The Press., 1893-11-09
(American Wool and Cotton Reporter.) A TRUSTWORTHY LETTER.
The Conservative Recommendations of MT
 Robert Bleakie.

The following is copy of letter sen
 by MT. Robert Bleakie to prominen
 democrat, last fall, shortly after the cleo
 tion. This expresses, fairly, MT. Bleak
 ie's views regarding the tariff on wool an,
 woolen goods, and shows that, while h.
 believes in tariff revision, it should b.
 reached in such a way as not to brin,
 disaster to manufacturers of limite,
 means:
 MY DEAR SIR.-Though my views upoI the revision of the tariff laws have beer asked for in many quarters, thus far
 have declined to state in any public
 manner what l think ought to be done tt
 bring about that business condition of the
 wool and woolen industries of the couptr,
 which the Mills bill aimed to accomplish My reason for declining publicity in this
 matter is that prefer my views to reach
 those, to whom the revision of the tariff
 may be entrusted, by my own hand, rath
 CT than through the public press, where might be suspected of courting notorie
 ty for which I care nothing But care that the principles of the Mills bill, re garding the industry which I represent
 be applied in such way that vested in
 terests will be touched as lightly as possi
 ble, and that the American public shall
 bear share in the shrinkage of values which must take place necessarily wher the tariff tax is taken from our raw ma. terial.
 The recent prosperous condition of the woolen business, compared with what ii
 was four years ago, must make it appar. ent to our lawmakers that no preoipitate uiclo ch INa hoI %o existing prosperity and give color to those predictions of disaster in which our polit. ical opponents have so freely indulged.
 Therefore, would advise about as fol. lows; Let the bill provide that the pres. ent duty of II cents per pound on import ed clothing wools be changed to 7a cents per pound, to take effect January 1, 1894 that on July 1, 1894, the present compen. satory or pound duty on imported cloth be reduced one-third that on January 1, 1 1895, the tax on imported wool be further reduced from 7a cents to B cents per | pound that on July 1, 1895, there be an. other one-third reduction of the pound duty, leaving it one-third of what it now | is; that on January 1, 1896, all the tax on imported wool be taken off; and on July l 1, 1896, all the compensatory duty be re- moved from imported cloth.
 But the present ad valorem duty should be left, for that will prove no more of a burden to our home consumers than does the 40 per cent. duty on imported cotton goods, or the B per cent protection given ! our leather manufacturers. Both of these ! industries are shipping out of the coun- try, at profit, millions of dollars worth of their products, while they are supply ing domestic consumers with cotton and leather goods as cheap as they can be found anywhere in the world. If these l industries are not burden to the general public, and supply our working people with large field of remunerative labor, the woolen industry should be given a like opportunity, and it will present the splendid like results.
 ! The method above outlined reaches free wool by such easy stages that capital will not be frightened, and labor thereby 1 thrown into idleness. But should a law be passed which would put wool on the free list, say one year from date of l enactment, in my opinion, the results would be disastrous in the extreme. Be- cause, fully one-half of the wool needed to clothe our people is imported; and it is fair to say that 50 per cent. of the stock on hand in the mills throughout the country is foreign wool. By no necro-
 
 years notice. that this amount of tariff taxed wool can be in the hands of the consuming public within that year with out shutting down all the mills nine months before free wool shall become the law. In simple justice to the manufac- turer, and to the dealer in woolens, he should be saved from loss on account of that tariff tax which the government has exacted from him for it's support. This is no small matter, but one far reaching in it's consequences. There is, in the country, wool, raw, wrought and in pro- cess; cloth upon the market; clothing in the large clothing establishments; and clothing throughout all the country stores to meet the peoples wants; all to an es- timated value of nearly $500, ,000,000. It cannot be reasonably doubted that, if wool is made free at once, it will cause a reduction of not less than 20 per cent. in the value of the above stock on hand. This would mean shrinkage of $120,- COG, ,O00, to be borne by the manufactur- CTS of and dealers in wool and woolen clothing. This would come little short of taking from them their entire working capital, and could not fail to be disastrous to the country and to any party which was the cause of it. We may see the re- suit of too rapid changes by turning our attention to our financial condition soon after the civil war ended. Gold was then | fluctuatng between premiums of 150 to TO. But by the actual increase of wealth in the country in few years the premium fell to about 116 Then arbitrary legisla- tion was indulged in, and a time fixed when specie payments should be resumed. Hardly had that law been passed when business men all over the country became conservative; everybody held on to the paper dollar; money become scarce. One of the results was, that real estate, upon which the funds of savings banks | were largely loaned, shrunk so much in X value that those banks were obliged to X take refuge under the stay-law in very many cases, and to scale down on their deposits, in some instances, as much as one-eighth. In the general increase of wealth throughout the country since that time, real estate has not only recovered from the terrible shrinkage it sustained, but has advanced in value. But this ad- vance came too late to save the tens of [ thousands of working men, and people of | moderate means, whose equity in their | little homes was all consumed by the blighting effect of unnecessary and un- timely legislation.
 But it may be suggested that the gov | ernment reimburse the manufacturer the taxes which have been collected on the wool in his mill, and in his cloth yet un- sold. That would satisfy the manufac- | turer; but then another claimant ap- pears: The great clothing trade of the country, whose cloth on hand is made from this tariff-taxed wool, is entitled to consideration. And, if so, so is every lit tie store-keeper who has wooden goods to II IL L T further, and compensate the man who has just bought new suit of woolen clothes | It is to avoid such troubles. complica- tions, and absurdities, that urge change of the tariff on wool by such easy stages that the desired result will be so reached as to briug harm to no one, and let the l general public bear it's fair share of the consequences of past legislation, for which it has, to a greater or less extent, been