Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-01-08


not ask for free wool, but represented
that the Wilson law had closed hall
of their mills and had proved destruct-
i've to the country's business generally
They wanted compensatory duties on
wooden goods, and a more moderate
tariff than the wool growers had ask
ed. Their chief spokesman was the
secretary of the Wool Manufacturers
Association, S. D. n North, of Boston.
Mr. Whitman. OF the Arlington mills,
of Massachusetts, urged the committee
to consider the question OF permanence
above everything else in framing tne
tariff. and 3. c. Moss, of Maine, sug-
gested discriminating duties against
consigned goods.
Sigmund Muhlhauser, of Cleveland
the proprietor of the largest shoddy fac-
tory in the country, asserted that the
wooden manufacturers bought his
goods and promised to give the commit
tee a list of his customers.
The first speaker upon the schedule
of woolen manufactures to-day was D.
D. n. North of Boston, secretary OF the
National Wool Manufacturers Assoc.a-
ton. who made a statement in behalf
of the organization. The ASSOCIATION
counseleed moderation in fixing rates,
requesting moderate protection, Whlcn
would enable them to reopen their
mills. but not excessive duties, and
promise of permanence. Changes were
only a less evil. he said, than rates too
low to hermit competition with foreign
ers. The wool manufacturer had suf-
fered more than any other by the tariff
of 1894. The months preceding the tar
if revision Of 1894 and the two years
subsequent included the most disas-
trous period to American woolen man
ufacturers. The bulk Of the wooden
and worsted machinery had been Who'll
" or partially idle. At present there
was more machinery in operation than
during the summer. but the general
condition of the manufacturer was bad.
o, her causes beside the tariff contrib
uted to business paralysis. but the pros
pect of business revival brought no
promise Of improvement to this indus
try.
Imports OF cloth in 1895 ran up to
40, ,070. 900 pounds, almost equal to the
three years, 1891, 1892 and 1893, under
the Mckinley act. The largest guam
tity of cloths imported in any year be-
fore was 16.24S,31S, in 1892, and the in
crease in 1895 over the largest previous
year was 147 per cent. The total i'm
ports of the manufactures of wool in
1895 were valued at s60,319,000 foreign
value. The duty paid value was $9O,-
600 600; about one-third the value OF
woolens made in the mills of the United
States in such year as 1890, and equal
to about one-half the domestic product
in 1895. The United States has enough
machinery, when in operation, to sup
ply home consumption.
These importations at low valuations,
he said. crowded upon sluggish mar
ket broke down the domestic manu-
factures. while the foreigners so over
did the business that they, too, suffered
from the reaction. No recovery of the
market seemed possible under the ex-
listing tariff. The cause was that the
quality of goods was falling so that the
unit Of value a pound of imported
goods, fell from 80 cents in 1894 to 60
cents in 1895 The decrease in value
was due partly to the general fall in
values: also to two phases of the tariff
namely:
First. the removal of weight duties
let down the bars to cloths practically
excluded heretofore The ad valorem
basis allowed the importation Of the
meanest qualities of goods, the pro-
ducts of Bailey and Dewsbury districts
in England, where the making of wool
ems out of shoddy, cows hair and rub
bish has been reduced to science.
Higher grades of American goods had
been compelled to compete with these
cloths at the price fixed by the poorer
qualities Consequently American
manufacturers were being driven to
use shoddy to compete.
Second, the systematic consignment
of goods at prices less than the cost
of manufacture abroad and their sale
in this country at less than the cost
of manufacture here, so that the do
mestic manufacturer, compelled TO CAL
culate his costs six months in advance,
has been unable to know what condi-
tions he might have to meet.
It was the belief Of wool manufac-
turers that while the law nominally
allows duties of so and 80 per cent, the
nrotection because of undervaluations
did not exceed 25 to 35 per cent. The
manufacturer did not complain OF the
present rates, but of the manner of col
lection. and to the dividing lines In the
leyving of an ad valorem duty, and par
ticularly to the dividing line at 90 cents
Mound. which tempted importers to
save 10 per cent in duties by underyalS
nations of 2 or cents pound. Ihe
manufacturers desire a law reducing
urdervaluations to a minimum and
onerating with certainty and equity. A
enecial committee Of the Rate Associa-
tion of Wool Manufacturers, after
Years investigation. had concluded
that II was impossible TO do away with
the ed valorem principle because OF
variations in weave. texture. materials
and finish. which distinguished wool
ens from other textures. Therefore.
the compensatory duty was the vital
mart of the wool schedule. II was the
,oisfortnne of the industry that 1t was
tho only one upon whose raw materials
tbe protective policy required duty
n be placed which correspondingiy IN
creased its cost ~,
other duties on raw material ala
not Affect the cost OF the finished pro-
duct Ohio wool had dropped in value
1