The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-08-06


quantities of combing wool which dis
places an equal quantity of his own
domestic wool and which also produces
the wool substitutes that he complains
of.
| The worsted manufacturers have
welded the greatest influence in franz
ing the tariffs since 1867, up to which
time we were all able to struggle along
with carded wooden goods made of our
own domestic woods. The carded wool
en- manufacturers would prefer to be
permitted to manufacture their goods
! from the straight domestic wool and
create stable and equitable domestic
market not subject to violent finctua-
! lions and depressed conditions such as
occur under the present tariff law. In
debate in the senate the statement
was made that were if not for the
! present wool schedule, wool would go
to six cents a pound. There are at
least thirty million more people to
clothe than there were when the
! schedule was first devised If straight
new fleece wool was used exclusively
{, in clothing there would not be enough
wool to go around, and there is about
as much chance of wool going to six
cents a pound even with free trade
as there would be cotton going to two
cents
Inconsistencies of the Wool Schedule.
l have read nearly all of the articles
on the wool schedule pro and con
that have appeared in the textile jour
mails and the speeches during the debate
in the senate. Some of the arguments
of those who try to defend this indie
fensible schedule, appear to me to be
so absurd as to bring the entire mat
ter into ridicule. The tentacles of
this hideous tariff schedule in all of
its various. ramifications, its pitfalls
and its incOnSruities, are not confined
only to wool. but are permitted to
embrace everything from furniture to
brass tacks, which, through the leger.
domain Of this elastic schedule. can.
for purposes of taxation, be converted
| by the appraisers into grease, wool or
into a wooden fabric, in the twinkling
of an eye to afford good measure for
( those enjoying its benefits.
If there is a wisp of wool in the i'm
mediate vicinity of some other article,
no matter what the article may be,
that article Immediately becomes wool
not otherwise specified" and it under
goes series of taxation that it would
take Philadelphia lawyer or a New
England high protectionist to define
1t is taxed in it's raw state and every
other state from Genesis to Reyela.
tons. Because this wisp of wool is
/ unfortunate enough to represent ever
as low as one per cent of the tapestry
on the seat of a chair. the whole
chair suffers for it, and is weighed
up as wool, after enjoying the taxing
process; and the finishing touches are
put on it by adding SO per cent ad
Valorem for fear something has beer
overlooked. (For illustration see court
cases cited in Senator Delivers speech
Congressional Record)
| 1t is almost incredible that the wild
! est exponent of ascending protection
could conceive of such travesty, such
far fetched exhibition of protection
run riot without rhyme or reason as
in the illustrations given by Senator
)olliyer, yet all this is done in the
name of protection to American la
Dor"
| How much labor is employed in the
| actual growing of sheep that requires
protection on any such scale? Is there
any snch amount of labor employed in
herding sheep on the ranges of the
west as is employed in the factories
using the wool from those sheep? The
government requires revenue, and with
the usual consistency prohibitory tar
| I'll has been placed on woods such as
are used by manufacturers making
the cheaper grade of clothing.
L have yet to hear any defense of
the tariff that viii justify duty on
this class of wool after it is washed.
of twice the date it bears i'm its oripi-
nal state, when other foreign woods
are permitted to come in with the same
duty on them in their washed state
as they bore in their original state.
Such rank discrimination in favor of
special interests cannot be successfully
defended, nor have l heard any good
reason why .nose same special inter-
ests should be permitted to enjoy the
advantage over the other wooden in
terests of tariff amounting in some
instances to only about one-ffth of
the duty the carded wooden manufac-
turers are forced to pay, could they
afford to import the woods adapted
to their purpose; so that the question
| OF competing on an equal basis is i'm
possible.
No man with any knowledge of the
wooden business can reconcile n tariff
that forces the payment of from 100
to 500 per cent on the classes of
woods used by one branch of the
wooden industry, in excess of any pos
sible duty that could be levied under
the same schedule on the class of woods
used by the favored branch of the
wooden industry.
Duty on Worsted By-Products.
Not satisfied with the numerous ad-
yantages they have in almost every
Of Ill L IL