Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1920-06-26
BILL TO PREVENT
 SH0DDY MANUFACTURE

Chicago, June 25.-Half a billion pounds of shoddy were thrown on the American clothing market in 1919, while billion pounds unmanufactur- ed, virgin wool were accommodating in the storehouses. Shoddy is made of woolen rags, re-spun perhaps as often as eight times. It is usually woven with small percentage of virgin wool to stick the broken flores together. Of the 62O,OOO,OOO yards of "All wool" cloth produced by the nations mills, the amount of shoddy used would have produced 3S0,OOOOOO yards, if straight shoddy cloth had been turned out. Mixed with little new wool, it entered into the compost tion off, vastly greater yardage. In the same period, the amount of new wool used would have produced 24O,- OOO,O0O yards of virgin wool cloth, if it had not been adulterated with shoddy.
 These statistics were made public today by the National Sheep and Wool Bureau of America, No. 29 South La Sale street, which is organizing the sheep, farm and business interest of the country behind the French Capper Truth in Fabric bill. This bill was left in the hands of the Interstate Commerce Committees of both houses of Congress at adjournment. It is de- signed to compel manufacturers to stamp their cloth with the percenta- ges of virgin wool and of shoddy it contains. Howard E. Greene, Secre- tary of the Bureau, said:
 Hast year, as never before, the shoddy interests succeeded in foisting their goods on the public. Only 6OO,- 100000 lbs. of wool in it's natural state, of 30O,0O,OOO lbs. of cleaned wool, were converted into cloth. Most of this amount was mixed with shoddy to make it stick together. If the entire 300,0O0,OOO lbs. had been made into pure virgin wool cloth, it would have provided only 240,O0O,O0O yards, as against 3SO,OOO,OO0 yards of SnOQQy goOQS.
 "It would have taken 1850, ,00O, ,000 lbs. of virgin wool to have made the entire 620,0O0,00O yards of 'all wool cloth turned out by the mills. But the entire amount need not have been made of virgin wool. There should have been virgin wool cloth for these who could afford it and shoddy for thinner purses. That would have pro- vided for fair competition between vir- gin wool cloth and shoddy and for fair range of prices. Instead, through the lack of stamping, shoddies were sold as 'all wool and the public, ac- cepting 'all wool to mean virgin wool, was denied the right of choice and the benefit of a range of prices.
 "In spite of this billion lbs. of vir- gin wool in the storehouses, the world produces annually third less wool than it needs and the demand for new wool is as great as ever. The shoddy manufacturers have simply thrown themselves between the public with it's demand for virgin wool cloth and the sheep men with their supply of vir- gin wool.
 "As a result, the wool-growers are being forced into insolvency. To save those of the West from immediate ruin, the Federal Reserve Board has authorized the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank to advance money to help them carry their unsold clips. However, this aid affords only temp orary relief. The farmers and sheep men must have permanent relief from the unfair competition of the rag pickers.
 That billion pounds of unmanufac- tured, virgin wool in the storehouses, kept from the public which wants and needs it by the legal right of manu- lecturers to use unidentified shoddy in their all wool cloth, threatens the annihilation of the sheep and wool industry. It is to. the interest of every voter to get behind the French Capper Truth in Fabric bill and see that it is enacted into law at the next session of Congress. Between en- frightened public opinion and the Truth in Fabric law, the wool-growers may be able to recover some of this springs losses at next springs clip"
 While loaning the sheep men money to withstand the rag-pickers' compe- tition, the United States Government is doing more than, any other single agency to sweel the rag-pickers' in come. In the supplement to "Com- merce Reports, issued April 20, 1920, the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, of the Department of Commerce, reports under the caption,