The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1915-12-03

lneNltdDie the WOOl n1dHuIdCtuTe Ot
this country has been in a condition
of arrested development. No other
condition could reasonably be antici-
pated. so long as spinner or a
weaver in British mill Is forced by
stern necessity to spin a pound of
yarn or weave yard of cloth, as
the case may be, for a wage one-half
or less than is paid to spinner or
weaver in an American mill for doing
exactly the same kind and amount of
work upon substantially the same
kind OF machinery. there can be no
really successful and prosperous man
ufacture i'm the United States without
the shield of a genuine and adequate
Protective Tariff. There is just
about as much opportunity to dispute
this fundamental proposition as
there is to dispute the multiplication
table or the law of gravity. Men
will still do such things occasionally.
but they have no right to expect to
be taken seriously by their fellow
men.
The truth is--and every soul con-
nected in any way with the wool
manufacture now knows 1.-THE Sim
mons-Underwood Tariff for revenue
only has produced in this industry
as in other industries precisely the
result which was calmly and patient !
ly set forth before both committees
of Congress in the spring and summer |
of 1913 by those who were delegated !
to represent the National Association !
of Wool Manufacturers at the Tar
if hearings in Washington From .
the time that the radically reduced /
duties on wool manufac turers took
effect. on January 1, 1914. to the un-
foreseen outbreak of the great Eu-
ropean war. on August /, 1914. the
course of events was in every res
pect what the spokesman of this asso-
citation has predicted to the national
cloths and dress goods particularly
increased at once 500 or 400 per cent.
and were increasing progressively I'M
til the war paralyzed the export COM
merce of Germany. Belgium and
France. and checked and diverted the
industrial energies of the United
The war with all its price
Of waste and horror has proved the
salvation of the textile industries
and of other industries, of America.
This fact cannot be too carefully
too profoundly emphasiz-
ID, by observers of contemporaneous
vents, who can speak with authori- l
alive knowledge of present condi- {
ions. For sixteen years European {
had been waging a IL
osing fight for the American mark !
t. The marvellous development of i
killed production in this country, be- {
lind the Protective Tariff, had grad
ally gained a larger and larger share /
# the American market for Ameri-
an mills, until many foreign manu- @
acturerS who used to do a valuable [
BUSINESS here had lost their foot S
old. and thereby lost their knowl- C
dge of the particular tastes and re- S
uirements of American customers
tut the reckless sectional slashing a
{ the Tariff rates in the law of Oc- "
ober, 1918, emboldened those for n
ign manufacturers, with their cheap e
lbor costs, to make an effort for an il
Their conquest of America. and that
hey would have succeeded to very C,
lrge extent can no more be question fl
4 than the ability of any one of the p
reat armed powers of the present II
ar to break down the inadequate lc
efenses of this "unprepared" repub- p
But the vast European combat, b.
bsorbing the energies of those en- b.
aged in it. has given our country b.
certain period of grace. How are a,
e going to improve it? 1t is mani
st that our military and naval re- p
,urces are to be Immediately and d
realty strengthened, if the will of il
n overwhelming majority of our C,
eople is to be suffered to prevail in a
Washington. But how about our s;
lually industrial defenses? The e.
oment the war has ended these will b.
, subject to an attack the like of f
hich has never been experienced or 81
zen imagined. The war will leave 81
lch flaming bitterness of hate be- rc
nd among the combattants that for
ng years thereafter every nation III
i'll be dramatically sealed in a COM III
ercial sense against its enemy. o,
ritish and French goods cannot Dc
Id in Germany or Austria. or Gel fr
an or Austrian goods in Franco or Il
ritain. Yet these countries must til
.