Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-10-26


Sherman and Thomas Dolan, the Man
uacturer of woolens-The Dilemma
Presented to Major Mckinley.
Eigh tariffs on wool affect the price of
domestic wool in two ways. On the one
hand they restrict the importation Of
fine woods to mix with our medium
wools in making fine goods, and thus
invite the importation Of the goods
themselves. In this way the demand
for our medium woods is decreased and
their price goes down. On the other
hand high tariffs so enhance the price of
goods that there is constant tempta-
ton to use shoddy and other bogus ma
terials in wooden manufacture. This
also decreases the demand for wool and
lowers its price. To such an extent is
shodiy used now that it is common
remark among wooden manufacturers
today that all wool goods are the excep-
ton and not the rule; that in fact the
greatest advancement in the wooden in
dust1y during the past ten years has
been in machinery and methods for the
working of shoddy and other bogus ma
terials.
Hence it is that with every increase in
duties the price of wool goes down.
Ser ator Allison recognized the truth
of the above when he said in 1870 during
the debate on the wool duties: 81 allude
to the wool tariff, a law the effect of
which has been materially to injure the
oh h,,sharl,,- 90 A.
the law now is the tariff upon fine woods
of character not produced in this
country is 100 per cent. on their cost.
Before the tariff of 1867 our manufac-
turers of fine goods mixed foreign fine
woods with our domestic product and
were thus able to compete successfully
with the foreign manufacturers of SINH
lar goods. But, being prohibited from
| importing this class of woods, these fine
woods cannot now be produced in this
country as cheaply as they can be i'm
| ported. Consequently mills that were
formerly engaged in producing these
| goods have been compelled to abandon
| business or manufacture the coarser fab.
RIGS. # they could afford to manufac.
ture these fine goods they would make
market which we do not now have, fol-
our fire woods to be mixed with othe,
fine wools of a different character from
| abroad. The want of a market, as
understand it, is the reason why our fine
woods now command so low price"
| Senator Sherman expressed similar
view in 1898, when he said, during the
debate on the wool schedule: "In 1861
the price of wool was fifty-one cents; in
1870, forty-six cents; in 1880, which was
an abnormal year, forty-eight cents
This was the result of the policy of pro
tecting the wool grower, as it is in al
industries, to gradually reduce the price
Under the operation of the existing laws
(the tariff of 1861 the price of wool has
gradually gone down."
Believing that the same thing would
occur again if the duties were raised
The Manufacturer, the organ of the high
tariff manufacturers club of Philadel
phia, advocated an increase in the dutie.
on WOO. In January, 1890, it said
"When the duties have gone up, price:
have gone down; when duties have de
clined, prices have advanced. The do
nestle manufacturer has always had al
abundance of superior fiber at low
prices under tariffs which imposed higf
duties upon wool, and he is today paying
more for wool than he would have paiG
if the defective tariff law of 1888 admin
istered by free trade administration
had not practically cut down the WOO
duties" And on Oct. 16, 1890, after tn,
Mckinley tariff had gone into effect, i
expressed its satisfaction as follows
1.-The prices of wool have always de
clined wnen the duties have been ad
vanced, and no doubt exists in the mint
of any well informed man that they vii
again decline now that the new tariff
has put the duties up"
1t seems that the editor had gooi
pointer for the above prediction, for Mr.
Dolan, the president of the club and it
representative at the conferences witt
the wool growers at which the dutie
were agreed upon, recently said: sit i
an interesting fact, deserving much EN-
phasis of statement, that the prices O
wool are lower now than they were on,
year ago. This result was distinct,
promised by protectionists during tn,
discussion which accompanied the fran
ing of the tariff bill"
No wonder that, in view of the above
Sherman and Mckinley are avoiding tn,
wool question in their attempts to justif,
the new tariff.