The Washington times., 1911-05-29

The War Department has decided to
break from the grip of the "woolen
trust" and have a fair competition on
bids for supplying clothing to the en-
listed men of the army This is the
the department to substitute carded
wooIens for worsteds.
On May "a, advertisements were
authorized, calling for bids within two
months for $4,000 yards of carded wool
ems, and If this trial proves satisfactory,
wooden instead of worsted will be the
standard cloth for uniforms.
Worsteds will be retained for shirt
ings, because Of their elasticity, but all
other cloth made from wool will be of
the carded wooden variety-the SOFT
rough cloth which has almost gone out
of use as the popular clothing OF the
people partly because of the insistence
with which worsteds have been turned
out by the mills.
For years the army worsteds have
been supplied exclusively by the Ameri-
can Wooden Company. According to the
figures of the department, only 226
worsted mills are operated in the United
States and 100 wooden mills. Army Of
fcers state that trust conditions exist
In the worsted industry, and do not in
carded woolens.
They say frankly they believe they can
get the cloth from so to so cents yard
cheaper for woolens than for worsteds.
and that they will get a more service
able article. They deny the assertion
of the worsted men that wooden cloth
has less tensile strength. and declare
tnat it has greater, while they say the
superiority Of its abrasive quality is ac-
knowledged.
The Government has been paying from
81 30 upward for twenty-two-ounce cloth,
to $lSO a yard for thirteen-ounce cloth.
To Save Thousands.
Inc quartermaster's department ex-
poets a saving Of thousands of dollars
a year through the substitution, more
serviceable and pleasing cloth for the
use of the men and breaking up of n
monopoly on Government contracts,
which the American Wooden Company
has been able to exercise. through we'll
practiced trade methods. for /.
years.
Several reforms besides those indi-
Gated ar contemplated along with the
shift from worsted TO wooden.
For example, a new specification is
that three-eighths blood wool shall
enter into the manufacture of the fab
rics, and that they shall consist of
American fleece shorn from live sheep.
This requirement will be very obnoxious
to some of the makers who have COM
peted hitherto for Government contracts.
but IL is intended to encourage the
American wool production.
This is not the first time the depart
ment has taken a step along patriotic
lines. When the British khaki was first
introduced as an army uniform in the
Philippines, the British product could
be bought for about IA cents yard, and
the American cost 10 or 20 cents,
The department objected to buying
American uniforms of British makers,
and had numerous consultations with
American manufacturers, as the result
of which the so-called olive drab
cloth" was produced and perfected.
Long and costly experiments as to
weaving and dyeing were made by the
Americans. until now the American cot
ton cloth is far superior to that pro-
duced abroad, the latter being so in
ferior that even the layman can note
the difference in its feel Most of
this cloth is now made for the army