Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1897-01-15
WOOL SCHEDULE STILL UNDER FIRE
Nat OnRI Association Requests Mod.
crate Protection Only.

Washington, Jan. THE first speaker
upon The schedule of wooden manufacture
today was S. N. d. North of Boston, Sec
rotary of the National Wool Association.
The association, he said, counselled mod
GRAFTON In liking rates, requesting moder-
ate protection wnicn would enable them 10
reopen mills and give promise of permau-
ence, lmportations at low valuations.
ne sald, crowded upon sluggish market.
brought ruin to domestic manufacturers,
while foreigners so overdid business they.
too, suffered from reaction. The cause
was THAT the quality of goods was falling
so chat the unit of value per pound Of i'm
ported goods fell from 80 cents In 1889
to GO cents In 1895.
The decrease in value was due partly
TO the general fall in values: also to two
phases of the tariff. First, the removal
of weight duties let down the bars to
cloths practically excluded heretofore.
The ad valorem basis allowed the I'M
portation of the meanest qualities of
goods. Higher grades OF American goods
had been compelled to compete with these
cloths at prices fixed by the poorest quail
tiles. Consequently, American manufac-
turers were driven to use shoddy to COM
pete. Second, the systematic consignment
or goods of prices less than the cost Of
manufacture abroad and their sale in
this country at less than the cost Of man.
ufaeture here so that the domestic manu-
facturer compelled to calculate his costs
six months In advance, has been unable
to Know what conditions he might have to
meet He says the belief OF the wool
manufacturers is that while the law nom-
inally allows duties of 40 and SO per cent,
the protection because of under-valuations
did not exceed 25 to 35 per cent. The man
ufactprer did not complain Of the present
rates, but of the form In which they were
aSSeSApd and tha ms
the officers desired a law reducing under
valuations to a minimum and operating
with certainty and equity.
Mr. North discussed compensatory du-
ties. He said the disadvantages to the
manufacturers of such duty were:
tfr$t-lt restricted him to the narrowest
limits i'm the selection of wool, excluding
him from many blends In which the for
eign manufacturer got the best results.
Secpnd-This concentration of American
purchasers upon foreign woods increased
the price of those wools
Third-It correspondingly enlarged the
choice and cheapened the price Of the
woods of the foreign manufacture.
Fourth-All restrictions Of the old law
upon the importation of wool were de-
wised to embarrass the manufacturer, i'm
plying that the whole business of i'm
| porting woods was tainted with fraud.
Nevertheless the manufacturers did not
ItSlSN lHc ItSAOIdlfOu VI WOOl uutlcS. lncy
| agreed to a protection on wool equal to
| the protection they expected on their own
goods, but they resisted any return to the
extreme characteristics of previous sched-
ues. The use of foreign woods had be-
come Indispensable
The supply of fine woods grown here was
decreasing because the farmer found
greater profit in mutton sheep. Notwith-
| standing the high duties on wool from
| 1861 to 1894 there never was a time when
| the home supply was so insufficient.
A plea for the small mills was made by
| Samuel Thompson of Rhode Island. who
protested against high duties on rags and
| shoddy.
| The same subject was handled by Sig
| mund Mulhauser of Cleveland. Ohio, the
| head of the largest establishment OF Its
| character in the country. Mr.. Mulhauser
| deprecated the prevalent impression tnat
| shoddy was a fraud. 1t was made from
| remnants of pure wool and manufacture
| ers bought 1t to mix with new woods.
| When the witness declared that the
| manufacturers of the country were his
| lls;omers there was AN cutlery from the
| assembled manufacturers. The witness
| said that the shoddy business had flour
ishdd better under the Mckinley law than
| the Wilson law. The witness wanted high
| pf duties