Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-04-26
POLICY OF PLUMBER
soME FACTS ABOUT THE INlouI-
ToUs TAX ON WOOL.
Schedule Well Described by President
Taft as "lndefensibIe"-HoI
Game to Which People Of
Country Submit.


on suddenly from the rest of the
world you would be in heap Of trou-
BILE about the time you should go to
buy your next winters suit of clothes.
Prices would be way up, and the
stock to select from scanty. You
would find the same difficulty In buy
ing underwear and blankets and car.
pets. ~
This country produces only a little
more than half the wool 1t uses. With
out the product Of foreign countries
there wouldn't be anywhere near
enough to go round. Even as it is,
wool is 30 valuable that none Of It is
wasted. The rag man goes about and
gathers up old clothes. which are
chopped up. The yarn is saved and
made into inferior grades Of cloth.
The shoddy and the mixtures of
wool and cotton testify to the scare
ity Of the pure fabric.
Wooden goods are among the neces-
saries Of life, like shoes and bread
and butter. Every family must use
them. Certainly 1t is for the general
welfare that they be produced at as
reasonable price as possible.
But there are some great western
syndicates raising sheep. and there
are some great eastern corporations
manufacturing WOODEN cloth, and 1t is
to their interest that the prices be
kept high. A few weeks before the
ways and means committee met to
frame the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill
representatives Of these two branches
Of the wool industry conferred in Chi
cage and decided that the tariff rates
on wool and woolens were salts
factory" and must not be changed.
Satisfactory" 1t Is to laugh! On
the variety Of wool which is so scarce
in this country that it simply must be
imported in quantities to supply the
people. the duty Is II cents pound.
which IL nearly half as much as the
wool is worth. The American people
maintain an artificial price half as
much again as the commodity is
worth. on an article which every fam
lily must have. in order to swell the
profits Of the sheep-raising syndicates
of the western plains.
But don't the manufacturers COM
plain OF the price Of their raw mate
rial? Not they. They are in on the
grab themselves. Lest foreign manu-
facturers. buying their wool at rea-
sonable price. sell the finished prod
ust In the United States at a figure
that might bring wooden suits and
WOODEN underwear and wooden blan-
kets within the reach of every family,
the importation of wooden goods is
heavily penalized.
The American manufacturers are
FIRST given a duty which is calculated
to compensate them for the extra
price they must pay for their wool.
Then on top Of that they are given
another duty 1ust to make sure that
they have the field virtually to them
selves. SO that they can get their own
prices for their fabrics.
On one variety of dress goods, for
instance, of which large quantity
Is imported, they are allowed first the
compensatory duty of "A cents
pound to compensate them for the
II cents pound which they must
pay extra on their raw wool, counting
four pounds of raw wool to one pound
Of the finished fabric. In addition
they are allowed Sc per cent ad
valorem. The total protection to the
manufacturer is more than 100 per
cent on the value Of the product.
That is. so long as he keeps his price
at about twice what the fabric could
be bought for abroad. he need fear
no foreign competition.
And the American people stand for
this sort of hold-up game, worked
by q combination Of western syndi-
Gates and eastern corporations!
Is 1t any wonder that President
Taft called this whole schedule "inde-
fensible?" Or that the wooden trust
is in panic lest congress domi.
mated by progressives. meeting in ex.
ira session. lop on these monstrous
duties!