The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-11-03
THE DEMOCRATS TO BLAME.
A Wooden manufacturer Comments
ON the Business Situation.
Boston Herald Oem.

Mr. Charles Fletcher the founder of the
great mill in Olneyville, r. l., which bears
his name. an authority among the wooden
goods manufacturers of this country, whose
name is known in England makes some
statements, showing that the producers not
only do not contemplate starting up in the
the great wooden industries of the country
is far from fiattering. Mr.. Fletcher says:
Il have searched carefully during the
last three months for the principal cause
of the industrial stagnation which has
seemed to paralyZe everything. AS q result
OF my investigation, l am ready to say that
l lay the entire blame at the door of the
Democratic administration, in it's threats to
change the tariff on wool and wooden fab
rics.
II find, by going about among the job
bers of New York in my search for infor
nation, that the very people who have been
IN the habit of carrying from $2,0OO,eOO TO
SVV0,OOO worth of goods each have been
cutting down their stocks as rapidly as pos
sible and that some of the older and larger
wholesale clothing houses have turned their
stores into retail houses and are disposlng
of their stocks with as much expedition as
possible. Under these circumstances, how
are we, as manufacturers, to expect TO get
our orders and keep our mills running and
our help employed?
Free wool means the taking of II cents
a pound off the cost of wool in the grease
BaSlnS the Shrinkage of these woods, which
we mostly import for this class OF GOODS
at so per cent, that would make % cents
on the secured wool per pound. BY conse-
and the saving in waste of 8 cents per
pound from the loss usual on oils, there
would be clear gain on free wool Of %
cents a pound.
ION the other hand, we would lose, by
the change of the tariff, SO cents, and this
under. the Springer bill There is, then. a
present prices under the Mckinley bill.
Il now have an important question to
pie, and it is where that "a cents of loss is
to come from. 1t can come from no other
source than from the wages. The loss must
be made up somewhere if we are to COM
pete with the foreign manufacturer.
Some people who might have this prob
lem submitted to them might say that we
should take the 81 cents out of our profits.
Any. Jobber who has a knowledge of the
wooden business will tell you that it would
not be possible TO take out more than 10
cents of that loss from the profits provd-
ing that took all the profits. When the man
ufacturer has done even that, then there is
margin against him of "a cents. and again
1 ask where the manufacturer, who has
done his best with his plant and got the
cost down to the point where there is but
That y cents margin, is going to get the
dl11erence, unless he takes il out of the
other cost of the producton-the wages. L
would like to have some smart man pick
up this matter and answer the question if
he can.
But some people are arguing that be-
cause the manufacturers have this summer
could have run off, that will surely make
demand for goods later on, and hence
the mills will have to start up very soon.
Such appears to be the fact on the surface
but who is to get that demand to fill UP
the gap? You may put that down for the
foreigners. The manufacturers of Bradford
and Huddersfield England, expect to get
that demand, and they feel jubilant and
willing to speculate to get it, and are
doing so now, and think they have a good
thing before them.
Il make the prediction that all the wool
en- mills in the United States will not pro-
duce % per cent. of their apacty from
v,.1x 10 hn 1o+ 6nx Of Tny1Y
for the months that are TO follow immedi-
ately after Jan. l, 1894, L think that the
outlook is even gloomier L have men to
whom / pay from SIS to SIS a week. l have
seen the same grade of workngmen, pro-
ducing exactly good cloth they, in
Bradford, England, for 15s to 1Ss per week"