The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1898-05-25
WOOL AND SHODDY.
FREE TRADE ADVOCATES SANDER
AMERICAN PRODUCTS.

Facts showing That the Dlngley Law Has
Checked the Importation Of Foreign
Cloths Loaded Down with Cheap Sub
stitutes For Honest Wool.
The enemies Of a protective tariff re-
semble q pack Of wolves whose prey
has escaped to place of safety. They
stand at bay viewing with rage the Sc
curity which their recently bounded
victim enjoys. Free trade advocates,
minds them of their lost opportunity to
destroy American industries. They seek
to belittle the prosperity which is en-
joyed by those of the community who
have suffered most by the iniquitous
free trade Wilson tariff, and they are
eager to point out flaws in the protec-
tion armor which defends the American
producer and manufacturer.
The Philadelphia Record in recent
article entitled "Wool Versus Shoddy"
claims that one reason why prices of
wool and woolens have not advanced to
ley tariff is because of the largely in
creased use of the cheap substitutes for
pure wool in manufacturing stuffs for
clothing. 1t then quotes a prominent
dealer as saying that 1.-The sales of shod-
dy and Of extracts have been much
heavier than for any corresponding Pc
riod in previous years "
1t is quite probable that this dealer
is, like The Record, free trade advo-
cate, and that his business as an i'm
porter Of wool and woolens has suffered
from the operation of the Dingley tariff.
If this dealer is we'll informed, he must
know that the assertion he makes is not
true.
1t is a fact that during the Wilson
tariff period fabrics of English manufac-
ture were largely loaded with shoddy,
and it is also fact that these manu-
facturers' profits on such goods were
enormously great by reason of the vast
quantities of shoddy and mungo which
were substituted for pure wool in the
process of manufacture.
None of these fabrics are made of
pure wool, for if they were it would be
impossible for the manufacturers sue
cessfully to compete in any of the
worlds markets The goods are extern
sively adulterated with shoddy and
mungo, and they can be produced at
prices ranging from IS cents to $4 per
yard.
Is it reasonable TO suppose that with
the facilities which these manufacturers
of fabrics in the heavy wooden district
of England enjoy they refrained from
largely supplying our market with
goods adulterated with shoddy during
the period of the Wilson tariff, when
our own wooden manufacturing indus
try was paralyzed through the free
| trade provisions of that tariff?
Does any one suppose that these Eng
lish manufacturers sent US pure wooden
fabrics while they were supplying 9TH
er countries with shoddy goods? 1t is
altogether probable that the adulterated
fabrics of English manufacture were
even more largely shipped to this coun-
try during the period of the Wilson
tariff than during any time previous.
The shoddy of English manufacture
is, by reason of the improved carding
machinery employed in its preparation,
capable Of being more extensively used
III fabrics than Is the case with the ma
terial elsewhere manufactured. English
cards are specially adapted to the work,
and by their use shoddy, which costs as
little as 3 cents per pound, can be spun
with from 10 10 per cent of cotton. Is
it surprising that English fabrics, made
of such cheap material, can compete
with goods of honest manufacture in
the United States, and is there not good
cause for protecting our wooden industry
by imposing tariff upon foreign fab
RIGS and upon the shoddy and mungo
adulterants!
The prohibitory tariff now imposed
upon foreign shoddy is reported to have
had depressing effect upon the indus
try in England. This, then, is good evil
dence that under the Wilson tariff the
consumption of shoddy and of adulter-
ated fabrics was enormous and profit
able.
The imports of shoddy during the
operation of the Wilson tariff amounted
| W 30, OOO, OOO pOuHus, WDllt
under the Mckinley tariff importations
were only about 2, 600, 600 pounds, and
thus far under the Dingley tariff i'm
ports of this material have been but lit
tie more than 1900 600 pounds. This
affords further evidence of the truth of
the contention that the consumption of
shoddy during the free trade period
was larger than it is now, when the pro-
tective tariff is in operation.
Through the use of the lowest grade
of shoddy, spun with cotton in such a
manner that the character of the fabric
cannot be readily detected, English tex
tile manufacturers produce quality of
goods which is regarded as very suitable
for the use of the laboring classes of
Great Britain. American manufacturers
of fabrics select coarser grades. of pure
wool for the cheapest lines of cloth and
produce far more serviceable material
In the foreign fabric the grossest decep-
ton is practiced; in the American fab