The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-12-20
Synopsis Of Tariff . Boards Report On
 Schedule k==WoO1
Especial from United Press,

Especial from United Press.)
 Washington, Dec. 29-Declaring many of the schedules in the Payne Aldrich tariff to be 'prohibitive,'" the report of the tariff board on wool was submitted to Congress today, by
 President Taft.
 As to the differences in cost of pro-
 duction at home and abroad, 1t sets forth that, in nearly every woolen
 product from the dirty fleece up to
 the finished worsted cloth, 1t costs more to produce woolen goods in
 America than in any other country on earth.
 It costs 19 cents to raise q pound
 of wool in Ohio and in Australia con- siderably less than four cents These differences continue throughout tie wooIen industry. While American la
 bor is much higher paid than in Eu- rope, the board finds that it is not as efficient as that in European mills.
 About one dollar out of every four paid to the retailer of mems cloth.
 ing goes to the manufacturer of the cloth. suit retailing for $23 is sold at wholesale by the manuiacturer for $165O It costs him $14.32. Thus. gen. orally. the manufacturer of cloth and clothing is dissolved by the board I'd the high cost of clothing and it is attributed to the retailer.
 The board states. however, that the high duties on wool have not resulted in retail prices as high as might be expected. Competition has kept prices down. This competition was stimu- lated when the high duties made woolen manufacture very profitable. Then foreign capital came in and built mills. For all woolen entries. the board recommends specific duties instead of the present methods of as- sessing ad valorem rates. The ad valorem system makes duties high when prices are high and the con- sumner most needs relief although the producer is best able to bear conn., petition. When the prices are low and the consumer has need of foreign competition. and the manufacturer is least able to bear such competition then, under the ad valorem system, duties are low and the foreign com petition comes in.
 The board advocates Specific du- ties'' as the best and easiest way to offset the difference in cost of pro- duction here and abroad Because of the difficulty in classifying fabrics. however, the board recommends a combination specific ana ad valorem lorem rate on cheap goods. increasing to the highest rate on expensive goods. Exactly the reverse policy was adopted by the framers of the Payne-Aldr1ch tar1ff.
 The experts of the board studied growing in Australia. South America. South Africa, Great Britain and oth- CT European countries and in 173 counties in 19 states in this country. The report reads:
 'The result of the raw wool investi- gation establishes the fact that 1t costs more to grow wool in the Uni ted States than in any other country, that the merino wool required in such great volume by our mills are l the most expensive of all wools pro-
 duced. that the highest average cost of production of such wool in the
 world is in the state of Ohio and contiguous territory, and that the
 lowest average cost On similar wool is in Australia"
 Deducting the proceeds from, the
 sales of lambs and mutton, which us- ] ually balance the expense of the flock, l the average cost of fine merino wool
 in the United States is 12 cents per i pound The entire wool crop-fine and /; coarse wools-cost 1-2 cents a pound | to produce. In South America, the cost is be- tween and cents. The .Austral-
 Asian countries are considerably be, 1 low tho South American.
 The report says:
 "The present duty of B cents per
 pound on secured wool is prohibitive preventing effectually the importation
 of clean. low priced wools from the l lower grades that would be exceeding /! ly useful in the manufacture of wool ] ems in this country and if so used | might displace in large measure the 1 cheap substitutes now so frequently | employed in that industry
 | The Payne-Aldrich law based its l raw wool duties on the assumption | that greasy wool. when cleaned, 1 shrinks an average of two-thirds. | This shrinkage allowance is much too | high, the board finds. The average l shrinkage of imported wools is about | 4S percent and of all domestic wools | between 55 and 60 percent. The rates on wool waste. rags and shoddy are called prohibitive and the report states that the present tariff practl- cally excludes from importation all | lopes and yarns except the most ex- pensive worsted yarns.
 ''The same is true" it says, 'of low | grade wool and cloth for mems wear. A considerable quantity of the fine and expensive fabrics are imported. In the fiscal year. 1911, these did not constitute three percent of the total consumption of the United States.''