length of the coat purchased. These higher duties will also hasten the extermination of the American fur bearing animals, upon which a great industry depends. Many states of the Union are now adopting measures intended to save these animals from exInction.