Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-05-04
Sheep Jnterest.
WHO DEMANDS FREE TRADE3
montana Wool Grower. /

The most prominent man before the
country today in connection with tariff
matters is Mr.. Mills of Texas, chairman
of the ways and means committee of the
House of Representatives. On February
10Th Mr.. Mills went to Providence. r. l.,
and at banquet given by great manu-
facturers' club, told the wooden manufac-
turers that all they needed in order to pros
per, was free wool. Mr.. Mills of Texas
said that no one had any idea of remov-
tures that there was not man living
who would see wooden goods admitted
free of duty; that they need have no fear
If they would unite with the free wool
party they would carry the day.
Mr.. Mills of Texas then went to great
length to show the Rhode Island manu-
facturers that at every reduction of the
tariff on wool that commodity had in
creased in price-in fact, that wool was
highest at those periods when there was
no tariff upon it, and at its very lowest
in price when the tariff was highest.
And then Mr.. Mills of Texas from these
premises deduces the following very log
ical result: That with free wool, manu-
facturers could sell goods at one-half the
price now asked. This is the man who
poses as chairman of the ways and means
committee: and this is a sample of free
trade logic.
We will now give from this same
speech a sample of free trade dense ig-
norance or malicious Justification. Mr..
Mills of Texas drew a very touching pic
ture. The girls of our knitting factories.
he said. had to 90 from these mills that
could only make stockings with seams in
them, and buy imported seamless stock
ings that pay duty. He did not blame
the girls if they wanted seamless stock
ings, but he knew no words strong
enough to condemn this duty imposed
upon an article we could not make. He
said we had sent skilled men to Europe
to try and find out how these stockings
were made, but the process was secret
so well guarded that no American had
ever been able to fathom it.
What spectacle. What statement
for the chairman of the most influential
body in this country to make at manu-
facturers' club, the members of which
knew that out of the seven hundred and
fifty knitting mills in the United States
i've hundred make seamless hosiery.
What statement to make before a
body of men who knew that the machine
upon which seamless stockings are maze
is an American invention, and that thou
sands of these machines are shipped to
Europe, and that every seamless stocking
made in Europe is either made on an
American machine or Il slight moditica-
ton of that machine.
Mr.. Mills of TeXas-like every other
theoretical economist-is a total failure
when he attempts to reason or to give
facts concerning the industries of this
country.
And what induced this very logical
and wise Mr.. Mills of Texas to go to
Rhode Island and make this spectacle of
himself? 1t was the equally wise and
truthful Providence Journal. The Jour-
nal said that the manufacturers of New
England wanted free wool; and that has
been proved to be untrue by the fact that
only four out of the scores of manufac-
turers in that section have been found
, who advocate free wool.
Here is some of the Journals wisdom
"The growers of the United States dc
, not, and never can, produce certain grades
, of wool which are needed for the produc,
ton of many lines of wooden goods. Oh
the third-class woods, we produce prac
, tically none at all; while very little OF
what first-class wool we raise possesses
the characteristics needed to produce the
,, proper finish in fine cloth" Again, "Tht
r United States is not, and never can be
comparatively speaking, great wool
producing country. Natural laws an(
fixed economic conditions forbid it,"
These statements are absolutely false
D We can grow, and do grow, every variet,
: of wool produced in the world; manu-
: facturers, skilled buyers and sorters vii
4, testify to this. And what an abominabl
t statement for a reputable Rhode Islam,
t journal to make--that we are not, an,
o never can be, great wool-producing ma
S ton. In 1884 there was but one othe
;, nation on the globe that produced NOR
f wool than the United States; Australi
J. produced ass, 100000 pounds, against GU
>, 30S, 100000 pounds. Next to us come
r the Argentine Republic with 2S4,000,0 90
: pounds. The total product of the Who'll
g world is 1888, 100000 pounds; hence tn
# United States produces one-sixth of tn
e whole. Still the Journal says we neve
h can be great wool-producing country.
: Here is certainly strange spectacle
II The greatest wool-producing State in tn
Union has sent to Congress man VIII