The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-05-25

pany,' etc.
If one were to arrange in order Of
their Importance the articles essential
to keep a man in working condition
in the temperate latitude of the Uni
ted States. the items would probably
stand: bread, shelter, shirt and trOuS-
ers, shoes. 1t WOuld seem to be both
good and good ethics that
the ingenuity of man. and if need be
the powers of the government, should
be directed to seeing that these essen
tails are so abundant and SO cheap that
everybody could AVE them. Above
all it would seem intOlerable that there
should be efforts to make them dear.
And Yet manipulation of at least one
of these articles, with that result, has
been going on for years now in this
country and with amazing success
and that is shoes.
IN the March number of the Ameri-
can Magazine one factor (which has
helped to put up the price of shoes
was tOuched On-the duty on hides
which has made sole leather and the
upper leather Of common heavy shoes
SO much dearer in recent years. But
it takes something beside leather to
make shoes. For one thing it takes
thread-and thread, linen thread par
IicUlarly, has so advanced in price that
it has added p~erceptibly to the cost
OF MAKING a PAIR OF SnOeS.
But why has thread advanced? 1t
is as pretty a little study of combined
tariff and trust manipulation as the
curious could find. To begin with we
do not and never have raised IN this
Ountr any flax suitable for making
inen thread. In spite of this fact we
have long had a high duty on all flax
fibre imported, whether hacked, i. e.
dressed, or not. Of course the aVoWed
purpose of this duty has been to pro-
tect the Infant industry" of raising
flax for use in manufacturing. Let us
see what this protection has done, n
in answering the query the writer IS
using information direct from the Blu
reau Of Plant Industry at Washington
and of SO recent date as March, 1909.
1t shows that we have a good flax
acreage in this COuntry-thOugh it has
decreased by over 900, 600 acres since
1902. But this flax is grow not for
the fibre but for the seed, being used
for making linseed Oil.
It is the custom not to harvest this
flax until the seeds are fully ripe, and
when that time comes the straw is
too old for fibre. 1t is true that in q
few localities in the Northwest a few
tons of flax are used annually for
making Irvine, upholstering tow and
insulating boards, but practically none
Of this is fit for making thread-that
is, IN spite of the fact that We have
been steadily paying from $50 to So
a ton on undressed flax for many
years, we have scarcely ever produced
a ton fit for thread.
OF course the thread itself is pro-
tected, and this protection has worked
in the linen thread industry very
much as that on cotton thread was
shown to have worked in n March
number of this magazine. Seeing the
tariff trend here, the great linen thread
manufacturers of Great Britain toll
lowed the example of the Coats and
Clark's cotton thread makers, and
came here many years ago to produce
under the protection Of the tariff the
thread they had been exporting. This
went on until the BarbOurs of Llsburn,
Ireland, had a branch at Paterson, New
Jersey; the FinlaysOns of tombstone.
Scotland, at Grafton, Massachusetts
the Dunbar Co. of Clifford, Ireland, at
Greenwich, New York; the Marshals
of Leeds, England, at Newark, New
Jersey-all of the great British COM
panies were here to preserve the mar
ket for themselves.
Most efficient masters of their bust
ness-the BarbOurs were a century-old
hOuse-they grew rapidly under the
high protection they enjoyed. The
logic of their privilege was Of course
what it has been in all our highly pro-
tected industries-a trust. This came
about a few years ago-the Linen
Thread Company, of which the presl-
dent is Mr.. William Barbour. the vice
president A. r. Turner CThese two
gentlemen have for many years been
the chief advocates before Congress OF
high duties on flax and thread. and
Mr.. Barbour is an active emDe OF
the Protective Tariff League).
The formation of the trust did Won
ders for the linen thread business. !
They were able to make large econo-
mics. Instead of separate mills max
ing all the products each mill was as
signed to do the work it could best
do. At the same time the marketing
expenses were reduced. In one of the