Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-06-17
SHODDY CLOTHING.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FAST BE-
COMING A NATION OF "SHAKeRS,r
Since the Mckinley Bill Went Into Eff
feet the Shoddy Business Has Been
Unusually Prosperous-Our Tariff q
Godsend to Shoddy Manufacturers.

feet the Shoddy Business Has Been
Unusually Prosperous-Our Tariff
Godsend to Shoddy Manufacturers.
There can be little doubt that the
American people wear more shoddy
than do the people of any other country
on the face of the globe. Here are
few of the proofs of this statement:
First-According to the census statis-
tics of 1880 the total amount of raw ma
terial consumed in the manufacture of
wooden goods was 404, 000, 900 pounds.
After reducing wool to a secured basis
we find that only It's, OO0, 900 pounds of
pure wool were consumed. This shows
that the composition of wooden goods
made in 1880 was los parts of adulter-
ants and us parts of pure wool The
census of 1890 shows that the number of
pounds of pure wool used had increased
to 1874 900, 900, and of shoddy, cotton and
other adulterants from 106, 900. 900
pounds in 1880 to 154, GOO, 900 pounds in
1S90-thus giving a ratio of 45 parts of
pure wool to So parts of adulterants.
Second-Since the Mckinley bill went
into effect the shoddy business has en-
joyed an era of unusual prosperity. As
an indication of this we quote the fol-
lowing under the heading, Rags, Shod-
dies, Wastes and Extracts" from The
American Wool and Cotton Reporter of
May 10, 1892:
"New Clips-There has beel, steady
current of business during the past
week and results have been altogether
satisfactory.
Merchant tailors' clips, darks and
black, are picked up as fast as made.
The pronounced demand for darl1s and
black worsted, noted last week con-
tinues. There is more or less inquiry
for all the various grades of new wooden
rags.
''Woolen Rags-Some dealers aver
that they have sold in the two weeks of
May, 1892. within few hundred dollars
of all last Mays QS9D sales. In the sale
during the past week Of red, blue. gray
knit there has been no let up. White
hnseys have moved well, so has hood
stock generally. Dark and light merinos
are selling fast.
"Shoddies-Business for the first half
of May (Monday, 49, has favorably COM
pared with last years record in the
same period. There is Enthusiastically an
increased demand for finer stock.
cts-Manufacturers in general
are having all they can do to fill orders
"Wool Waste-There has been no
falling off this month in this trade.
During the past week a good deal of
high grade waste has been sold.
"Flocks-Business in this line for the
month thus far has been quite salts
factory
The same indications of the healthy
growth of this unhealthful industry are
continued in this journal of May &c.
while, as usual, there are on the same
page over twenty advertisements of
shoddy manufacturers.
Third-No other country has duty on
woods that will average 60 or 20 per cent.
thus depriving us of the purer wool and
compelling us to use all kinds of adulter-
ants-rags, hair, cotton, etc. That our
tariff is a godsend to the shoddv manu-
facturers is testified to by the fact that
in 1888, when the Mills bill proposed to
give us free wool, seventeen rag and
shoddy dealers signed a circular used by
the Republican national committee) in
which they denounced the Mills bill as a
free trade measure and said that free
wool would ruin their business. Further
testimony comes from the petition Of the
kensington Reform club, of Philadel-
phia (Which contains about $50 wool
workers., presented to congress April 6,
1892. After asking for free wool to help
the wooden business and incidentally to
provide steadier employment for more
labor and to give cheaper clothing to the
consumer, they say that the materials of
manufacture are deteriorating. and the
manufacturers dare not put their work
ingmen on the stand to testify under
oath, for then there would be full cor
roboration of the statement made to YOUR
honorable committee of ways and means
by the committee of the Wool Consum-
ers' association that the Mckinley law
has largely promoted the adulteration of
wooden manufactures.