The Washington herald., 1909-07-27
HIGHER WOODEN PRICES.
Consumer to ne MuIcted On Account
OF Tariff.


From the Philadelphia north Amsrican.
That manufacturers Of clothing do not
intend to drop their fight on the pro-
posed wool schedule where the matter
now stands, but will continue It until the
President finally acts, is indicated by a
statement made by David Kirsehoaum,
or the firm OF A. 3. Kirschbaum & CO.
Their plant at Broad and Carpenter
streets is among the largest clothing
manufactures OF the country.
Mr.. Kirschbaum replies 70 the state
ment OF Theodore Justice published IN the
North American Wednesday morning
The controversy had been opened on the
preceding day by Mr.. Kirschbaum. who
declared that the duty as proposed viii
! cause consumers throughout the country
to pay S120.000OC0 a year more annually
for their clothing than they should pay.
Mr. Justice declared that the clothing
which can be bought 81 SO or $3.50 a suit
IN this country cannot be bought for any
lower price anywhere else in the world
Mr.. Kirschbaum IN his reply says:
Notwithstanding what Mr.. Justice OF
any other wool man may say 20 the con-
trary. the prices Of woolens for 1910 IN
than for the spring OF 1909 As these
! prices have been widely published by the
/ American WoOlen Company the so-calleC
trust), they are easily oota!nable, on the
other hand. tire prices Of spring wool
! ems IN Europe show an Increase Of only
10 10 per cent from the prices for the
| spring Of 1903. and this great difference n
/ the ratio OF Increase IS due 10 the out
vageOusly unjust wool and wooden tariff
/ that directly dlscriminates against the
| masses.
'rhe annual output Of the clothing IN.
dustry IS approximately SO0.000O00. II
/ Mr. Justice or others doubt the statement
] that there will be an average Increase
/ OF from 20 70 . per cent IN clothing al
retail for the year 1910. he need only
! call on representative. weH-inforned re-
/ tan clothiers in this city, New York. aud
elsewhere.
The statement made that any SO OF
/ SIS suit In America Is better than that
which can be bought abroad for the same
| price IS the result OF objectionable igno-
rance or a deliberate misstatemeut OF
/ facts. The value Of the cloth IN the for
! eign garment IS much better, although we
admit that. In our line as IN many others
/ American skill and ingenuity make 8,
style and better ft and finish. However
| the domestic cloth IS far inferior 20 that
! used IN the foreign garments at the
same price.
"a very serious matter for the public
10 be concerned about is the fact that II
such advances in prices OF wool and wool
ems could be manipulated three months
ago. while hundreds Of thousands Of peO-
pie were still unemployed, what can the
| public expect when our country reaches a
maximum state OF prosperity and the
normal demand IS such as existed IN 1906,
when mems garments made 10 retail al
So SIS and so were made out OF cloths
that contained a ve.y large proportion OF
cotton, wool, shoddy, and mercerized cot
ton?
The clothing manufacturers do not ask
for free wool or woOlens, but they wan;
the snakes or the hidden prohibltlve fea-
lures OF the wool OF wooden schedule elm
mated from the tariff. and. while the
/ chances are somewhat against our secur-
I ing any relief al this time. the industry
viii see to Il that the entire public is
thoroughly informed on this outrageous
feature OF schedule x The educational
campaign that will be waged Will surely
make a decided change In the Congress
sional complexion in Washington after
the next election