The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1921-02-02
COTTON Men CAN
NOT EXPECT HELP
FROM new TARIFF
Manufactures Only to Sc
cure Benefits Of Pro-
posed Duties
JOKERS PLENTIFUL
NTH. NEW LAW
Goods Will Increase in Price
But Growers Not
To Profit

New York. Jan. ga special tc
the Evening World from Washington
saws: "The Fordney emergency ia
riff bill teens with '.jokers' designed
to deceive not only the public, but the
senators and representatives from ayr
icultural states, who are expected TO
accept the 'sops' thrown in for their
respective products by the real man
ipulators Of the bill, without the care
full scrutiny which would reveal the
trick nature OF the legislation.
J "The cotton section, which is con-
tanned in two innocent-looking para
graphs of six lines, is a shrewd effort
to fool the cotton growers, whip the
senator's from the south into line for
I the tariff bill, and at the same time
make the consuming public pay addi-
! tional tribute to manufacturers Of cot
ton goods running into the millions.
"The senate cotton section is slight
" altered from that Of the house.
The house bill provided for duty of
z cents a pound on cotton having a
staple OF one and three-eighths Of an
inch. The senate amended this to read
a staple of one and one-eighth Of an
inch" in length.
1.-THE joker is inserted in the sec
ond paragraph which lays duty of
Z cents per pound upon manufactures
OF which cotton Of the kind provided
for in paragraph Is is the component
material of chief value"
The meat of the Joker is contain
ed in the words component material
of chief value. The long staple cot
tonton will sell for dollar a pound
and up. If this bin becomes q law,
a very small quantity of it can be
woven into a fabric along with larg-
er quantity Of the shorter staple, and
the price of the manufactured pro-
duced fixed on the basis of the duty
laid upon the long staple, and no one
who understands the tricks Of the
trade believes for a moment that the
increased price, when it is passed on
to the consumer, will be restricted 70
the cents per pound basis.
Cotton viii Jump
If the trick emergency" bill is ap-
provd by congress, the price Of every
manufactured article containing COZ
ton will Immediately take a decided
jump, and the cotton growers, who are
expected to bring pressure to bear on
the democratic senators from the cot
ton states, never will receive any ben
eft from the increase.
THE absence of any emergency"
in the cotton trade, whcih will be met
by the Fordney bill, is apparent. The
competition brought about by import
ed cotton is extremely small The i'm
ports Of cotton cloths, according to
government statistics, amounted to
less than l per cent Of the domestic
production during 1920 There is no
competition except in the longest
staple.
But by fixing cents per pound
on the manufactured product, the
manufacturer of cotton goods will be
able again to initiate his prices, and
benefit at the expense Of the general
public, which only now is beginning
to receive some slight reductions in
prices. The cotton grower, for whose
special benefit the emergency bill was
supposed to be drawn, will receive
none OF the benefits Of this duty on
raw cotton.
I'm 1919 there we're produced in
this country only S54, 900 bales OF cot
ton having staple of one and one
eighth to one and a quarter inches,
out OF total crop of approximately
100000 bales. The cotton farmer
is not asking for protection, al
though he has clamored for govern,
mental relief from falling prices, due
to readiustment OF economic condi-
tons, just as other farmers have
done.
III tariff is put on l S-S inch, it
penalties the production Of cloth made
of what is known in the trade as
eighty" yarns and above, which in
cludes fine and plain fabrics, such as
cambrics, organizes and fine lawns.
IF the proposed duty is put on
cloths made OF l is cotton it would
penalize all goods made OF forty"
yarn and above, which would include
the bulk Of cloth imported into this
country. There are practically no i'm