The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-01-02
NEW LIGHT ON SCHEDULE *

Robert Fullerton in Des Moines
Register and Leader: For forty years
free traders and tariff reformers have
been kicking Schedule Is, and telling
the shivering public how they were
being robbed and cheated by a bloated
ubiquitous combination of New Eng
land WOODEN manufacturers, in unholy
partnership with selfish sheep rails
Ing farmers
The alleged high price of WOODEN
clothing in the United States was at
tributed to this political and indus
trial alliance, exacting unreasonable
and extortionate profits on their bust
ness through prohibitive tariffs on
wool and wooden cloth. Schedule X
has been the text for many SPELL
binding speeches in and out of con-
gress. The managers of our wooden
mills were characterized as wolves in
Sleeps clothing and the wool growing
farmers as black sheep. No politician
considered it worth while to inquire
into the condition of our wooden mills
and their profits. or question the
sheep raising farmer in regard to the
alleged profits he was deriving from
our protective duties on WOOL.
A Flood Of Light on the Situation.
The painstaking, elaborate and
unanimous report of our nonpartisan
tariff commission on schedule X, late
ly submitted to congress, throws a
flood of light on the tariff duties on
wool and woolens as it affects the prof
its of the wool grower and the man
ufacturer of wooden fabrics and finally
what our tariff duties add to the con-
sumers' cost of an average suit OF
! clothes. To make their findings plain
/ to the common mind of congressman,
fthe tariff board traces the cost of the
average American suit of clothes from
! the back of sheep to the back of a
man, for purposes of computation and
comparison. The board takes a suit
of clothes retailing at 500, which is
supposed to represent the cost of the
average American ready made suit;
by careful computation it is found the
farmer receives for the wool, in such
a suit. s223 on which he is supposed
to make profit of IS cents. The
wooden mill takes this s223 worth of
raw wool and converts it into cloth for
which he gets s4.1S, on which he
makes the outrageous trust controlled
i profit of % cents. How stimulating to
i the oratory of free trade congressman
this revelation of per cent clean
4 profit exacted by the subsidized wool
en- mills of New England.
That e Cents Profit
/ Suffering humanity, just think of a
WOODEN mill making % cents profit
! for simply spinning and weaving and
dyeing and marketing the wooden cloth
in suit of clothes. No wonder the
half clad consumer has been kicking
: schedule X and voting to elect free
: wool and free. trade Democrats, and
/. insurgent Republicans. to congress
commissioned to legislate some miti
cation of this outrageous tax that is
adding so much to the high cost OF
: living, while the woolless nakedness
; of the unprotected consumer invites
the rayages OF pneumonia and the
; grip. Our industrious tariff board fol
J lows this s4.1S worth of cloth through
! the tailoring establishments of our
Hart, Shaffner & Marx and finds this
Si.IS worth of American wooden cloth
is fashioned into suits for which they
! get at wholesale $3.50. on which the
clothing manufacturer makes a prof;
/. of Sis. and finally the suit reaches
: the shelves Of the retail clothier, your
. ncightor across the street, and is sold
TO the wearer for s23 giving the retail
err profit of $3.50, from which he paws
rent and taxes, contributes liberall,
t Tor advertising space in local news
9 papers, helps TO swell the bank de
t boosts the town and votes for candi
] stitutions. particularly in his line
3 boosts the town and votes for candi
e dates favoring lower duties on WOO
and woolens.
' Our tariff board confirms wha
a every customer and every member o
| labor union in this country ough
! to know, that our American protective
tariff is levied to enable employers t.
pay double the scale of wages prevail
ing in any foreign country competing
n for our domestic trade in manu-
o tactured goods
Q Where Is the Robbery?
!. The tariff commission finds that tn,
8 oolen industry in this country is OF
+ competitive basis; that prices ar,
n M controlled by trust agreements O.
Il manufacturers combinations: thai /