New-York tribune., 1919-04-13
BUSINESS NEWS BUREAU,
Tribune Building
i54 Nassau Street
British Unable
To Invade u. s.
Woollen Markets
English Authority Says That
the Mills of America
Need Not Fear Competi-
ton for Next Two Years

For the next two years American
woollen mills will be free from any
very serious competition from English
mills. After that time competition will
not matter so much, as we look for
Republican administration and Re-
publican tariff after March 4, 1921
This is the opinion of an English
manufacturer of fine woollens now in
the United States on business trip.
For obvious reasons his name cannot
be used, but his mills are among the
most important in the British Isles
Tho best protection the American
mills could ever hope for is the condi-
tion of the English markets." says this
manufacturer. "Owing to the ration
ing OF wool and tho limited stocks of
civilian goods that are available for
use at home as we'll as export, the
prices we are compelled to ask and get
for our wares makes it necessary for
American tailors to demand prices for
clothes made up of English cloth that
few viii pay.
"Unbelievable" Prices
THE prices we are asking and get
ting for goods delivered in this market
would be unbelievable few years
back. Goods that we sold here prior
TO the war and in the early stages of
the war at S2.25 a yard we now sell at
$3.50, So and 50 the yard One grade
of homespun in particular that we
formerly sold at $40 and made a fair
profit on, we now ask and receive $3.50
Saxony woolens that we used to get
SO to $3.50 for we now get $12 to
S13, while the S375 to 81 grades are
worth sl6 to SIT laid down at the
tailors' door.
Even al these prices we have very
little to sell That little we try to
conserve so as to stay in business at
all That is one reason for the ex-
tremely high prices. Some English
houses that sold all they had at what
they considered cxorbitant prices are
now without anything to sell and un-
able to take care of their customers.
However, we are not getting rich
There is an 80 per cent excess profit |
tax at home which takes from us most
of what we take from American |
buyers.
Buying Cautiously
"In the last two or three years
American buyers of English woollens
have bought as little as they could |
satisfy their trade with. They allowed
their stocks to run low and avoided
stocking up in the belief that things
would get better. Instead, they have
got worse. | look for even higher
prices this time next year. The de
mand for goods at home, with the army
being disbanded, is enormous. The |
supply-well, draw your own conclu-
sions when | tell you that big man |
ufacturers like the Martins are allot-
ted wool for not more than Is per cent
of capacity for mufti goods We look
for this rationing of wool to continue
for some time to come.
"ln the mean time your manufact-
urers are getting COED prices for their
wares and turning $ut some goods
that are really splendid. A manufact-
urer showed me an American Saxony
the other day that he is selling fol |
$2.75 the yard. 1t is better cloth
than l am able to sell for $3.50 to So. |
Yankee manufacturers should and
probably Will be able to sell all such |
goods as they can turn out In the
cheaper stufs there is absolutely not
chance for competition now. There
IS good supply OF wool in sight
Two years crops that the British gov
ernment has bought and paid for are
now in Australia and New Zealand.
There haven't been ships to bring the
stuff home in. The British govern
ment will continue to control this
stuff, making a fair division of it. !
We don't look for lower prices for our
goods, however, for eighteen months
or two years most likely two years.
In those two years your manufacturers
VIII have things their own way in
these markets There is, Of course,
large number of people who want Brit
Ish woollens- But only the few can
have them for some time to come.
Prosperity Ahead
American manufacturers that
have talked with look for a Republican
administration in Office in 1921. That
OF course viii spell good tariff on
woollens. Even then our high grade |
stuhs viii come in and sell well here.
The cheap stuffs won't In the mean
time American manufacturers ought |
70 enjoy the most prosperous times in
the history of the trade"