New Britain herald., 1916-04-11
SHIRT MAKERS HAVE:
 FIELD ALL ALONE
Foreign Competition in This Line
 Is Almost Negligible

Washington. April 11.--A study of the shirt and collar industry just completed by the bureau of foreign
 of commerce, reveals the fact that American manufa cturers have the
 home market pretty much to them selves as foreign competition in these lines is of very little importance. The
 largest import of>collars and cuffs for any one year was 70,000 in 1913, while
 the total production of these articles
 as far back as 1909 was, $17,2OO, 900.
 The present output is much greater,
 but no statistics are available. The r total value of the shirtsa produced in
 this country in 1909 was sS2,40O.OOO,
 compared with which the imports are
 insignificant. a 4
 The report on the shirt and collar
 industries is the fourth that has been !
 issued by the cost of production divi- I
 sion of the bureau of foreign and do--,
 1nestic commerce On the cost of pro-
 ducing wearing apparel in this coun-
 try, the earlier reports being studies
 of the muslin hosiery, and
 knit und nderwear industries. These re-
 ports are intended primarily for the
 use of congress when tariff legislation is being considered, the bureau in this manner carrying on the work of the old tariff board As with the previous reports it was the original intention to make a study of conditions in -e the principle manufacturing countries of Europe, but the war has made it inn possible to carry out such plan.
 First Collar in 1925.
 Separate collars for mems shirts are k, 1923 by the wife of a blacksmith in 1 Troy, N. Y. This woman did the fam fly washing and ironing, and realized !; that shirts with separate collars would not have to be washed as often as did | shirts with collars attached. She ap- piled the idea not only by making 1 separate collars for her husbands | shirts, but by making them also for sale. This innovation attracted the at tention of Rev. Ebenezer Brown, a re- tired Methodist minister, who kept ] small dry-goods store in Troy With | the aid of the female members of his own family, Rev. Brown, about 1929, began offering "string collars' for sale and soon developed profitable new branch of his business. The de- 1nand for store" collars increased and during the thirties and forties sever
  the manufacture of separate collars, cuffs and shirt bosoms, either in con- nect1on with the manufacture of shirts pr as a sepa rate industry. The sew ng machine was introduced into the collar industry in 1852, and steam power in 1855. Electric cutting ma- chimes were introduced about 1870, ,utton- -holing machines about 1880, md button-sewing machines about ,en years later. The collar and cuff industry has >been centered in Troy rom the first. Tn 1909, S0.46 per cent of the collars and cuffs manufactured n the whole country was manufact- fred in that city.
 Shirt Industry Pounded 1882.
 The manufacture of shirts was founded as a systematic industry in 1892 in New York, and in 1909 that ,ity manufactured 27.74 per cent of the total output of the country. Troy and Albany produced S.S5 per cent, Phila delphia s6S per cent, Baltimore 253 per cent, and St. Louis 4.O7 per cent. New York state and Pennsyl- vania produced more than half the shirts made in the country.
 Tn making the study of the cost of l
 reducing shirts and collars in this the bureau received reports rom four esta blishments manufactur- ns collars or shirts and collars and Weight establishments manufact- lring shirts only. Some of these es- adjustments are very large and some small, but all are fairly representative of the industries. Their aggregate .ales during the last business year were s45,3SS,100, or 465 per cent of ,he total production in 1909.
 The average percentages of manu- featuring profit and final profit of all he forty-two esta blishnents reporting " ere as follows: Manufacturing prof 1t on capital employed in business 12.32 per cent; on net sales, 6.2O per cent; final profit on capital employed in business, Ii .46 per cent; on net ga les 5.S5 per cent.
 Of total number of establishments reporting, two had manufa curing losses and four had final losses; twen- ty-seven earned ten per cent. or more of manufacturing profit and twenty four earned ten per cent. or more of final profit on capital employed in business The group of establishments ,nanufac curing shirts in New york city shows a higher percentage of profit both on capital employed in business and on net sales, than does the group located outside of New York city. The prour with net sales under S5OO,O0O shows a higher per centage of profit than the group with net sales over s5oOOOO Salaries of active officers nd the dra awing accounts of partners were included in the cost of produc- ton before profits were figured In the case of individual owners of estab-