The Washington herald., 1909-04-11
sTORY OF A EANpKERCEIEF.
SOW Cheap Bit or Cotton Grows
Rapidly tn Value.

! s"n q OneHp hit or COTTON HroWs
Rapidly An Value.
From speech b. Representative J. II. Gaines OF
West Virginia. IN the House.
/ ! talked 10 a large manufacturer OF cot
ton cloth whose factory IS situated n the
! South. and asked him 10 describe his
product. so that might go TO a store
and buy some OF fl, comparing for myself
the factory cost and tariff and the price
paid BY the retail purchaser. He told
me that was unnecessary, because he
could show il to me at the moment. He
drew oUt Of his pocket his handkerchief,
which was made out OF cotton cloth
! which he had himself manufactured. It
( happened 10 be precisely. so far as he or
1 could tel. Ike my own handkerchief.
/ which had bought suppOslng Il was
iinsn and paying the price which a linen
handkerchief commands. When 1 asked
/ him whether my handkerchief was cot
ton or linen he said he did not know. and
that even the bleacher. who probably
would know. would yet not rely upon his
own judgment II he were buying linen
rather than cotton. but would subject the
material TO the chemical test. The tariff
on the cotton out OF which his handker-
chief and mine were made IS / IA cents
per yard. A yard VIII make four hand
kerchiefs OF the size most manufacturers
and professional men buy. OF the smaller
and cheaper sizes. a yard VIII, OF course
make more.
But on the material in the larger hand
kerchief the tariff Is hve-slxteenths OF a
cent; this IS 10 the manufacturer OF
the cotton IN the gray or blown" as
the language OF the trade S. Now wit
ness It's progress 10 the ultimate con-
sumer: The manufacturer sells 20 the
bleacher. who sells 10 the jObber, who
sells 10 the handkerchief manufacturer.
who sells 20 the JObber, who sells 20 the
reIaii man, who sells 20 the retail pur-
chaser Even assuming that the manu-
factuTer would absorb the entire amount
or the tariff. that competition did not
make him let go Of any OF it-and I do
not believe that any person who has
looked into the facts believes that the
manufacturer can absorb IL aIl-boy
much. even then. OF that one-third OF
cent would come 10 the retail purchaser,
even II the whole tariff were remOved2
Obviously. none a all. Goods are sold
IN the retail store IN round prices. but
90 not believe any OF the reduction would
reach even the retail store man. The
bleacher handles thousand OF yards where
the retail man handles one. and the
bleacher first gets hold Of the article be-
fore the retail man has any chance what
ever 10 take care OF his interest iu the
matter. The retail mans interest ln the
revision Of the tariff IS COmparatively
small and the bleacher's interest com
paratively great The bleacher has the
first opportunity. and he has the great
est skin IN taking care OF himself The
same thing IS true % the first Jobber, oS
the manufacture, and the next jObber
The fact IS that the cost 20 the retail
storekeepe- IS not affected by the less
than one-third OF a cent tariff on sim
ilariy imported material he IS very
little affected by the first. o. manu-
facturer's, price FOR the article. The book
OF statistics shows that for the last ten
years the average value per yard OF
similar imported cotton cloth amounted 70
about cents per yard. One-fourth OF
this. the amount on a handkerchief, /
would amount % 1l-2 cents. One retail
purchaser buys the handkerchief At
fashionable place under a linen name and
pays % cents for g.. The retail pur-
chasers who has more judgment and Isl
not slave 20 fashion paws az a less
fashionable place - cents for the hand
kerchIef.
Nine-tenths os his price IS made up o.
riiddlemen's profits the transportation
from the Southern cotton mills 70 the
Northern bleacher. and the Northern
oleacher 10 the wholesale man. and from
him 20 the handkerchief manufacturer. I
from the manufacture 20 the second
wholesale man. and from him 20 the re-
tail man When I bought my handker-
chief T. had gone from North Carolina 20
Massachusetts from Massachusetts 20
Connecticut. from Connecticut to New
York. and from New York 10 Charleston. /
W. Va AT Charleston. ". Va. I found
il at the most fashionable haberdasher's
IN town and proudly carried Il away as q
linen handkerchief. The tariff had moth
ing 70 co with the price. The price was
made Up OF my own folly. the middle
mems profits and expenses. and trans
uOrIafiOu CHARGES