The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1915-02-19
WOOL INDUSTRIES
YEAR OF FREE TRADE

YEAR OF FREE TRADE
II Has Been a Period Of Trial to tho
Sasacity and Energy of
Manufacturers.
New York Daily Trade Record Feb 4.
The fiftieth annual meeting of the
National Association CT Wool Manu-.
facturers was held at Young's Hotel in
Boston yesterday afternoon. John P.
Wood, of Philadelphia, president of the
association presided at the meeting and
addressed the assemblage
The annual report of Secretary Mar
vim was, in part, as follows:
REPORT OF SECRETARY MARVIN,
The calendar year, 1914. is the first
under the reduced Tariff duties of the
present law, which went into effect, 80
far az wool manufacturers are con
cerned, on the first day of January,
1914 The year preceding had been a
period of uncertainty and embarrass'
ment because complete new Tariff
was being framed. In the year just
ended the wooden industry of America
has experienced substantially every
thing that was feared and something's
that were not apprehended, 1t has
been period to try to the utmost the
sagacity and courage OF manufacturers.
ABNORMAL INCREASE IN IMPORTS OF
FOREIGN GOODS.
It has witnessed an abnormal increase
in the imports Of foreign wooden goods
which, in the case of cloths and dress
goods, have been three times in bulk
and value the imports of the year pre-
cediDg. Up to the outbreak of the
European war on August l, these i'm
ports of foreign fabrics were practical
y four times as great az they had been
under the Protective Tariff policy.
For some weeks the temporary break
down of exchange and of shipping in
terposed check on importations. and
from Germany, Belgium and France
these, of course, have not regained the
vigor of he earlier months of the year,
although some goods from those coun
tries are actually coming in. But it is
Great Britain which is the principal
competitor of the American wool manu-
facturer in both cloths and dress good,
and imports of British wooden fabric
in the final months of 1914 were almost
as large as they were before the war
began. 1t is superficial assumption
that the great war constitutes Chinese
wall, prohibiting imports in the case
of any important American industry.
KEEN BRITISH COMPETITION
British competiti under existing
conditions is keen and formidable 1t
could not be otherwise under a Tariff
for revenue only, with British mills
paying one-half or less than one half
of the wages paid by American mills
for spinning pound of yarn or weav
ing yard of cloth. For such diff
ference as this, added to the wide diff
ference in the cost of construction and
equipment of working plants, revenue
duty of 35 per cent offers no adequate
compensation. American mills through
out the year have generally been forced
to run at reduced volume CT produc-
ton.
Emergency orders placed in this coun
try only after the fcilities of the allie d
countries were exhausted, and under
the pressure of an immediate need 10
supply the armies in the field, with lit
tie regard for the higher cost, have
been welcomed by American mills as a
pirtial and temporary relief from the
general depression. But the total
amount of this foreign government
business has been wholly insufficient to
Offset the seriously lessened home de.
mand due to increased imports of for
eign goods and the stagnation of gen.
eral business throughout the nation.
The associations quarterly census of
idle and active wooden machinery
showed that on December /, last, al.
most 20 per cent of the 3road looms
and 30 per cent of the narrow looms in
American wooden mills were unem-
ploy edo per cent of the wooden cards,
Al per cent OF the worsted combs, al
most 30 per cent of the worsted spind.
les, or not far from one. third of the
as whole
NEW TARIFF A FAILURE
The new Tariff has proved failure