The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-02-24
An Imnending Danger.

Inc Philadelphia Press has found q
rather novel argument against the pro-
posal for free wool and a reduction of the
tariff on wooden goods in the assertion
that it would subject us to the horrors of
cheap foreign-made fabrics. 1t says:
Free woods is an issue so little under
stood by Mr.. SPRINGER himself that the
general public may be very easily misled
about it. Ifcarried out as the author of the
| bill intends, it means free woolens as much
and as certainly as it does free wool. 1t
means the wreck of ell the great structure
OF industries in wool and mixed fabrics
built up during the past thirty years and
q return to the use OF the cheapest OF the
so-called woolens-the flood of English
shoddies that came over in the first years
of the war. The mills here could not
make woolens of any class, even with free
wool, to compete with free woolens as the
British make them.
This is indeed startling. as we have not
yet outgrown the memory of the war
period, and very many people knew that
the ''shoddies'' OF that period were pro-
duced by our patriotic American manu-
facturers, under the benefcent provisions
of the war tariff. And there are few
Americans now who do not know that
very much better wooden goods can be
bought for the same money almost any
where outside OF the United States than
can be had anywhere within them. If
there are any worse shoddies produced
anywhere than in this country the loca-
ton of the factory producing them has
not yet been pointed out. The Press is
also in distress concerning cheap carpet
wool. 1t says:
We have almost ceased to buy the Rus
sian or Donskoi, because the China prod
uct, which is more hair than wool, is much
cheaper and makes the cheapest carpet,
rug and plush material. Under free wool
we should fall to the Asiatic level at once,
In the coarseness of stock and the crude
ness of the fabric, because we would be
forced to do so. We do use great
quantities OF foreign wool, and the mills
make MONEY by its use. For the last fiscal
year ending June so 1891, the imports of
fine wool were 81, 230935 pounds, of long
wool 6,667 900 pounds and OF Asiatic wool
90, 405690 pounds-in all 129 1903. 64S
pounds. Most OF this was from China and
India and for carpet making
1t does not mention, however, that this
importation is an increase of about
30,000.000 pounds per annum, and that it is
occurring under the provisions of the Nc
Kinley bill, whose object was to shut out
foreign woods. 1t is not easy to imagine
how we could "fall to the Asiatic level"
much faster than we have been falling
under this wonderful protective measure,
as is here admitted by the Press. We
have advanced to a condition where our
mills ''use great quantities OF foreign wool,
and the mills make money by its use, %
and yet the price of domestic woods has
| fallen, the market has decreased and the
consumption in manufacture has lessened.
With these facts staring them in the face
| the wool-growers OF this country have rea-
son to suspect that the wool tariff is not
! just what it is represented to be. They
| have reason to think that the manufactur-
ers have taken them in. Without doubt
that tariff makes profit for some one, but
| if any farmer can show wherein he is
benefited we should like to hear from him.