Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-04-30
THE SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

THE SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
WOOL GROWERS AND THE TARIFF.
The Syracuse On. W Herald says:
The following letters written by Mai.
Davis Cossitt to a prominent manufac-
turer are interesting in that they pre-
sent tariff arguments from the stand
point of two industries affected, and the
struggle between those interests for adj
vantage or equalization. The commu-
nications are submitted in their order:
My dear Sir: Yours of the 18th came
last night.
Now, you and know that in every
reimbursement of wool duties, the manu-
facturcrs have managed to secure the
sugared end of the rag. We know that
the estimate on which the compensatory
duties If four to one are based is wrong.
Under tariff it is the light wool that is
imported and pays the duty, and of this
wool less than three pounds is required
TO make one pound of goods. We know.
too, that 30 per cent of the woods I'M
ported under the generic name of carpet
wool Is well adapted TO the manufacture
of the medium grade clothing goods,
and that much of the MongOian and
India wool shrinks less. is of as high
quality and as valuable in your business
as our down wool-the wool from our
mutton sheep.
The foreign price of these woods is
about six cents, that of the China even
below that, so the proposed duty of 30
per cent amounts to less than two cents
per pound, aud this is the figure that
gauges the amount of protective benefit
which is to be accorded your farmer
friends under the new dispensatiOn.
Perhaps the farmers will submit
guess not. Yours truly,
DAVIS COSsITT.
Onondaga, n. Y.
PROTECTION DEFINED.
NV dear Sir: Your somewhat lengthy
epistle came nearly a week ago, but Ow-
ing to the condition of my eyesight,
making reading and writing difficult and
tedious, have not been able to give it
the attention it deserves or that would
wish to, but will endeavor to make my
self understood
On referring to your former letter
find you make me say that your mills
"are using carpet woods almost eXclu-
sively in making cheviots" | did not
say tAOluSlNtIN Abl 1 hiltN lildL Ou il0O
used large quantities of ShOddv, but
whether you use much or little, it is
clearly demonstrated that with ad va
loren duties an immense amount of car
pet wool is imported and can be. and is,
used in Large quantities in the manu-
facture of clothing goods.
1t is also demonstrated that with free
wool" our markets ale stocked with the
foreign product. which YOU will always
use unless YOU can buy the domestic at
starvation prices. and this fact is a suili.
cient answer to the hackneyed fallacv
that with low duties and cheap foreign
wool we would have a better market for
the home grown article.
on ask "What do YOU call protoc-
tion:"
answer that in this case it /, sys-
TEN that secures to the American farmer
a right to the American market in pre-
ference to the distant and unknown for
eigner, which places the American farm
er and farm labOrer above the level OF
the low caste native of India and the
Chinese cody. which favOrs the rights OF
those who are called upon to support
with taxes, and to defend with theil
lives, possibly, this government of ours
rather than those who escape these bur
dens and duties and are therefore not OF
us and regret to add, system. too
that will save Us from the greed and
rapacity of New England mill owners
and their allies, who seem determined
that all legislation in any way relating
to wool shall he solely in their interests
In the plentitude OF their arrogance
and power. the autOcrats of the mil
have decreed thar the duty on woods OF
the first class. worth over is cents. for.
eign valuation, shall be 10 cents pei
pound and eight cents on that valued
below lG cents.
knowing that there is not the remot
est possibility that they will ever be
called upon to pay this 10 cent duty
for no foreign wool sells so high as II
cents-they want this 10 cent rate fixeC
upon as blind to secure the adoption o.
their preposterous compensatory duties
of four TO one, thereby giving them {
specific duty of 40 cents on foreign
goods, in addition to the 80 per cent az
valorem which they demand, making
duty of 90 cents on foreign goods wortl
81 per pound
The eight cent duty will be the high
est that will be paid, and that on tn
light skirted hpeces, which shrink il
securing the same as ordinary washed
about 80 per cent. So that practically
the duty on the unwashed basis is fou
cents per pound.
The result of all this Juggling is tina
O. while the manufacturer is protected b,
not less than Il cents on his pound o
goods, the wool grower will get no NOR
than four cents in any case, and thi
will be more than wiped out by the de
cline in prices of foreign wool, which al
ways follows the levying of duties-fre
wool, as now, will be the inevitable re
suit.
Your plan for a 40 cent ad valoreu
would be more disastrous, il possible, t
the farmer than that of the manufactur
ers' association. f. n. Bissell, who ha
travelled extensively in Australia, say
that owing to the cheap land and chea
labor, wool in that country can be grown
shorn, baled and freighted from the ia
interior to the coast at five cents t
seven cents per pound. Consul Genera
Wallace affar w fhraa n