Norwich bulletin., 1914-11-10
SMALL MILL TOWNS SUFF- RING
New Woolen Tariff Has Its Effect in New England Villages Other Causes Operating as Wen-Some 50 Small Woolen Mills Have Failed in Past Six Months-Where the New Tariff Comes in.

The little baronies of the little wool en mill towns of New England are be- ginning to crumble before the new freedom. The reduced tariff on tm- ported woolen cloths which went into operation the first of January, is not the sole cause of this decline, though it is an important cause, and perhaps the leading one, for the failure Of some 50 of these small mills within the past six months. But from this and other causes, the hundreds or small New England villages which have depended for generations on the owner of the little woolen mill. much as did the medieval village on its feudal chief, are facing, and in many instances experiencing, an economic and social overturn that is not with out it's pathetic side.
 United for modern business con- ditions, many of them undoubtedly are Yet they have had a peculiar and honorable part in the nations in- dustry: and have been a picturesque and valuable part in the rural life of New England
 Demands Individual Skill
 Unlike cotton manufacture. the probably always will require a large element Of individual skill that puts il in position somewhat peculiar to it. self. Raw wool differs widely in quality and length, even in the same fleece, and i'edividual skill in blending wool flores for manufacture can be attained only by long practice and special aptitude. This is a. delicate task with wool and other materials like cotton, linen or silk The appear ance and feef of the finished cloth de- pend wholly on the skill of the blen- der, and the outsider may well enough judge of the importance of individual skill by the mere statement of the problem. Then, too, the dyeing of wools is matter in which individual skill still plays a large part, in spite of the many advances that hfS+e been made in the chemistry and mechanics of dyeing.
 Owing to this necessity for close personal supervision of every, process of woolen manufacture, 1t used to be considered automatic in the industry that it, couldn't succeed when a mill became so large that the manager was unable to know personally everything that went on In the course of manu- fracture. The limit of size was various ly set at from 10 to 15 sets-a set be- ing the serSes of machines from the card to the loom-which would take wool up to the capacity of the carding machine. But with later methods in machinery and in mill organization, these limits on the size of the success ful wooden mill have disappeared, and IS we'll hHO"n tIldL 4dISS WOOISA mills are operating quite as success fully as the prosperous small ones.
 Reasons of Decline
 Many of the small mills, which have come into the hands of the sec ond generation of owners, have proved unequal to modern competition for a variety of reasons.e Their second gen. eration owners or managers have all the necessary technical knowledge of handling and weaving wool, and the production of patterns; yet the mills do not succeed.
 One reason for this is the lack either of commercial ability, or ex- perience, or. connections, and these defects are especially serious when the capacity of a small mill has been gradually enlarged to point where the owner is Entble to sell proftabay all his produce. Another reason is the failure, sometimes for lack of money, sometimes for lack of enterprise, to keep the machinery of the mill abreast of modern improvements, which give an advantage in efficiency to the mills which adopt them. Still another cause is the excessive cost of transporta tion
 insome cases. Originally all woolen mills were run by water power sites in the days when rail transportation was not, as it is now, one of the large elements in the selling cost of goods and in the ability to ship quickly both raw material and the finished pro- duet
 Other causes of decline include the fact that many small mills have run for years on comparatively coarse products Of limited range for which the market has gradually been fail ing.
 Where the Tariff Comes Tn There seems to be no doubt that Rhn tariff finished woo1en cloth is having a bad effect on some of the small New Eng land mills. For the benefit of the un- initiated 1t may be we'll to explain here that wool cloth is divided into worsteds and woolens. Worsteds are made oft ong-fibred wool, the short flores of the fleece being removed by the process known as combing. Cloths made of long flores have fewer ends of flores projecting from the surface of the finished cloth, and are eonse- quently smoother to the touch. Wool