The Forrest City times., 1897-02-05
4 TRIBUTE FROM THE ENEMY.
Tarif Reformers Have Scored . Marked
 Triumph oa the Wool Schedule.

Triumph oa the Wool Schedule.
 The address of s. N. ID. North before the ways and means committee of the house of representatives was by all odds the most interesting and enlightening disclosure that the tariff hearing has called out, if indeed it is not the most important contribution to tariff litera- ture and thought that has appeared since Grover Cleveland's celebrated tariff message of 1887.
 It was genuine surprise. It was terrible shock to the fanaticol protec- tionist. It was the highest tribute to the principle of tariff reform that could be paid. Between the position of the free traders, as the protectionist press denominates tariff reformers, and the woolen manufacturers as represented by Mir. North, there is scarcely one iota of practical difference. In other words, the woolen manufacturers. speaking through their official representative. proclaim to the world their acceptance of the policy of the free traders. This is great advance towards the final and satisfactory settlement of the tariff question.
 The corner stone of the tariff reform structure was free wool. That was the key note of President Cleveland's tariff message in 1887. The center of opposi- ton to tariff reform was massed against free wool. The free traders, accepting the enemy's designation of tariff re- formers, said that free wool would be a AL ( l.l give them cheaper and better clothing; that it would be boon for the manu- facturer because it would enlarge and cheapen the supply of raw material; and that it would not injure the Ameri- can wool grower because the wool inn ported would not compete with the home clip; that the American grower would be likely to be benefited by the building up of the American wooden manufacturing industries. President Cleveland set forth these views nine years ago, and they were combatted with such intensity by both the manu- facturer and the grower that for very consistency extreme views in the op- posite direction were incorporated into the Mckinley law. What is Mir. North's testimony to-day? We quote from the press report of his speech:
 Never. until he had had experience under free wool, did the manufacturer realize the disadvantage he suffered under wool duty, and the impossibility of any com pensatory duty offsetting these disadvan- tages. The concentration of American purchases upon the wools which can be bought under the duty increases the price tzt. l., l if all wools were available, and the course of the market under free wool has indicated that the enhancement of the price is about four cents per pound. A duty has another effect in cheapening the price of the wool which cannot be imported. so that the for eign manufacturer. added to all the other advantages which he naturally possesses. Is able to get his wool cheaper from a cause growing indirectly out of the duty.
 All the restrictions of the old law were put there. MT. North insisted, to embarrass and impede the manufacturer in his choice of wool. They have that effect. and are thus additional disadvantages for which he gets no equivalent. MT North declared that these restrictions were not required. because there was hardly any occupation for which the opportunities were so few as in the sale of wool.
 It was necessary, he believed. to recte these facts. that congress and the Amer ican people should understand the econom- fc disadvantages of duty on wool. The manufacturers did not appear to resist the 1 restoration of a wool duty. They were | willing to make sacrifices in order that the policy of protection might apply to all | products that need protection. They | agreed in advance to degree of protection equal to that to be imposed on their goods. | They simply demanded that there should be | no return to the restrictive rates of pre- | yious wool schedules.
 It was a great and important fact that, | as the manufacture had now developed | here. the use of foreign wools had become | indispensable. Any duties on wool, the pur- | pose of which was to exclude and pro- | hibit its importation. would restrict the | American manufacturer to such fabrics as
 can be produced from domestic wool. The | effect of such restriction would be to in- | crease the importation of foreign wools in
 manufactured form and diminish the de- l mand for American wools and the employ ment of American machinery.
 | MT. North declared that no American
 manufacturer bought foreign wool for any | purpose for which he could use domestic
 wool, and that foreign wool was not used
 to displace American, and that, while it
 did not displace 1t. its importation increased
 the market for American wool
 Pretty substantial testimony in favor
 of free wool, is it not? A thorough ac-
 knowledgment of the correctness of the
 position of the free traders, is it not? 1t
 must be remembered that Mr. North is
 no mere theorist, as he once regarded
 President Cleveland, and Roger Q.
 Mills, William l.. Wilson and other free
 traders. He is not an emissary from the Golden club, paid by British gold
 He is the representative and spokesman
 of the practical men in business. He is
 the secretary of the Wool Manufactur-
 CTS association, and the views he pre- scnts must be accepted as the views of
 the practical wool manufacturers. And
 no theorizing free trader has put the
 arguments for free wool stronger than did Mr North for the manufacturers. They are converted to the belief in the
 very foundation of tariff reform, free
 wool, after only two years practical
 experience in it's use. And these two
 years have been most unfavorable to
 business experiments of any kind.
 We regard this confession as the most
 striking effect that the campaign of ed | oaa+ior hoe ,N,.01uoa1 Sonnl ;Ia,c ,,,nr