Ripley County democrat. (Doniphan, Mo.) 1905-1920, 1912-09-06

Less Than 2 Per Cent Comes From
Abroad, but Americans Fay Ex-
orbitant Price Fer Home Goods De.
cause Of Deception ana Prohibitivs
Tariff.
! BY RoBERT KENNETH. MAcL LEA,
formerly consulting expert OF the tariff
! board
! New York, Aug. THE prohibtive
tariff, revised upward BY the Payne
AldrIch law. permits AMI fosters
wholesale frauds upon the American
consumer Of cotton goods.
Less than per cent Of the cotton
fabrics consumed IN the United states
comes from abroad, because the pro
tpcive dulles have been made 81 Ugh
that Importation Is Improbable.
Yet fully onc.tlird OF the cotton
piece goods going over retail countcys
is sold as "iipORTED' or Under
names implying a foreign ogigin,
This deception is generally psrpe.
trated upon The consumer for tho nur-
POSE Of obtaiaine oxorbitant prices for
domestie goods,
The consumer, believing the goods
are imported and Knowing that .he
tariff adds excessively o. tacit c.s.
pays 50 70 100 per cent nose Hul
fair price o1d does nor suspect tbas he
is being cheated.
Drains lho pecEesho3<
let rs so stralght 10 specific eg
ample Of the operation OF tlis fraud
Take the tariff boards cloth sample
No. So described as printed diu
ity' This is a medium priced cotton
fabric known 10 almost every Amer.
can rousewire, what woman or elrI
hasn't possessed a dimitv dress within
The last few years: And If she went
to the cotton goods counter and
bought the material by the yard she
no doubt saw such stcas as,
..'''s1'@3-ss.S-tsse.a>sss# -: -. .,,..,.s%
+ IRISH pEuTy.
Z &c
.stss'tt **-sts-ss1. .s.ytas.st' s..,.,,s ssA
The Worlds tariff editor visited with
me department store In a New Eng
land city Of 100000 Inhabitants ag8
found recently counter piled with
these goods, placarded:
.''.'';-s ';S's'$s',; ,sSsA Sss.s
i REAL. IRISH DImITY, Y
Z l9 cts 7
''''''f's'*f f-s'''ss' So, ~ as.stt > tssaa1$
We procured samples of all Of them. |
There was not oue piece OF imported /
goods in the lot Investigation proved /
that the store buyer had purchased
these Irish dlmitics from a Boston
jobber at 10 cents "a yunl and that they
were made In a New England mill. |
Here was supposed bargain" in
a supposedly imported fabric. on
which the retailer was taking a profit
Of 90 per cent!
This happens to be a fabric repre.
senting the highest efficiency in Amer.
lean manufacturing. 1t is a class of
goods In which we can compete nd
vantageously with any country In the
world. The tariff boards inyostiga.
tons discovered on sample No. 90 an
cost Of production OF l-3
cents yard In all the mills inves
dgated the boards representatives
found that the low and high costs of
manufacture of this fabric did not
vary half cent a yard
Who Gets The Prefit7
The manufacturer Of this American
Unity. that is sold as "inported" ana |
"Irish." does not get the EXCESSIVE
profit In come instances the mana
'acturer does. but here he sells to the
'obber at 3 cents. taking oaly nom
mi manufacturing profit Of two-th.rda
'ent q gard. Thi iobber selis to the
'etai'er at 2 cents Is Rer csus nlar
sln for the jobbeI
In Canada. with q per cent tariR. a
aotton fabric costing 10 cents a yard
would BE- sold TO the eoas inner at f2It
y Sometimes at 10 cents Il the pattern
'applned 10 De 70 special demma n
he United States, with lie pgohih.tlye
arif', tie retail price Ia always much
.lgher. Tie standard price retcil s is +
ents for the fabric wholasaled at 10
'ut whea the tarid Is excessige--it is
! per eeat On this printed dimlty -thg
dishonest retailer can get sws w'the
aar1gas or hs
fsRt q see Agrt Cor ie aaa
N8lis a15 tha ale easal,gs
'astie a9e aagn ises l esg
g essslesst tia3s IS lsstels