The Forrest City times., 1891-09-11
DEATH IN TIE POT.
DAVID A. WELLS ON TAE WOOL
 TARIFF
He shows It's Effects In Increasing the Use of Shoddy-Consumptio and Pneumonia hom the TariG standpoint - How Our Death Rate Is Affected by shoddy.
The Wool Tarin.

ArlH TOT tho New York World. He takes as his text tho Bible words, There IS death in the pot applying them to the enormous development of the shoddy business by reason of the tax on wool and the inJurious effects of shoidy cloth ing upon the health of the eople.
 Alter calling attention to tho analysis made by tho New York DrH Goods Econ omsst to show that our manufacturers who favor hi h tax on wool use com paratively lit wool in making their so-ealed "woo on goods" while those manufacturers who arc asking for free wool arc makers of good, honest fabrics Mir. Wells concll d s:
 'ln view of these revelations, is it a mere coincidence, as the Economist per tlnently asks, that the men engaged in the business of making bogus woolens and emp oying skilled designers. as they undoubtedly do not so much for pro- ducing attractive fabrics as for in geniou iy hid ng from the public their Infer or nature, should be stanch advo- catcs of a high tariff on wool; while the manufactIrcrs of al-woo goods arc in favor of free wool? Is not the explana- ton to be found in the fact that high taxed wool means to its advocates \ larger market for productions composed mainly of sh ddy, cotton, cow-hair, and little wool? while tho advocate of free wool feels that If he had all tho wool markets of tho world to draw from on the same bas as his foreign compet itors he could meet the arge domestic demand for heavy woolens with goods made of all or nearly all wool It is in- teresting also To note that while a large class of Amer can wool manufacturers SUI, h men as l. +. Bigeow, ] Wiley Ed monls, Theodore omer ', and the spe- cial representative, dohn l., liayes-were unanimous in ls66 in character ing shod- dy as 'a worthless material,' and earn est ln tho petition to Congress to save the American peo To from the calamity of it's use the representatives and sue ceSsors of these same men arc HOW equally agreed that sho dy properly pre-. ared IS an innoxious and most ser. viceahle material,' and that it is only through it's extensive use that the American people can have cheap cloth ing and appear well dressed. of course this latter proposition has foundation so long a, iis . policy (Which these same frie. ds Of shojdy adyoca.el Is main tained that prevents the American peo- pie from having proper and natural supply of wool, and wh ch If abrogated would Lot ouiy render the use Of shoddy as condition for producing oh ap clothing to great extant unnecessary, but would make feasible the produt ton Of clothing that was equally cheap and at tho samo time warm. healthy and durable. lu short. was there ever bet ter illustration of tho wise maxim, that the great art Tn all cases of fraud upon the pub ic is to get up quan,ta sttHctt of tho wrong, and then sot the abomina- ton to defend itself.
 ~Ntw, wherein Is the pertinency of theso facts to the Scriptural text adopt ed ss the title ot this article, . he, q Is Death G the Pot? lust hero: The tarth taxes imposed on that proportion of tho wool consumption of the country about 500, ,ooo,o 0 pounds wh ch the co ntry dces not produ c, and which it ss needfnl Co import, augment the price of q WOO clothing to the American masses to q degrec that ,hoy cannot or xf0 unwl.lins Ia pay Let any one who des,les to test this matter for himself fin suire at any reSpectab furnishing store the re ative prices of undoubte 1 alt wool fabrics, and of tho fabrications that ordinarily pas under tho name of wooiens, and ho wil te abundantly sat.
 
 buy at some popu ar price something for their othing which IS called 'woo.en, but which is not rightluiiy entitled to auy such desiu unation--someiniug hke the fabrics before referred to pro duced in Philadelphia and andy xed by tho Drg Goods HerG5laHt, which wero compos q of = per cont of cotton and shoddy The climate of tho United States, ospec alls of it's northern port ons, S.as everybo y knows, liablo to sudden and extreme changes in nperatare, and for tn practically six winter months of the year. it is mosG es. sential that l [ posed to such changes should be Wa, mly and substantial clad No ono in tn ir senses would knowingly venture into at osph rc charged with conditions favorlng grip pneumonia ard the var cd throat and lung ailments or diseases clad in cotton garments X And yet this Is exactly what the work ingmen and poorer ,las es of the Co ..n- try do hao. o.tuatsy unGer | tarilf system that prevents tho proper ani health ul use ot wsoi for tho most ordinary c oth ing purpos 's. Does not this condition of things also suggest possible explanation ol the fact that while the mortality fro d consu nptlon and pneumonia in the Uniaed Sta es Is greater than from any other causes tho rate per lJt, 0oA deaths ann ally in this country from these dis easns is far greater than in tue cold and morc damp climates of England and Wales
 "in 1880 the morta ity from consnmp. ticn in the nlted Sta es was Ut the rate of l3,o Q in every i0a,o deatas and s,33o rom pneu The core pon . ing figures for the same year Eng and and ales re t,ia for consumption aud {, 1s2 for pneumonia
 '1ertainty tho man who wears the cheap cont which the high tar.ff on wool coppels him to wear, IS like to be come very cheap before he gets through wearns 1t
 "t oncerning tho sanitary influence of the exces i've use ot shoddy in tho United states as q matoria fo the manufacture of t othing, a spirit of fairness requires tho statement that when lroperly pre- pared. as 1t undoubtedly Is in most cases. Its original earthy or organ'c impurities are wholly or in a great oegreo e,imi- mated fro it or destroyed by the processes of carding. spinning, boiling, dyeing and teamn to which 1t is sub jected in it's conversion to fabrics, But as all these roeesses arc costly and are not pr mariy undertaken fro n sanitary considerations. the tendency is to regard the purifi,ation of shoddy In it's iAigest sense. In the course of it's nanu acture. as an ilcidentai matter, In respect tn which any spec,al ort is not necessary Hut b. this as 1t may. shO sdy IS not wool, and if the W arers or clothing largely made from 1t and pur-