The Connecticut labor press., 1920-09-11
EXPOSE OF THE
 TEXTILE MILLS
 KNAVERY IN WOOL
Billions of Pounds of Wool Avail able but Manufacturers
 Use Less and Less.
VERY INFERIOR CLOTHING

Public Pays Extortionate Prices
 in Most Instances for
 tShoddy" Substitute.
 Chicago, Sept 10-That there are more than 4,000, 100000 pounds of vir- gin (new) wool in the worlds store houses, or soon will be, awaiting man. ufacture. that the textile mills of the United States used 113,O00,O00 fewer pounds of virgin wool last year than in 1918 and that the drop will be greater this year were some of the statements which Alexander Walker made in his annual address as president of the National Sheep and Wool Bureau of America, whose headquarters IS at g East Jackson Boulevard
 The conference was the most inn portant annual meeting III the history of the bureau. The National Sheep and Wool Bureau of America is an organ ization of firms and organizations in terested in the sheep and wool industry in every part of the United States. For year, it has been engaged in getting the people of the country together be- hind the French-Capper Truth in Fabric bill, which was left in the hands of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Com mittees of both branches of Congress at adjournment If enacted, the bill would compel textile manufacturers to stamp every yard of their cloth entering interstate commerce with its content Of virgin wool and of wool substitutes, the chief of which is sfoddy-old rags, re- worked in some cases as often as eight times. Textile manufacturers consider the measure as revolutionary as the Pure Food law, which was fought by the interests for % years.
 No Wool At All, Soon.
 eff the French-Capper Truth in Fab rie bill is not passed quickly so as to open the eyes of the public to the fact that the textile manufacturers are meet ing their demand for virgin wool with re-worl<ed rags" said Byron Wilson, secretary of the Wyoming Wool Grow CTS Association, one of the best iri- formed men west. of the Mississippi river, there will soon be no wool grown in the United States to supply their de- mand and no sheep for food purposes either. Sheep men cannot continue to grow sheep, if the textile nlanufacturers win not buy their wool at "a living profit"
 His remarks were strongly seconded by J. F. Walker, president of the Fleece Wool States Association and chairman of the wool committee of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He con- tinued
 $15 Blankets at $45.
 q doubt if the manufacturers are allowing the people of the United States three pounds of virgin wool per capita this year. They need 12 pounds per capita I remember a short time ago visiting a certain woolen mill. There wasn't pound of virgin wool on the premises-nothing but shoddy. They were turning out woolen blankets of straight shoddy, which should not have retailed for more than SIS pair. When I returned to Chicago, I found these blankets selling at the leading depart ment store for $45 pair. A competitor had a special sale of the blankets for $3o.50 a pair"
 George M. Wilber, executive commit teenan of the Ohio Sheep and Wool Growers Association, gave 1t as his opinion that the sheep industry in America could only be saved by the producers and the consumers getting to- gether. He said:
 Re- Worked Rags for Fabrics.
 "The people want virgin wool cloth and they receive re-worked rag cloth from the textile manufacturers in its stead. The textile manufacturers can make more money by using re-worked rags in their all wool cloth than they could by buying virgin wool from the sheep men at fair price and using that. I saw an announcement the other day that steamer had arrived with l zoo tons of rags from Antwerp and 525 bales of rags and cuttings from Ger many for the American shoddy mills. I wonder how our people would feel, if they knew that they were being clother in re-worked German ragsP
 President Walker said in his address that the unso1d British governments Colonial wools amount to o20,777,280 pounds and the stored wool of the 1920 clip, which the British government ex- perts estimate at 2,700,000,000 pounds. The American spring clip has amounted to about 265, 5,000000 pounds. These figures do not include reserve supplies in various parts of the world, such as South Africa and South America. He pointed out that, though wool is accommodating the storehouses, the world produces less than a third of the virgin wool it needs annually. He estimated that the wool growers of the United States lost $75,0O0,000 in the drop of 25 cents pound in the price of raw wool early this summer.
 It was decided to appoint two com mittees to take charge of the work of tlnifying the efforts of organizations in behalf of the French-Capper Truth in Fabric bill Dr. J. M. Wilson, presi- dent of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association, was selected to head the committee that will operate west of the Mississippi river. J. F. Walker, pres ident of the Fleece Wool States Asso- ciation, was selected to head the com n1ittee that will operate east of the Mississippi river. Both Dr. Wilson and MT. Walker are members of the bureaus governing board.