Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1888-07-25
A STATEMENT BY W00L-MANUFACTUR-
Frs.
A Clear and Full and Official Statement OF
the Wool Question.

A Clear and Full and Official Statement OF
the Wool Question.
The following should be read by all VINO
wish to understand properly the wool ques'
tion, which has been so much befogged By
those who do not understand it.
1t is the statement made to the Secre-
tary of the Treasury in 1885 by the Nation
al Association of Wool Manufacturers, and
was by that association unanimously ap'
proved" as was witnessed by the sigma
lures of William Whitman, of Boston, pres
ident of the National Association of Wool
Manufacturers, and by Thomas Dolan, of
Philadelphia, one of its vice presidents;
James Dobson, of Philadelphia, member Of
the Executive Committee, and other officers
of the association.
"The American manufacturer is engaged
in perpetual struggle with the manufac-
turers of Europe for the possession of the
markets of this country. In this strife the
European manufacturer possesses the ad-
vantage, which would be overwhelming if
not counteracted by special legislation, of
having the raw material of his manufacture
free from duty-no duties on wool existing
in Great Britain, France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and very slight duties, if any,
in other manufacturing nations. Our Euro
pean competitors are exempt from the d.
rect enhancement, by duty, of the cost of
wool, thus requiring less capital TO supply
| their mills, and no cost of interest on the
duty required in carrying their stocks of
wool and goods. They are free from the
apprehension of changes in the value of
wool, such as have taken place in this coun-
| try in consequence of no less than seven.
teen changes in the tariff on woods within
the memory of living manufacturers. They
are exempt from the duties on wool substi-
tutes, so usefully employed to mix with
wool in the manufacture of the cheaper and
heavier cloths-duties which with US are
absolutely prohibitory. They are able,
from the lower cost of their raw material,
to relieve themselves from overproduction
by consigning their surplus stocks at COM
paratively slight sacrifice to foreign mar
kets, to which their cheapness has already
introduced them. They are not compelled,
as we are, to discriminate in their choice of
wool to avoid the effect of the duty, and are
able to select their woois in any condition,
whether unwashed, washed or secured, with
reference only to their desirable qualities.
Through freedom of importation they have
near markets-as at London, Havre, Ant
werp and Berlin-ofering vast assortments
and steady supply Of all kinds of WOOL
advantages especially favorable to the small
manufacturer. This exemption from all
restrictions in the selection of raw material,
together with the facilities for supply and
the certainty that values will not be dis
turbed by legislation, is believed to be the
chief cause of characteristic of the Euro
pean woollen industry-uamely, that the
manufacturer abroad obtains success by ad-
| herring with steady attention to the special
| fabrics he has undertaken to make and in
which he has acquired excellence, while di-
vsrsiacation of manufactures, SO necessary
to prevent oyerproduction, is encouraged
by the equal availability of all varieties and
conditions of raw material. The effect of
this policy upon the agricultural interests,
and the labor of the countries which adopt
it, we ara not at present called upon to con-
slider.
4his high duty is not the only difficulty
with which our manufacturers requiring
foreign woods have to contend. 1t is held
that complete protection to the most impor-
tant brarch of our wool-growing industry,
the merino sheep husbandry, requires that
washed woods in class I should he subject
to double the duty OF unwashed wool, and
the duty on secured wool should be three
times the amount upon the unwashed woods
an arrangement which compels the i'm
portations of o'ass 1 woods to be in the
greasy state, n, cessitating the transporta-
ton charges on from two and quarter to
| three pounds of grease and dirt in the wool
r., IL
of the compulsion to buy greasy wool and
pay heavy specific duty on its impurities
| is that the American manufacturers are
thereby obliged to give undue preference to
| light condition over fueness and the other
valuable qualities of woods offering in for
eign markets Our manufacturers, more
over, are obliged by this restriction to con-
centrate their competition in foreign mar
kets upon the always small proportion of
the lightest unwashed woods, while our
foreign competitors, having to pay duty
neither upon wool nor on grease ami dirt,
can buy the heavy woods in the market to
much better advantage.
To these considerations it should be add
ed that the high specific duty on clothing
wools-a duty irrespective of the cost
practically excludes the cheap and abun-
dant clothing woods of South American,
and by freeing them from our competition
for their purchase makes them much cheap.
er than they would otherwise be to the
manufacturers of France, Belgium and
Germany, who work them up into cloths
and stuffs by the cheapest labor in Europe.
1t may be said thas remedy for these
| difficulties is to be found in the exclusive
use of the domestic woods, which will be
abundantly supplied under due protection.
To this we reply that neither our own ooun-
try nor any other in the world does or can
produce to advantage woods of all kinds
| and grades, Experience under high pro-
lection of wool in this country for over
| thirty years had demonstrated that our
domestic woolgrowers find it to their ad-
vantage to produce only the staple woods
required for the ordinary range of woollen
fabrics; and as these fabrics will always be
in demand, they build up their hocks-a
work of time-for the production only of
the 1seces which will be profitable for a
long series of years. This sYstsm, although
providing admirable raw material for cam
mon goods, is Incompatible with the varie-
ty required for the diversified and highly
advanced manufacture which should be
our aim. The American manufacturer, to
compete with the fabrics of other nations
in the endless variety demanded by our
times, must have the power of selecting a
portion of his raw material from all the
worlds sources Of supply. The sudden
and exceptional demand for more or new
raw material must be supplied by importa-
tion.''