The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-01-08
USED BY MANUFACTURERS.
LIGHT SHED ON THE INDUSTRY
BEFORE THE HOUSE TARIFF
COMMITTEE.
SECOND DAY OF WOOL SCHEDULE.
Frauds Through differentiation
Called to the Attention OF the
New Tariff Trainers.

ing day IN the tariff hearings. They
did not ask for free wool, but represent
ed that the Wilson law had closed half
of their mills and had proved destruc-
tive to the country's business general
ly. They wanted compensatory duties
ON wooden goods and a more moderate
tariff than the wool growers had asked
Their chief spokesman was the secre-
tary of the Wool Manufacturers as,
ISOLATION, S. d. N North, Of Boston.
VIM. Whitman. f the Arlington mills,
of Massachusetts, urged the committee
tc consider the question of permanence
above everything else in framing the
tariff, and B. C. Moses, of Maine. sug-
gested discriminating duties against
consigned goods. Sigmund Muhlhauser
of Cleveland, the proprietor of the
largest shoddy factory in the country,
asserted that the wooden manufac-
tuners all bought his goods and prom
ised to give the committee list of his
customers
The first speaker today was Mr.
North, who presented the case of the
manufacturers association. Mr. North
discussed in detail the theory of the
compensatory duty, and estimated the
manufacturing loss on wool at an
average of 80 per cent AS heretofore
asserted, the duty bore no relation to,
the value of the material; it might be
equivalent to so per cent or to $50 per
cent ad valorem, according to shrink
age, and was a tax on every pound of
dirt and grease imported with the
wool. The compensatory duty was
based on shrinkage of 60 per cent The
tariff on secured wool. three times as
high as on greasy, fixed by the grow
ers, established in the law a uniform
shrinkage of sc 2-3 per cent, but COM
PEELED the manufacturer to import
greasy woods. The compensatory duty
piled up the duty on goods to a point
far above that necessary for protective
purposes, every cent added to the duty
on wool making necessary the addi-
ton of four cents on wooden goods.
The association counseled moderation
in fixing rates. requesting moderate
protection, which would enable them
to reopen their mills. but not excessive
duties, and promise of permanence.
STABILITY WANTED.
Changes were only a less evil, he
said, than rates too low to permit COM
petition with foreigners. The wool
manufacturers had suffered more than
any other class by the tariff of 1894.
The months preceding the tariff re-
vision Of'1S94 and the two years subse-
quent included the most disastrous
period to American wooden manufac-
turers. The bulk of the wooden and
Worsted machinery had been wholly
n. ri o1l xyi
more machinery in operation than dur
ing the summer, but the general con-
ditiOn of the manufacturer was bad.
On the subject Of undervaluations,
Mr.. North said the systematic conSign-
ment 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, had so re-
suited that the domestic manufacturer,
compelled to calculate his costs six
months in advance, had been unable
to know what conditions he might have
to meet. II was the belief of wool man.
ufactuFerS, that while the law nominal
ly allows duties Of 40 and so per cent,
the protection, because of under Valu-
alton, did not exceed 25 to 35 per cent.
The manufacturer did not complain of
the present rates, but of the form in
which they were assessed and the
manner collected, and to the dividing
lines in the levying of an ad valorem
duty, and particularly to the dividing
line at so cents a pound, which tempt
ed importers to save 10 per cent in
duties by differentiation of two or
three cents a pound.
The manufacturers did not resist the
restoration of wool duties; they 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 pre-
vious schedules. The use Of foreign
woods had become Indispensable The
supply Of fine woods grown here was
decrea sing, because the farmer found
greater profit in mutton sheep. Not
outstanding 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 Thomas Sampson, of Rhode Island,
who protested against high duties on
rags and shoddy.
MARKET FOR SHODDY
The same subject was handled by
Sigmund Muhlhauser of Cleveland, o.,
the head Of the largest establishment
OF it's character in the country en-
plOying 700 hands. Mr. Muhlhauser
deprecated the prevalent impression
that shOddy was a fraud. It was made
from remnants of pure wool, and man
ufacturers bought it to mix with new
woods. When the witness declared that
all the leading manufacturers of the
country were his customers there was
outcry from the assembled manufac-
turers. The witness said that the
shoddy business lad f1ourished better
under the McKinlcy law than the Will.
son law. Unlike Mr.. Sampson, the wit
ness wanted higher duties
Mr.. McMillin asked him: would
you have any objection to filing with
the committee a list of manufacturers
who buy your goods?"
The witness replied that he would
be glad to do so. He explained that
he made various grades of goods In
the best grades he mixed IL per cent
of pure wool, and the poorer grades
were all of rags. All of his customers
the character of his goods
Emil Rinke, an importer representing
several hat manufacturers, to whom he
supplied materials, asked that wool
hats be taken from the blanket clause
of the wool schedule and a clause COW
ering hats Of wool wholly or partly
manufactured, including wool hat bod
les" be inserted in the para graph with
ether articles of wool not otherwise
provided for. They desired MCKINLEY
rates
Wilson H. Brown, Of PHILADELPHIA
spoke for several Eastern manufac-
turers. They assumed, he said. that
the bill would be based on the lines or
the Mckinley act and asked to have
clauses one and two Of the Mckinley
act, clothing and Worsted woods. com,
bined In one class
Chairman Dingley obtained the state