Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-10
WOOL CONSERVATION
PLANNED in ENGLAND
Farmers Receiving 60 Per
Cent More for Clip
Than in 1914
LACK OF COMBING ACUTE
Steps Being Taken to Deal With
Matter of Employment for
Operatives


Wool conservation is now being sCr-
ously considered by the authorities,
British farmers are receiving 60 pc" cent
more for the new clip than they did in
steady. Alpaca IS soaring. and Are
quipa fleece made seventy pence, with
Rama at ffty-eight and locks at forty
five.
The wool textile industry has at last
arrived at the stage when the future
employment for operatives is having TO
be seriously considered. and steps are
being taken to deal with the question
in a practical manner Larger 'upplies
of combing wool to obviate tn present
shortage would have been very welcome,
What annoys commission combers ard
topmakers Is that those responsible were
warned about making adeandIe prov sion
for all sections Of the trade as far back
as last August, but evidently they did
not wake UP to the urgent requirements
of the combug industry until It WAS
too late. There IS good leal about
the present scheme of state control
which the outside world will never
know, aud it will be case Of where
ignorance Is bliss 'tis folly to be W Sc.
But that does not run combs spn"ics
and looms men, women and children
require something more tangible from
which to supply their needs.
The outstanding subject in the tex
tile world today is that of leVies They
| rave existed in the Lancashire cotton
rade now for the last SIX weeks to two
months. and the principle there recog-
nized of the strong helping the weak
is TO he followed throughout the woolen
and worsted industries. Everybody re-
cognizcs that there Is going to be no
shortage IN the voolcn trade and where
there are adequate supplies and full
plant running. both masters and men
should contribute something toward
helping those who are less faNorably sit
uated. II will be remembered that at the
/ last board of control a subcommittee
was formed to go thoroughly into this
question and to decide what measures
should be adopted That committee has
now sat and arrived at the general
principle upon which levyis to be laid,
/ and as conditions in the wool textile
trade are different from those of the
cotton trade. the broad principle upon
which a levy is to be laid is on the
number of hands employed, not on the
spindlcs running
There are still details to be settled
but it IS expected at the board of con-
troll meeting next Tuesday that the en-
tire scheme win be approved, in which
those operatives who are forced 10 play
on account of want of combing wool
will receive material assistance. we
fully expect that all the funds OF the
: trade will be pooled. that each firm
Twill report weekly the number of hands
unemployed and that each one viii
receive a percentage proportion OF the
wages which they would have earned
had they been WORKING full time.
We fully expect that some members
of the wooden trade will raise objection
to contributing anything under a system
of levies for the purpose of helping the
worsted industry, the contention being
that there Is very little in common be-
tween the two trades. But that is not
the verdict Of the majority, and as we
are living in war times and there is
adequate provision in the shape of raw
material for the woolen trade, II Is onH
right that where employment is good
and profits satisfactory, manufactures
should help their less fortunate friends
in the worsted industry. Then, again
it will only mean handing over a GER
tain proportion of surplus profits in
stead Of paying them in excess wal
profits, and, after ALL, it will pay q
firm Infinitely better to keep its whole
plant running. and pay 80 much on the
number of hands employed than see q
proportion of the machinery stand ant
not pay something.