Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-06-07

A.Cass OF Protection That WIN Protect No
body and Ipjurs All.


body and Injuro All.
Secretary Rusk insists In recent let
tsr that we can and must grow our owr
carpet woods. 1t is to bring about this
result that the tariff bill now before
Congress contains.a clause which raises
enormously the duty on carpet wool.
AZ present carpet wool worth less than
ewoivo cents apound pays duty Of two
nnd one-half cents q pound; carpet wool
above the twelve cent limit pays five
cents only.
The law now proposed raises the duty
ON wool worth twelve cents or less to
three and one:half cents; and on that
above twelve cents, the duty is to be
eight cents pound. This is an attempt
90 compel farmers to raise carpet wool.
But why do we not raise carpet wool?
Because we have developed our wool
growing industry beyond that stage.
Our farmers used to produce carpet wool
but they soon found that they could i'm
prove the breed Of their sheep and pro-
Auce finer grade Of wool. Accordingly
we produce no carpet wool now The
grower finds 1t much more profitable to
produce Merino clothing wool worth
thirty cents Q pound, or more, rather
chan to waste his time and energies in
producing carpet wool worth only ten or
twelve cents. A sheep with coarse car
pet wool on its back will eat just as
much as one with fine clothing wool and
will cost just rs much in every way.
Where is the sense then in trying to
compel our people to grow carpet wool
when they can do better for themselves?
Is 1t not like a foolish attempt to mako
water flow uphill, while it Will serve
our purposes better by flowing down-hill?
Besides this the carpet manufacturers
OF our country need the carpet wool of
certain foreign countries. The manu-
facturers are seriously embarrassed in
many places. In Philadelphia, which is
the greatest carpet manufacturing CEN
ter in the United States, several large
mills are reported to be idle, and several
thousand laborers in the mills are out
of employment. Under the proposed |
tariff the manufacturers would be seri-
ously hindered, the wool-growers would !
still refuse to raise carpet wool. and the
people who use carpets would foot the
bills for all this folly. The Mckinley
bill would put certain grades of carpet
woods absolutely out OF reach Of our
manufacturers. They will have to i'm
port practically every pound of wool
they use, for even tariff of 100 per |
cent would not be sufficient to induce
our PEOPLE to 60 back to raising carpet
wool.
1t is estimated by high authority |
that the increased cost of carpet woods |
under the proposed law would raise the
price of carpets anywhere from nine to |
thirty-three cents yard. Increased
cost means fewer sales, fewer carpeted |
parlors, fewer carpet mills, and fewer
workers in them. And who is to be pro-
4octed by this law?
Nobody; absolutely nobody.
It is simply part OF the scheme to
humbug the farmer by making h m be-
1ieve that he, too is getting some Of
the benefits OF protection. 1t will be a
nice tn ng to tell the farmer in cam
paign speeches, Here is protection for
you, too; we have not forgotten you;
you also shall grow rich"
Men who expect the farmer to believe
this stuff, 80 far as it relates to carpet
wool, give him credit for very shallow
brain. Instead of helping him. this
duty on carpet wool Is direct injury to
him; for the farmer is to some extent q
buyer of carpets. The price of carpets
will be higher by reason Of the b CHER
duty. But this is not the whole effect.
The quality of the carpets themselves
will be made much poorer. Everybody
knows that the use Of shoddy in carpet
making has been very largely extended
during the past ten years. According to
the census of 1880 we used fifty-two mil
Hon pounds of domestic shoddy, besides
what we imported. How much is used
now nobody knows exactly; but calcu-
lation has been made by the New York
Commercial Bulletin to show that at
least one-third of the material used by
our carpet and wooden mills is shoddy.
This paper is a high authority in trade
circles, and its estimate deserves
careful consideration from the
grower of wool as well as from
the consumer Of cloth and carpets. The
Bulletin estimates that the shoddy used
last year was some two hundred million
sounds. Every pound Of shoddy used
OF course draws out an equivalent Of
Wure wool. ''But the wool-grower," as
rfhis paper says, ''never stops to con-
slider that this use Of old wool, collected
in the form of old clothes and rags and
worked up after cleaning in the mills,
Is powerfully stimulated by the very
steps he insists upon taking to shut out
cheaper supplies of wool. Neither does
che consumer consider that the dete-
~ioration in quality Of goods produced,
.af which he often complains, is due in