The Jamesburg record., 1897-05-08
uool EN- MANUFACTURERS
Urge MODERATION.

4 u,0h Duties and Consequent
Au prices Will Restrict the Use Of
Woolens.
come of the severest criticisms not
onlv of special duties and clauses, but
o os The whole accursed protective sys-y
" u, come from the protected manufac-
trrars themselves in their struggle with
SS,osino interests. Mr.. S. n. d. North,
oppY oadrotarv of the Woolen Manufacturers
s.sociation. is now and always has been
stanch protectionist. As such he be-
f;eyes th at the 20, 900, 600 consumers Of
+bis country are legitimate subjects for
s1,,ndar and that the manufacturers
are the proper persons to enjoy the pro-
lection plunder.
Tho free wool experiment. which we
have been trying for three years, besides
beine an object lesson in the way of
obean woolens, has taught the woolen
,,annfacturers that they can make as
,nnch or more profit with free wool and
moderate protection, which permits peo-
rle of moderate means to wear real
troolen goods, than with high duties on
both wool and woolens, which restricts
the use of woolens to people in good cir
cnmstances. The manufacturers there
fore display more than their usual mod
sestv and patriotism in the advice which
they are giving to congress. Mr.. North
is in Washington to voice the manufac-
turers patriotism. Here is part of his
advice as taken from the Washington
correspondence of The Dry Goods Econ
,omist:
lam free to say the bill is far from satisfac
tory TO the woolen manufacturers The chief
fault is to be found with the raw wool duties,
which are so high that our manufacturers Will
find themselves sorely embarrassed 1t is true
the committee has provided compensatory
dnties which are probably sufficient to Offset
the duties on raw wool, but the difficulty will
be- in my opinion, that the very considerable
increase in price which must be made to cover
the additional cost of raw material will have
the effect of cutting down consumption to an
extent that will be disastrous to the manufac
turers. | do not contend that the rates on
woolen manufactures in the bill are not sufi-
cient to protect us against too severe foreign
competition, but the limit of the consumers
purchasing power must control him in buying
woolen manufactures, and fear the rates Of
the new bill will very materially restrict con
sumption.
This is practically saying to Dingley,
Aldrich and the other servants of the
protected manufacturers at Washington:
go slow with your high duties and
don't try to protect too many. If you
let everybody into the protection ring,
there will be nobody outside to prey
upon and we will have to prey upon
each other Don't make the mistake of
taxing raw materials too high. We
wouldn't mind it if we could sell our
goods and charge the tax over to the
consumer But when the tax is SO high
that we have to make our prices almost
out of sight we have found that we cam
not sell so many goods, because the peo-
pie can't afford to wear clothes-that
is, woolen clothes, which are the only
ones worth considering because they are
the only ones which we manufacture.
Our solicitude for the dear American
consumer is such that we do not wisk
to compel him to clothe himself in the