The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-23
WOOL TRUST DENIES
RAISING OF PRICES
Leading CIothier Says That Increase
of Prices Is Certain and Was
Made by Dealers When Sure
No Reduction Was in Sight.
BY wATTERsoN sTEALEY.

BY WAL EHSON > EALEY.
Washington, July 22.-(Special. There
are few who doubt that the President
will get practically everything he wants
from the conferees on the tariff bill. Con-
sidering what Aldrich and his followers
have done, they would naturally be only
too willing to accede to the very modest
demands of the President Having rail-
roaded through the House and the Senate
some four-fifths of the items subject to
taxation they can readily afford to give
the President much more than he is con-
tending for and still quit big winners.
So long as the President does not in
terfere with the thieving wood schedule,
the cotton schedule or a few of that ilk
there is every chance of agreement. and
the dire threats of inability to agree being
brought forward are only for the pur-
pose of distractng attention from the
really vulnerable features of the bill, as
was expected would be the case.
Republican leaders who visited the Pres
ident today are concerned in the repre-
sensations made to the President yester
day by wholesale manufacturers of cloth
ing that because of the high protective
rates on wool and the increasingly effec-
tive organization of the wool trust the
price of clothing next year, especially the
grades worn by poor men, will immensely
increase.
Increase in Price.
Every retail clothing man in the country
has been informed that he must pay
from 25 to 40 per cent increase on his
orders from the wholesale men for the
next year, and the wholesale men do not
give a tinkers bit whether the retail men
put in their orders or not.
The wholesale men, in explanation of
this admitted fact declare that they are
compelled to pay heavy increases upon
their goods from the wooden trust, which,
they say. has grown fatter and fatter in
the last few years, and, feeling safe for
some years to come under the rates of
the new tariff bill. is prepared to mako
the wholesale men pay whatever prices
they fix. The wooden trust comes out in
statement and asserts that the slight
advance made by its members have been
so small to add comparatively little
to the cost of suit of clothes.
Recovery of Prices.
The increased price is merely the re-
covery of the wool market from the de-
cline of prices In 1907 according to the
men who make the cloth to sell to the
men who make the cloth. While the men
who wear the clothes must pay next year
a large increase in prices, each element
having to do with this situation lays it
on the other. The republicans say 1t is
not their fault, because there will be no
LII
the party was supposed to reduce rates.
The wholesale men say it is not their
fault, because they must pay more for
their goods from the trust.
The trust says 1t has made no in
creases except natural ones. Both the
wholesale and retail men say that the
existing high tariff rates and those to
come have made the wool trust arrogant
and enabled 1t to raise prices. The re-
tail man tells his customer that 1t is all
due to the tariff bill. The customer votes
for representatives a year from next
November. The democrats propose to tell
the customer that the republicans did
it all. And this is the outlook.
Change Proposed.
The proposition of the wholesale men
is to change the wool rates to ad ya1orem
from specific. making the rates on the
lower grades of wool, from which the
poor mans clothes are cut, proportion
ately lower than the rates upon the rich
mans wool. AS the rates now stand 1t
is claimed that the rich mans wool pays
something like 500 per cent less, in pro-
portion, than the poor mans wool, and
that he will pay little increase next
year for his clothes.
leading clothier said today:
'.It is the lower and medium fabrics
that go into the ready-made clothing,
Certain classes of woolen goods have been
nut on the market for next seasons con-
sumption at from 20 to 80 per cent over
the prices Of last season on certain grades
of goods.
''There should be an ad valorem duty.
Under proposed conditions 1t means that
suit Of clothes you pay SIS for this year
will cost from ST to $1S next season to
give equal value In workmanship and
trimming, all of which the consumer will
have to pay. We would rather give
patron a better article for the same price
than an inferior one
Increase Is Made.
This increase in prices was not made
until the woolen dealers felt sure there
would be no reduction in the tariff from
the Dingley schedule. The higher the
tariff the more the wooden men can con-
troll the prices. The wool that is raised in
this country is not drop in the bucket
to what is needed here. The wooden men
are compelled to import so much wool
anyhow.
II agree with the Wholesale Clothiers'
association in it's views and points. The
proposed schedule will affect the poor
and middle classes more than the rich.
The duty on wool should certainly be ad
valorem That would equalize the mat
ter.
1.-THE manufacturers are going from bad
to worse The more duty that Is charged
on wool the thinner they make the cloth.
This thinner material will not give sat
isfaction nor hold its shape. and to sat
isfy the poor men they will put good
deal Of cotton In the fabric to give 1t its
proper texture. If cotton is put into the
goods the colors will fade. Therefore, the
middle class and the workingmen will
be the sufferers by the proposed heavy
f'axation''