The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-09-16
EXCLUSION OF SHODDY,

| Which the Springer ISiil Passed by the
| Present Democratic House W0dId Have
| Corrected, and Cholera Germs Would
Have Been Scattered over the Land.
Theodore Justice. wool commission
merchant of Philadelphia, in a letter to
/ the Evening Telegraph of that city,
touches the vulnera bic spot OF the DEM
Ocrats on the shoddy point That
party has attacked the Mckinley bill
as likely to promote the greater use Of
shOddv. when in fact, that article of
commerce is prohibited by that law.
Under the tariff law Of lSS3, when
the daty on shoddy was 10 cents
pound we imported in the one year o.
1855 over 5000. 600 pounds. During the
first fiscal year under the Mckinley law,
when the duty was increased from 10 to
so cents Il pound, the importation of
shoddy ceased. The Springer bill pro-
posed to reduce the duty on shoddy
from 80 cents to = cents Il pound. Ev-
cry pound of shoddv tailas the place Of
three pounds of unwdshcd American
wool. Estimating the use of shOddy
here under the Springer bill on the
basis Of the amount of it now in use in
free trade England, we would import
annually, under that bill, more than
80, OOO, 600 pounds, displacing three times
this much unwashed American wool, or
$50, coo. 900 pounds, which IS one-half
the entire clip of the United States.
But let Mr.. Justice speak for himself:
The Philadelphia Record states that
the chief effect of this system (the Me-
Kinley law in excluding foreign wool
which the country needs and cannot
produce, has been to develop abnormal
~ the shoddy industry.
while the prices of domestic wool
have gone down for want of sufficient
supplies of foreign wool to mix with it
the demand for filthy rags to make
clothing for the American people Is
steadily increasing"
Let us see how far out of the way
the Record is with regard to the facts
on this subject, and look for 4 moment
at their proposed remedy BY subSti-
tuting the Springer bill, which reduces
the duty on shoddy from 30 cents under
the present law to , cents, which is the
amount of duty that would be collected
upon Shoddy under the Springer bill
The imports Ofrags, shOddy, waste, etc,
for the year 1855 when the duty was 10
cents per pound, according to the statis-
teal manual compiled by the treasury
agent in charge of the census, s. n. E
North, were S,47S, 9S4 pounds.
The Mckinley law increased the duty
on shoddy from 10 cents to so cents, and
the imports under the first fiscal year
ended June so, 1892, for not only shOd-
I 4 l,,@ oil
mungo, flOcks, and waste, were only
81, S25 pounds, a decrease of 80 per cent,
showing that the Mckinley bill has
literally prohibited the Importation OF
shoddy. The present democratic house
of representatives proposed to remedy
this wicked exclusion of shOddy" IN
der the Mckinley law by substituting
their Springer bill, which proposes to
reduce the duty on shOddy from the
present duty of 80 cents to about cents
per pound. Now if there were over
5000, 900 pounds imported when the
duties were 10 cents, and the imports
fell off to practically nothing when the
duties were raised TO 80 cents, it is fair
to assume, with the Springer bill duties
at , cents, we would import over So
600, 900 pounds of shoddy. Every pound
of shoddy would displace three pounds
OF American unwashed wool AS this
great amount of shoddy, as everybody
knows. is made from the cast-off, dis
ease-germed rags gathered up from all
parts of the world, including the pau
pers of Europe, and including SMALL
pOx, leprosy and cholera pervaded dis
tricts, the people can form some idea OF
the disadvantages of repeating the
present Mckinley law, which excludes
shoddy. and of substituting in its place
the Springer bill, which will probably
be the first important revenue measure
passed in the event of the reelection
of Mr. Cleveland.
The Record states that while the
prices of domestic wool have gone
down for the want of sufficient supplies
of foreign wool to mix with it." etc, in
point of fact since the passage of the
Mckinley law the average decline in
the finest woods of Australia and the
Argentine Republic in the markets OF
the world has been about 80 per cent,
and the average decline in the same
qualities of American wool for the
same period has been less than ~ per
cent. The foreign decline in the mar
kets of the world was wholly the cause
of the American decline; and but for
timely passage of the Mckinley law,
which excludes SO much foreign
cloth, ald which gives its manu-
facture to American mills, the whole
amount of the foreign decline would
have been equaled by similar decline
in American wool. and the reason why
American wool has declined only 70 per
cent, while foreign woods have de-
clined 80 per cent, has been because Of
the increased demand for wool by
American mills, which are now better
employed than ever before, and which
are now using more wool than ever be-
fore in making the goods which, pre-
vious to the passage of the Mckinley
law, were imported, and which would
be again imported if the duties were re-
duced as is proposed by the Springer
bill, which would be sure to follow the
election of President Cleveland and q
democratic congress.
Tariff Picture.
Reciprocity IS q sham; cur recipro-
ity treaties are mostly with agriculture
al Countries yawps the free trader,