The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-10-22
Clothing No Cheaper Than Befo-

bany Journal writes fror,. ~ ~ NJ
ton: washing
I'm the United States Senate ~,
June o. 1914, ih a discussion on the
results W the Underwood Tariff bni
a eolloquy was held betweeu .-wo
." aiding senator's as TO %hethee the
retail price of mems clo'hin'e had
been reduced as a result Of the re-
duced tariff in wool. 10 response
to the. statement by the Republican
ser .N,or that he had been unable TO
.,h,ain any reduction in his tailor
made clothes, the Democratic sena-
tor said;
IF the senator will just join the
holy army OF men that God created
with such perfection OF physical form
that they may be fitted at ready
made clothing store, the senator will
find gods that are cheaper
"As his statement was made in
Washington, and thpreftte evidently
referred to Washington prices. your
correspondent at the capital has
made an investigation. Five promi-
nent dealers in standard makes of
mems clothing-makes which have
a national reputation--were asked if
there had been any reduction in the
price of ready made mems clothing
in the last tire years.
pay as much now for their clothing
as before the Underwood tariff bill
went into effect, hence had TO charge
the consumer as much now as before
They all said that the consumer
pays at least as much now for the
ready-made clothing as he did three
years ago.
"One dealer said that the cloth
used now is no better than that used
before the tariff reduction; one said
that the cloth is little better, he
thought. Another said that the cloth
is no better and that the reduction in
tariff is made up for by little bet
ter workmanship, such as tailoring
and finishing. Two said that the
cloth is about the same now as then
in the $50 to S25 suits, and that the
clothes for which these prices are
paid today will not give one bit bet
ter satisfaction or better service than
suits bought at the same price be-
fore the Underwood tariff bill be-
came effective.
THE fifth dealer said that he is
doing a business of over 100000
annually in standard brand of cloth
ing, and that, while the prices have
not been lowered, he thought the
cloth used inferior now because of
the scarcity of wool. Many of the
wool growers, anticipating the tariff
reduction, sold their sheep and many
of the sheep have been used for NUT
ton, which has decreased the num-
Der of sheep by about 100000
head. All but one of the dealers
said that they had noticed that the
consumer had much more money to
spend before the Democratic tariff |
became effective.
THE cloth used in a suit of :
clothes costing at retail $40 or $50 Z
does not cost over So, and very pro- /
badly il costs less. There is hardly |
a cloth used which costs over 81 per
yard. especially of the kind used in
the averaged priced suit retailing
from $40 to %. Suppose that the
price OF this cloth were reduced 10
per cent-which would be a very
great reduction-this could not re-
luce the retail price Of the suit more
han 80 cents. With this reduction,
a S25 suit could be sold for s24.65
f the consumer were given full bene-
IL, but our investigation has shown
hat there has been no actual reduc-
ion.
1.-THE assertion of the Democratic
senator, quoted above. is therefore
vide OF the mark and must have
,een made merely for political effect.
The Underwood tariff bill has utter
y failed in its purpose with respect
o this commodity, and there is no
loubt that the same test may be
applied to other necessi-
10, .,t.i