Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-08-25
The Shirt-Making Industry.

1t is all very well to investigate the
causes which have destroyed the Ameri-
can ship building business, and Mr.
Keifer's committee will doubtless find
out precisely what those causes are
that is to say, in the opinion of Mr.. John
Roach. There is, however, another sub
ject which requires to be investigated.
but to which Congress has never yet paid
the slightest attention. 1t is the cause
of the decline and final disappearance of
shirt-making among American house
wives.
There was a time, and that not many
years ago, when American citizens
universally wore shirts made by their
wives, their mothers, or their sis
tiers. Our home made shirts were with
out rival. Sewed by the hand of affec.
tlon, their seams never ripped, and 1t
not unfrequently happened that home
made shirt would fit man quite com
fOrtably-provided, of course, that it had
been originally made for some one else
In those days no man dreamed of wear
ing shirt made outside of his own
house, and the entire male population of
the United States was either clothed in
home made shirts or was devoid of any
shirt whatever.
AT the present day the home made
shirt industry is utterly destroyed Men,
with hardly an exception, wear shirts
bought of some professional shirt manu-
facturer. If a man has a right to place
which he can call home and wears shirts
made elsewhere, he may properly be said
to wear foreign made shirts. True. he
does not import his shirts from Europe,
but he is entirely dependent upon per-
sons outside of his home and family for
every shirt that he wears.
This is a state of things that must nee
essarily fill every man who has 1--we
and reverence for home with sadness and
shame. Our wives and sisters and moth
ers and daughters have a right to make
shiTtsr They ought not to be driven out
of the shirt making industry by the com
petition of cheap shop made shirts, and
if we are to be really great and indie
pendent nation our shirts must be made
at home, ard our clothes lines must no
longer be laden with shirts bearing the
names of shirt manufacturers on their
''tags."
The decline of the home made shirt
industry is due to the fact that shirts can
be bought at the shops more cheaply
than they can be made at home. This,
in turn, is due to the introduction of
sewing machines With the help of
these machines the manufacturers can
turn out shirts so rapidly as to be en-
abled to sell them at very low rate OF
course, it is possible for the housewife to
make shirts on her own sewing machine,
but the owner of one machine cannot
| compete with the owner of twenty, and
the woman who makes only twelve shirts
in the course Of year cannot make
them as cheaply as the manufacturer
who makes several dozen day.
Moreover, the shop made shirt fits bet
| ter than the home made shirt. The
manufacturers have introduced new
models of shirts, and these models are
preferred to the old and standard model
| formerly adhered to with so much fideli-
ty by housewives. So long as men can
get better shirts at low price from a
manufacturer than they can get at a high
price from their wives, We must expect
that shop made shirts will monopolize
the market.
1t will be obvious even to the dullest
protectionist that there is only one way
in which to revive the home made shirt
| industry. The government must impose
a heavy tax on all shop made shirts, and
must pay large bOunties to any woman
who will make shirts for the male men,
bers of her family. Let us suppose, for
| example, that shop made shirts can now
be bought at the rate of $24 per dozen.
| If tax of one dollar is laid upon each
shop made shirt, it will bring the price
up to $36 per dozen. Let us also sup
pose that home made shirts cannot be
made at a less price than $36
per dozen. Now, let a bounty
of 50 per shirt be given to every wife
| The result will be that she can furnish
her husband with shirts at $12 per
dozen, while, at the same time, owing to
the tax on shop made shirts, he will be
unable to buy the latter for less than $40
per dozen. OF course, shop made shirts
will thus be driven entirely out of the
market, and American citizens will once
more proudly wear home made shirts.
Doubtless they are pestilent persons
chiefly free traders-who will maintain
| that it is not Of the slightest consequence
where our shirts are made, and that what
we want is to be able to buy the best
shirts in the cheapest market. Similarly
revolving ideas have been expressed in
regard to shipbuilding. but we all know
that instead of buying cheap foreign
| ships patriotism demands that Congress
| should bride American citizens to build
expensive ships, so that we need no
longer be compelled to send our grain to
Europe in foreign bottoms. 1t is. how
ever, no more disgraceful to buy British
ships because they are cheap than it is
to buy shop made shirts because they are
cheaper than home made shirts. If Con
gress ought to bride Mr.. Roach to build
steamers it ought to bride our wives to
make shirts. Let us have a committee
to ascertain the causes of the decline of
shirtmaking among American wives, and
when 1t has found out the reason, let the
committee recommend that the home
made shirt industry be revived by the
help OF taxes and bounties.
The nutritive properties of CoLDEN's
LIQUID BEEF Tonic sustafn the hodv with