Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1893-04-14
PHILADELPHIA.

large bales by the local dealers, then sold
to the manufacturers of shoddy. The
processes employed in converting the
rags into shoddy are described in an inter
esting manner, accompanied by illustra-
tons of the machinery used.
Shoddy of the best quality is made
from new all wool rags. The rags are
torn into shreds by means of a revolving
cylinder called "the devil" covered with
thousands Of short, sharp teeth. So
close do these shreds resemble real wool
that detection is almost impossible. The
shoddy is mixed with little Give" wool.
spun into yarn and made into the "al1
woop suits we hear SO much about.
Manufacturers thus foist upon the Amer
lean people clothing which has been
worn out before by four or five different
people. The last appearance of shoddy
as clothing is in the form of satinets, the
admixture Of cotton and shoddy out of
which our IS suits of clothing are made.
Even then we are not rid of it, for it is
put through another process by which it
is ground fine as dust, after which it
is called Clocks and used for filling the
cheap mattresses and pillows which the
poorer people buy.
Mr.. Estell also tells how the rags in
which WOO and cotton are mixed are
subjected to various processes which
have for their object the destruction of
the cotton, thus leaving the wool, though
in an impaired condition, yet fit to be
torn into shoddy. The union goods,
as such rags are called, are bathed in
acids in some instances and exposed to
gas in others. The acids and gas eat the
cotton Or other vegetable fbers, leaving
"wool extracts"
Shoddy and "wool extracts" are made
into yarn and woven into cloth. But
since duties have made foreign fine woods
so high that none but the rich can afford
genuine ali wool suit made of soft
woods many devices have been intro
duced to supply the demands for low
priced imitation fine wool SUITS
One way Of making "cheap coats is
to run the cloth-perhaps already half
straightforward ''fock liquor" con-
tanning wool dust. The dust adheres to
the surface and is pressed firmly into the
cloth by being passed between large
rolls. Another way Of giving soft, vel
vety texture and of adding to the weigh
of cloth consists of ''fattening" the yarn.
This is accomplished by blowing ''focks'
and fine shoddy against the threads while
they are being twisted into yarn. OF
course cloth made of such stuff has it's
faults. These, however, are hidden from
the unwary purchaser in various ways.
The ''focked" or "fulled" sides of the
cloth are pasted together, and the cloth
is then worked up into ready made cloth
ing, with openings left in the lower cor
tons of CLOCKS" and ''shoddy."
Mr.. Estell shows how the growth of
the shoddy industry has kept pace with
the decline Of the wool raising industry,
and by quotations from the manufac-
turers of shoddy themselves proved that
''shoddy" and not ''free WOOL is the
enemy of the wool raisers of America.
Such men as Mr.. Muhlhausser of Cleve-
land, the largest manufacturer of shod-
dy in America, if not in the world,
frankly said that the admission of for
eign wool into this country would mean
the destruction Of the shoddy manufac-
turing business and better prices to the
American sheep growers for their wool.
1t is the high price, because of tariff
duties, which our American clothing
manufacturers must pay for the foreign
wool, which is indispensable to the man
ufacturers Of good cloths, that drives
them to the use of shoddy instead of
native wool.
An examination of the statistics relat-
ing to the price of wool and the price OF
thoddy as given by The American Wool
ind Cotton Reporter shows that every
upward stride Of the manufacturer of
shoddy has been followed by decline Of
the price Of American woods.
While prices of bogus woods have been
well maintained, prices Of real woods
have gone down rapidly and increasingly
until the election of 1892, when the low
est prices on record We're reached. Since
then real woods are in better demand,
and prices have recovered several cents
per pound. With free wool our shoddy
manufacturers may be expected to take
a back seat and leave room for manu-
facturers of all wool cloths. In a few
years our farmers and laborers will be
indulging in as comfortable clothing and
blankets as are now common II, paarl,,