The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1890-05-23
CARPET WOOL AND sHoDos.

Secretary Rusk insists in resenb leu
ter that we can and must grow our own
carpet woods. It is to bring about this
result that the tariff bill now before
Congress contains a clause which raises
enormously the duty on carpet wool.
At present carpet wool worth les than |
twelve cents pound pays duty OF two
and one-half cents pound; ca.rpe' wool
above the twelve cent limit lNays' nVe
cents only.
The law now proposed raises the uty
on wool worth twelve cents or less 10
three and one-half cents; and on tn at
above twelve cents, the duty is to
eight cents pound. This is an attempA'
to 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 farm ers used to produce carpet wool
but they soon found that they could i'm
prove the breed of their sheep and pro-
duce finer grade of wool. Accordingly (
we produce no carpet wool now. The
grower finds it much more profitable to |
produce Merino clothing wool worth /
thirty cents pound, or more, rather
than to waste his time and energies in /
producing carpet wool worth only ten or 4
twelve cents. A sheep with coarse car |
much as one with fine clothing wool and /
will cost just as 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 it not like a foolish attempt to make
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 Unit ted States, several large
mills are reported to be idle and several
thousand 1abo rers in the mills are out
Of employment Under the proposed
tariff the manufacturers would be seri-
ously hindere d, the woo1-growers would
still refuse te, raise carpet wool and the
people who use carpets would foot the
bills for all this folly. The McKinle- =
bill would put certain grades of carpet
woods abs olutely out of reach of our
manufacturers. They will have to i'm !.
port practically every pound of wo OIL
they use, for even tariff of 100 eE
cent would not be sufficient to ind uos
our PEOPLE to go back to raising ca rp.tt
wool
It is estimated by high aut' .orise
| that the increased cost of carpet wool,
under the proposed law would "a isse TIL G
price OF carpets anywhere from mime TX
thirty-three cents a yard. / increased
cost means fewer sales, fewer earpete6
parlaars, fewer carpet mills, md fewea
workers in them. And who is to he pre,
tected by this law?
Notody; absolutely nobody.
1t is simply part of the scheme tc
humbug the farmer by max Ing him be.
lieve that he, too, is getti ng some OF
I the benefits of protection. It Will be a
| paign speeches, 'Here is protection for
you, too; we have not fospotten Won:
you also shall grow rich"
| Men who expect the far,nsy to believe
This stuff, so far as it usas ties to Garnet
wool, give him credit Eor-a very shallow
brain Instead of keiy ling him, this
duty ON carpet wool IS direct iniurv tn
him; for the farmer j. s to some extent a
! buyer of carpets. " he price of carpets
will be higher by reason of the higher
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
| lion pounds of domestic shoddy, besides
| what we Imported. How much is used
now nobody knows exactly; but calcu-
1ation has been made by the New York
Commercial Bulletin to show that at
lealst -th+rd of the m; aterial usea by
our carpet and wooden Mills is sheddy.
Thi paper is high au thority,5n trade
o;w nd 70 h
careful consideration from the
grower of wool as we'll as from
the con sumner of cloth ndecs9pets. The
Bulletin estimates that tia shoddy used
last year was some two htndred million
pounds Every pound eli shoddy used
of course draws out an equivalent of
pure wool. ''But tire wool-grower," as
this paper siIys, ~1ever stops to con-
slider that this. use Of old wool, collected
in the form of cid 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
the consumer consider that the dete-
rioration in quality of goods produced.
of which he often complains, is due in
considerable measure to the same in
fuence. The manufacturers of wool.
Wnen 1OrceO 10 CHOOSE between high
priced wool and shoddy, inevitably use
more shoddy. and less wood, and the
growers and consumers both get the
worst of it all the time. Nor is this
tendency one which can i'm any way be-
arrested by legislative Interference
There is no remedy for it possible, ex-
cept to secure the amplest and cheapest
possible supplies of wool for the manu-
facturer. Any attempt To enhance the
price can only result in more rapid in
crease in the consumption of shoddy."
Cheaper Wool and Cheaper Clothes.
The admission of foreign wool free
will cause an advance in the price of
domestic wool and at the same time
lessen the price of wooden goods. Why.
Because it is tatistical fact. For ex-
ample, from 1857 to 1862 nearly all the
fine woods of South America and the
Cape of Good Hope, and many of those
| grown in Australia, were admitted free
of duty. The prices of domestic wool
under the high tariff during the five
years ended in 1888 are put side by side
with the above:
FREE WOOL TARIFP OF 1888
| 1857. .-... IS cents 81 cents
1883. cents 1885. "a cents
1859. SO cents IsS6.........s4 cent?
1850. cents Iss7.........-.a cents
1861 ....4 cents 1888. .........-.s "a cents
So that free foreign wool and high
priced domestic wool go together Why?
Because the demand is lessened for