Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-09-20
THE DRPRRssIO.v FN' THE
wool .u.fRHBT.

The wool market, just now, is experience
ing the disastrous effects Of that one-sded
and erroneous policy, so characteristic of
many branches of American industry,
which makes quantity rather than quality
the prime object in the eyes of the manu-
facturer. Under the specous plea of in
ability to compete with foreign worknien,
our woollen manufacturers have confined
their attention almost entirely to the
making of large quantities of very cheap
goods, poor, both in the material and in the
makeup, and cheap only in the fact that
they are sold at prices trifo lower than
are asked for the best grades of foreign
goods. The profit on them is enormous,
provided they find sale, sometimes reach
ing as high as 100 or $50 per cent. And this
Is the reason why attention is raid to them,
while the manufacture of the better grades
is neglected. II is, however, much a mat
ter of speculation, and the result as might
be expected, is, that we hear every now
and then of heavy failures. The market
becomes glutted with these cheaply made,
unstable goods, and depression ensues,
followed by corresponding decline in the
price of wool, the stoppage of more or less
machinery, and the throwing out of en-
ployment of large number of workmen.
Foreign competition is then generally
pleaded by the broken down manufacturer
as the cause of his failure. Just such a
state of things exists at the present time.
For six months there has been a steady
and continued depression in the wool mar
hv pf Ia. 4
goods market, and the price of wool has
steadily declined, until now it is from
twenty cents to twenty-five cents per
pound lower than in March last, while
manufacturers appear to be more indifTer-
ent about supplies now than at that time.
Attention to one fact, in connection with
the state of the market, proves the falacy
of assembling it TO foreign competition, re.
| veals, tho true cause of the trouble, and
points out the way TO avoid similar state
of things in tho future. The market re-
ports show that the depression which has
taken place is confined almost exclusively
to the poorer quality of goods, which are
piled up in unstable quantities in the
warehouses while the production of desi.
rable woollens is well sold up. Here, then.
is the secret Of the whole trouble. 1t is not
in foreign competition, for the only goods
that are imported are those of the very irst
grades, in which class of goods there has
been no depression. The trouble is that
too many cheap goods have been mauufac-
tured, and the counters of our merchants
are piled up with them, marked at greatly
reduced prices, and still with scarcely any
disposition on the part Of the people TO buy.
While the demand for first grade goods
continue active, and the prices remain
much the same MS year ago, cheap goods
are neglected, aud are n drug on the mar
| ket.
People are beginning to discover that
those goods Which are cheapest in price are
not necessarily cheapest in the end, and
that few cents more expended in the be-
ginning will often count much farther in
the long run. There are those, probably
there always will be, who for the sake oil
low price, are content to tat tough beef
steak, recline on rickeiy furniture, and
wear shoddy- made clothing, but the mass
es are fast improving in this respect, and
the demands of the trade are now for the
| pest goods we can manufacture. That
| there is a demand for first-class goods is
shown by the fact that they are well sold
| up, that the market for them is always ac-
tive, notwithstanding foreign competition,
and that those mills when are never shut
| down, but are always running full time
| such as the Harris of Woonsocket, or the
| Aldens of this city, are the ones who make
| it point 10 manufacture only first-class
| goods. There is no reason why our man.
ufacturers should not produce just as good,
even better styles of woollens, and at the
same prices as can be imported, and 1t is
true that in the early days of our manufac-
tHres, foreign competition prevented in
some degree the realization of our plans
and desires, it is equally true that that bug
bear of American industry has now almost
entirely passed away. What with the rise
of wages, the strikes of the workmen and
the increasing scarcity of iron, coal, and
even breadstuffs, in foreign countries, for
eign goods cannot now be produced any
cheaper than goods of like quality can be
| manufactured here. We can raise all the
wool we need, and If our manufacturers
would but turn out goods of an equal stan
dard, English, German and French wool
lens would soon disappear from our mar
ket, the demand would be steady, and the
fluctuations in price less marked and less
frequent. -iSprinlfeid Union.