Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-03
GIVES INTERESTING FACTS ON
Ro8BER TARIFF ON CLOTHING

Los ANGELES. July S1.--[Edito
Herald: The following letter whic'
was recently published in the Philadel
phia Record gives some interesting
facts regarding the question of tn
tariff on wooden goods. VIII you kind
ly reprint it in the Letter Box? I an
certain it will interest a large numbe
of Herald readers: G. H. b.
In view of the fact that the wool
interests have occupied consider
able space in some OF the newspa-
pers l trust you will devote as
much of your valuable paper TO
refutation of certain statements
made by these gentlemen.
My statements were taken alto
gether from the petition presented
to President Taft by the special
committee appointed by the Cloth
iers' Association of America.
This special committee was COM
posed of men of wide experience in
the manufacture of clothing, and,
while they may have been Of only
average intelligence, they were not
fools and they were honest. This
is a very refreshing fact to dwell
upon-their statements were based
on facts that they were personally
acquainted with and the testimony
of recognized experts in wool and
woolens.
Notwithstanding what Mr.. Justice
or any other wool man may say to
the contrary, the prices of woolens
for 1910 in America are from 20 to
50 per cent more than for the spring
of 1909. AS these prices have been
widely published by the American
Woolen company (the so-called
trust), they are easily obtainable.
On the other hand, the prices of
spring Woolens in Europe show an
increase of only to 10 per cent
from the prices for the spring of
1909. and this great difference in
the ratio of increase is due to the
outrag geously unjust wool and wool
en- tariff that directly discriminates
against the masses.
The annual output of the clothing
industry is approximately $780,
600, 900. If Mr.. Justice or others
doubt the statement that there will
be an average increase of from 20
to 25 per cent in clothing at retail
for the year 1910, he need only call
on representative, well informed re-
tail clothiers in this city, New York
and elsewhere.
The manufacturers of clothing are
not financially the losers by the re-
enactment of the present schedule
on wool or woolens. They are hon
est in their protest, and their only
desire is to produce thoroughly de-
pendable garments at moderate
cost. There is no trust or gentle
fnens agreement" or private under
standing existing between the man
ufacturers of clothing, such as
there is the very best of reasons to
believe exist between the raw wool
and worsted men. Consequently
the increases that must be gotten
for clothing are the inevitable re-
suit of the brazen manipulation in
wool and woolens.
The statement made that any $40
or SIS suit in America is better
than that which can be bought
abroad for the same price is the re-
suit of objectionable ignorance or
a deliberate misstatement of facts.
The value of the cloth in the for
eign garment is much better, though
we admit that in our line, as in
many others, American skill and
ingenuity make it possible to pro-
duce garments with more style and
better At and finish. However,
the domestic cloth is far inferior
to that used in the foreign gar
ments at the same price.
A very serious matter for the
public to be concerned about is
the fact that If such advances In =
prices of wool and woolens could be
manipulated three months ago,
whilst hundreds of thousands of
people were still unemployed, what
can the public expect when the
country reaches a maximum state
of prosperity and the normal de-
mand is such as existed in 1906,
when mems garments made to re-
tail at $40, SIS and $40 were made
out of cloths that contained very
large proportion of cotton, shoddy
and mercerized cotton?
Wide publicity is being given to
a statement emanating from this
city that the clothing manufactur-
ers are in a conspiracy to tear down
the protective tariff. This sounds