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' >v: j
Issued
VOLUME 2
M
Twice a Month
Peterson’* Paper”
DUNN, N. C., SEPTEMBER 15, 1
HUMBER IT
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One can but feel persuaded that the leaders of .the
. of textile workers have not taken that world
sweep of conditions affecting the textile indus
W1 that they should have made before calling a gen
strike. Such a sweep should have givep*them
e”se to this observer, the industry was already
piously menaced, and will be much more menaced
by a prolonged strike.
At the best, the industry in America seems doomed
to a partial eclipse. The conditions which threaten
„renot of a nature to be obviated by the American
Jill owners- Conditions imposed by extra-national
circumstances, and international exchange rates, are
natters beyond the control of our domestic manufac
turers of textile goods.. A prolonged strike will in
tensify existing, menaces and produce additional
handicaps.
A Condition and Not a Theory.
It makes little, or no, difference how existing
handicaps arose. Their existence is the one thing
of importance.. It is a condition and not a theory
that confronts the American textile^ndustry, and a "
condition that the textile operators themselves can
not remedy. •••_ -
„ The Remnant of Foreign Trade Menaced.
It is only too well known that America has last a
large part of its foreign business in textiles. The
strike, if prolonged, together with already existing
conditions at home and abroad, in the writer’sjview,
threatens the loss of all foreign demand for Ameri
can cotton goods. Again, it is the fact, and nofc the
causes, that is of importance. Yet the causes a^enot
undiscoverable.
flier
*•*
'm&iT'mm
money in the world-* -
abroad, the foreign nations,^gfeherhllyf stabilized .
their currencies upon, a very low gold rating. Yet
the limited currency, per capita, they could issue
upon even the slender gold supports available, made
the currencies high-priced at home. Japan furnishes,
probably, the most striking example of the effect of
our former par dollars at home and the cheap
moneys, as measured in gold, abroad. If the pur
chasing power of money in every country varied with
the amount of gold backing each unit, the cost of
manufacture and distribution in all countries would
vary only with the degrees of skill and efficiency,
employed.
But the backing of a currency is not the chief de
terminant of its purchasing power in the country of
issue. Americans should be convinced of that fact.
The value of the American dollar in terms of gold
has been reduced 41 percent. Yet, despite the hun
dred schemes inaugurated, including the pouring out
government billions, to raise commodity and labor
Prices, no such comparative cheapening of the dollar
®s measured in commodities of even a curtailed pror
faction has appeared. If* further evidence; of the
truth of the quantitative theory vof money was
needed, America’s experience ha$yfgrnished it. With? ■
°ut the government expenditures. and the artificial
schemes to advance the prices.uf commodities, and
svages, it is probable that both "would be at the low
sst levels this c°untry has seen in decades.
fapan has a cheap currency, as measured Jyy ea?- ■
change rates. Yet the law per capita amount in, cir
culation makes it a dear money at home, and nec*s
srtates low wage levels and commodity prices. Fifty
j6nts a day here is a poverty wage* In Japan, the
ame WaSe as determined by exchange values, is' a ■
comparatively fair wage. For, after all, the value
ffaS«s is determined by the amount of necessities
fad comforts they will provide. Accordingly, Japan,
all industrial countries upon a similar monetary
l8> could, and did, undersell American textile
hufacturers whenever they chose to compete.
®rrea’s foreign trade in textile products neces
fl]y dwindled. •
-^r The °“e American Advantage.
tte a'6 °-Ur ^°^ar was based upon 100 cents in gold,.
»eted mer"?an near-monoppiy of rt*w cotton supplies
1>iaDnfI)artially aS a disadvantage to foreign textile
on ^ aftuiers- The raw cotton had to be paid for
tt ^ a8is of the American dollar. Currency which
V .me -Was tiear, in terms of commodities and la*
eam&bf trifllhg yalue .when used to .par*
chase American dollars. Raw cotton, then, in terms
of home produced commodities and of prevailing
wages, was very expensive to the foreign manufac
turers as compared with its cost to American mills.
That fact enabled the Americans to compete on
more equal terms, but even the difference in ex
change values could not counterbalance the advan
tages of a money dearer at home than the American
dollar was at home, plus the simpler life of foreign
peoples.
That Advantage Disappears With the Cheapening
of the Dollar.
A year ago that one counterbalance of a simpler
life abroad and of the low, yet fairly adequate,
wages and commodity prices, which figured in every
item of production of textiles, from the making of
the bricks of the foundation of the factory buildings
to the loading the goods upon ships for export, was
largely lost when the American dollar was reduced
in exchange value by 4i percent. A cheaper supply
of raw cotton, as compared with the cost to American
mills, -became available. The foreigners were hll the
better^prepared to capture all foreign markets from
America. And thus America’s .exportation of cotton
goods was headed for extinction.
The Home Market Threatened.
Nqt only is America’s foreign textile trade being
wiped out by the advantages of foreign manufac
turers cited, hut the very trade at home is being
menaced. Until recently the .American tariff-wall
was a sufficient protection. Costs of production in
American mills might rise to any level, but the manu
facturers could protect themselves by raising the
prices of, their commodities. The tariff practically
^imiixated oompetition.- But Japan, as - ther • most
^otfthle jj^tsnce^can^arrea^^^rl^lpg^ag J^
iff .wall and ipVa.de. the
the tariff and raise prices. at-home would be*toV cur
tail American demand. Of • coarse, the degree of
both home and foreign competition is limi.ted by the,
foreigner’s capacity to produce and his ability to
secure cotton in adequate, quantities.
How a Prolonged Strike Affects the Foreigner's
(Stance to Secure) Cotton.
The foreigner’s opportunity to buy ^adequate stocks
of American cotton at even greater advantages in
actual price differentials will be enhanced by a pro
longed strike of textile ’workers. Remember that
when the Japanese buy cotton at twelve cents now
it is really a-price of less than eight cents compared
with exchange values two years ago. As the cheap
ening of the dollar abroad has not resulted in its
cheapening at home, the American mills pay the.
same old 12 cents. Not only so, but the American
-manufacturer and the American consumer must pay
for several millions of bales of cotton that have not
been produced. That results from the 4-cent proces
sing tax and the government cotton acreage rduction
-rentals. "
It is seen that witn twelve-cent cotton, the for
eigner's, .price is less than eight cents, while:, the
domestic ^nanufacturmr’a price is sixteen cents, or
more than,double that of the foreigner’s, as com
pared with exchange rates two years ago. That
differential and higher 'wages in everything that per
- tains to the manufacture and distribution of the
goods, from the $12 a day labor that laid the bricks
of the mill on up to the latest distribution cost, is,
in all reason, a sufficient handciap.
Hie strikes runner i»eua*o.
iA prolonged strike discourages, if not incapacitates,
the American manufactures with respect to com
peting for American cotton with the foreigners. That,
would mean that the 12-cent government loan price
assured would be the maximum limit, or near it, for
cotton. Without the competition of the American
mills, the foreigner could loffcd up to any extent he
wishes with Just enough above the 12-cent limit to
secure the cotton, the crop is short. The liberal
purchase by foreign buyers would mean a scarcity
of cotton for Amerfdtn. spinning when the strike is
over—-»ay^threer mOhths hence. vThe price would jise
But the cotton: would Tie out of the growers’ hands.
They would have received aboutrl2 cents instead of
the 15 cents which they slight otherwise expert.
He TweFrid Bhw.
Stfcfi a consequence would mean a further differ
ential in the price of raw cotton to tbeforelgner and
to the domestic manufacturer. The latter’s cotton
when the processing tax is added might approach 25
cents, or three times the cost to the foreigner ns
measured by exchange rates of two years ago.
. But that is not alL Fifteen-cent cotton would fur
nish a great degree of prosperity in every group in
the South and would create an immense demand for
cotton goods. Even the average producer of cotton
needs the products of two or three hundred pounds
of lint. Tweive-cent cotton, -if the cost of production
io six cents, is only two-tnird» as profitable as 15
oent cotton. Therefore, a cheaper cotton would
mean not only the impoverishment of the South or
its failure to attain a high degree of prosperity, but
a set back to recovery in the whole country. For a
prosperous South would mean much business for
other sections of the'country. The purchasing pow
er of the whole country would be seriously affected
by a strike prolonged during the marketing period
of the farmers’ cotton. Already- the purchasing
power of the drought section is minimized.
The Effeet Upon Textile Workers.
Up to now only the effects Upon the producers of
the raw cotton and the manufacturers have been
considered. But it is eyident that the textile work
ers themselves would be sufferers. The considera
tions above make it evident that the resulting lack
of a full purchasing power in the. South, with its ef
fects upon all other parts of the country, could be
met by the manufacturers of cotton textiles by one
of only two means,, each of which would prove .ca
lamitous to the textile workers. .
If present prices or higher hhould be asked;.; thA.
demand would be scrsjnatt that-there would;. b§;nee**
zt&li ^
JtosSile workers would lose their jobe--arid f
ver/fo^'thelfofelgiia-'vwouid find '
let in the.
tariff walls. That is one horn of the dilenia. The
other is a lowering of*prices to meet the capacity to
buy and thus To enlarge the demand. That would
necessarily mean lower wages instead of the higher .
thp strikers are demanding. If ’ production were
kept' up to the standard extent, the textile workers,
would be happy if they could secure ibe wages and
hours prevailing the past year. ' *
But if the foreigners! largely monopolize the cot
ton on the market this fall and^the price consequents
ly rises in the spring or early winter, the domestic
mills are handicapped- by a short supply as well a*
greater costs.
" The Conclusion of the Whole Matter.
The domestic manufacturers’ plight, at the best,'is
very serious. A prolonged strike, or a short one
with more costly operation following, would' almost
wipe the American cotton manufacturing industry
off the map. No more untimely strike has ever oc
curred, nor one demanding in the face of almost in- .
superabie ‘difficulties already existing grants that
will almost inevitably- mean ruin to at least the
smaller manufacturers, who have already found" It
difficult to compete with the larger, and the loss, to
thousands of the textile workers, of their jobB for
once and all. A prolonged strike apparently means «
a bedwkrfed textile industry for America, and the
present body of textile workers necessarily would
furnish a large proportion of the victims. The world
would continue to use Southern cotton, but’others
would spin and weave it. What would our- horde of
workers do in that case? ] J
Hoover Cdn Beat Us*
' Ex-President Hoover can write a longer article
than the editor of the Voice. If yon have read hie t
articles in the Saturday Evening Post, yon needn’t
be afraid to tackle the article on Duplin county his
tory. X guarantee that it is as easy to read and not
so long as Mr. Hoover’s current article.
Fairplay Cheap at Any Price.
The strike is costing North Carolina taxpayers
dearly. Thirty companies of troops cannot be kept
afield for nothing. Yet fairplay is cheap at any
price. Governor Ehringhaus should be commended
by every 'thoughtful7 citizen for his determination to
protect son-strikers against those who wcmld compel
them io give up their jobs and their living against
their own consent. '