The sun., 1916-01-08
THE KNIT GOODS INDUSTRY
An Expert Criticism Of Secretary Red
fields Inexpert Remarks.

1
fields Inexpert Remarks.
| To THE EDITOR or THE SuN-Sir: It
has been said that one can prove any
thing by statistics. That Is only a
part truth. One can prove anything
by statistics to the prejudiced or the
superficial minded. Secretary Redfield
has always shown remarkable gifts in
that direction.
lie has just published so-called sta
tistics going to show that the fears
of the knit goods industries from the
Underwood tariff were unfounded.
| do not know how reliable Mr.. Red
fields statistics are, but even II We
were TO concede that they are cor
rect they are extremely misleading
so far as they prove the ability Of
American manufacturers to compete
with Germany and Japan under nor
mai conditions. If Mr.. Redields fig
ures cover any period Of the present
war they are certainly worthless. II
Is natural that an industry will pros
per while It's chief competitor Ia
marooned. But even II Mr.. Redfelds
figures referred only to piping times
Of peace" the 12 per cent. profit on
| capital invested Is a negligible re-
turn. Most of the newspapers es-
pecially In their headlines, speak OF
this as n It meant IL per cent. on
sales. It is only after a very careful
reading OF the report that one finds
that the profit on net sales according
to Mr.. Redfelds own figures was
only 6.66 per cent. However. the fol-
lowing paragraph in Mr.. Redfelds
report has an important bearing on
the question of actual profit:
The use OF antiauatcd machinery AMI
the failure 10 keep machinery in proper
condition. are causes OF waste Of material
and 81 the production OF Seconds" which
leads to nanufs curing losses. This largely
accounts for tho excessive and keen com
petition Of which much Is heard. The
| manufscturer using old type OF ma
! chine, being unable to sell In normal com
petition with fhe product Of improved
machines. has TO cut his price and this
forces competition of the cutthroat kind
As matter Of fact this is one OF
! the most vital questions in figuring
81 hosiery manufacturers profit. Mr..
Redfeld speaks Of the manufacturer
using an old type OF machine being
unable To sell in normal competition
with the product Of improved ma
| chimes" He does not point out that
unless the hosiery manufacturer is
willing to scrap all his machinery
every four or five years he becomes
relegated TO the class Of the manufac-
turer using an old type machine"
! should like To know If the $50 per
cent. profit was taken before or after
/ figuring this scrapping process. As
the report covers period certainly
not over three years 1t II not likely
that he has figured correctly IN this
matter of depreciation.
\ more important question than
this is. not what Germany was able
. 20 do In the American market for a
year or two Immediately after SO radi-
cal change az the Underwood bill,
hut what can she do In the long run.
Germany had not been trying Ia COM
pete along certain lines which she
recognized as futile under the Payne
( Aldrich bill. and therefore had devel-
o'cd her knitting industries along
lines meeting the demand in Germany
England. France. South America Rus
sia and the rest Of the world She had
not been devoting her energies to sup
plying the American taste and there
fore was not al once equipped with
the Kind Of machinery to make low
priced extra fine gauge goods such
as the American consumer demands
when the tariff change came. Her low
priced good. We're IN the coarser
gauges asked for IN her established
markets. Moreover at the time Of the
tariff change there suddenly grew a
great demand in this country FOR art!-
tirlal fibre silk. for which our manufac-
;urers had been preparing. "A demand
which Germany was not equipped al
once to meet.
However. Germany has time and
again. and especially in this war.
demonstrated her resourcefulness and
the ability to meet demand within
/ reasonable time There is no doubt
that after peace has been restored the
. american manufacturer will have a
very hard time To compete with Ger
many under the present tariff, but the
danger from German competition is
even less threatening than that from
Japan. The japanese are rapidly in
staHinc the latest American machinery
/ and have a wage scale with which
wh!'e people cannot compete. Statis-
/ tics taken at the time the Payne-
Aldrich hIll was pending, II remem-
her correctly, show that the men
/ operatives we're making a5 cents DAY
and the women s cents
II would appear tha, Mr. Redfeld's
/ report Is not economic but political.
CHARLES NEZIN.