The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1909-07-15
HERE'S WHERE
MEN SUFFER.
Tariffs to Make Clothes to Cost
100 Million Dollars More
in 1910.

in 1910.
Washington, July.-The men and
boys of the United States will pay
100 million dollars more for their
clothing in 1910 than they have paid
this year as a result of the new Tariff
Bill.
This is the statement of the Nation
al Association of Clothiers produced
in the Senate by Senator LaFollete, OF
Wisconsin. The association includes
81 per cent of the leading clothing
manufacturers of the United States,
among them such firms as Stein
Block, Rogers, Peet & Co., and B.
Kuppenheimer & Co. Their BUSH
ness is said to amount to 600 millions
annually.
The new Tariff Bill will merely re-
enact the Dingley Law so far as the
wooden schedule is concerned, but it
contains stringent provisions on val
uation that are expected to boost rates
and so are responsible for higher
prices. The effect of the Dingley
tariff on wool, the statement says,
has been to reduce the qualities and
diminish the weight of the goods
used, thereby making clothing less
durable.
This state of affairs has resulted
from the cumbersome provisions OF
the Dingley Bill by which different
grades of wool receive the most un'
equal protection, and by which com
pensatory duties that are highly ex
cessive are allowed on wooden cloths,
A certain duty, for instance, is levieo
on a pound of raw wool. The manu-
facturer allowed this duty plus an ex
ira duty for his own protection. The
compensatory duty is based on tn,
assumption that it takes four pounds
of raw wool to make Il pound o
cloth, while in fact not more than twt
pounds are needed in the finer grade
of cloth. AS a result of this system
of compound rates the duties run al
the way from 100 to 200 per cent
! Moreover, wool has become so ex
pensive that under the Dingley Law
the manufacturers say, there has beel
; deteriorating of fully 33 l-3 per cen
; in weight.
: 1t is pointed out further that com
binations of manufacturers have bee
built up under the shelter of tn
tariff. That the advances in tn
United States are not due entirely t,
the increase in the price OF the raw
: material is shown by the fact that il
England the advance has been mucl
less. The clothing men continue:
"These advanced prices on worst
eds which have been announced, fol
lowing the steady deterioration O
fabrics in weight and quality, result
ing from the operations of the Ding
ley Bill, will add to the retail pric
approximately $3.50 on a $40 suit o
clothes, SO on SIS suit and IS on
$40 suit, or from 20 per cent to % pc
cent to the cost of the clothing to tn
wearer thereof. The aggregate bun
den of the increased cost of men
and boys clothing to the America
people under the present advanc
alone will be 100 million dollars fo
the year 1910, which is twice the va
ue of the annual domestic wool clip.
These increased prices are attribu
ed to the change in the basis of valus
ton by which rates will be raise
materially. The clothiers end b
asking for a reduction of the duty o
raw wool to As per cent and 65 pc
cent on wooden clothes. No sue
relief will be granted, however, fo
the Senate already has voted dow
amendments proposed by Senator l.;
Toilette to effect the desired result.