Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-05-10
WOOLEN MANUFACTURERS
 URGE MODERATION.


 Admit That High Duties and Consequent
 High Prices Will Restrict the Use of
 Woolens.
 Some of the sevcrest criticisms not only of special duties and clauses, but of the whole accursed protective sys- tenn, come from the protected manufac- turers nlselyes in their struggle with opposing interests. Mr. $. \ D. North, secretary of the Woolen Manufacturers association. is now and always has been q stanch protectionist. As such be be- lieves that the 70, 900, GOO consumers of this country are legitimate subjects for plunder and that the manufacturers are the proper persons to enjoy the pro- lection plunder.
 The free wool experiment which we have been trying for three years, besides being an object lesson in the way of cheap woolens, Las taught the woolen manufacturers that they can make as much or more profit with free wool and moderate protection, which permits peo- pie of moderate means to wear real woolen goods, than with high duties on both wool and woolens, which restricts the use of woolens to people in good cir cumstances. The manufacturers there fore display more than their usual mod esty and patriotism i'll the advice which they ire giving to congress. MT. North is ill 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:
 am free to say the bill is far from satisfac- tory to the woolen manufacturers The chief fault is to be found with the wool duties, which are so high that our manufacturers will find themselves sorely embarrassed. 1t is true the committee has provided compensatory duties which 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 c1tting down consumption :s ;;f, extent that will be disastrous to the mannfac- turers. 1 do not contend that the rates on wooden manufactures in the bill are not sufti- 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 can- not sell so many goods. because the peo- I pie can't afford to wear clothes-that is, wooden 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 wish to compel him to elothe himself in the