The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1922-08-02
Fighting AGAINST
The WOOL TARIFF

Wooden cloth and clothing manu-
f~acturers have been bombarding their
customers with circulars asking that
efforts be made to prevent a protect
i've tariff being levied on imported
wool, insisting that the proposed law
would increase the price of clothing
about 81 per suit and of an overcoat
about $3.50. There is no jurisdiction
in such a claim and the propaganda
is evidently being b~roadcasted in
preparation of the way fors an arbi-
traIy increase in prices.
The clothing and cloth manufac-
turers IN proceeding upon the theory
that the consumer always pays the
tariff, no matter what conditions
might be-, a theory that has been ex-
ploded millions of times by the act
ual workings of a protective tG~iff.
However, suppose we admit what the
clothing manufacturers are saying,
how would it do to cut the tariff on
clothing and cloth, or why not put
them on the free list? According to
these manufacturers the consumer
pays the tariff on wool, then why
doesn't he pay it on clothing and
cloth? And if the wool producers of
the country are not entitled to pro-
lection, why are the manufacturers
of cloth and clothing entitled to it?
One of the circular letters being
sent out against the wool tariff says
it should not be allowed because it
will not ven protect the farmer, "be-
cause only z per cent Of the farmers
of this country grow any wool. OF
those who do only a small fraction
of 1 per cent grow it in commercial
quantities, so that the farmers as q
class will be taxed more for then
clothes than they will get in enhanced
price of WOOL"
Well, there are only about 1,00(
wooden mills in the country where
wooden cloth is manufactured. Why
not apply this same reasoning to then
and insist that they should be forcet
out of business because they consti
tute only a very small percentage o
the people of the country-mucl
smaller than do the wool-growin'
farmers? Why not say to the Amer
, lean wooden mills and to the Ameri
can manufacturers Of clothing some
thing like this: "Since you consti
tute only a very small fraction Of tn
+ people and a very small part of tn
manufacturing interests of the coun
try, and as it costs the manufacturer
as a whole more to maintain a pre-
~tective tariff than the manufacturer
as @ whole g etout of the tariff o
wooden cloth and clothing, therefor
we are going to destroy your industr
by inviting destructive competitio
from abroad"
p Guess that would call out more eli
cular letters from the manufacture
than the proposed wool tariff, bV
Il they would be of a very differel
character. They would not advoca
F. a policy that would destroy a gre
Y American industry when that indu
% try happened to be the one the Giro
larizers controlled.
m Diversification is necessary a
w the principle of protection, if CARR
II out in good faith, makes diversifi(
s ton possible. Without a protect
nc tariff our manufacturing intere:
h must languish and die, and when tn
in are wiped out we will pay more tn
ever for the things we need, while {
re stroying the great army Of workt
who constitute the bulk or the &C
sumers Of farm products.
If the American wool-growing
dustry were wiped out it would 4
terially reduce the worlds supply
wool, and it is possible, aye, pro-
4 BILE, that after the death of that
nestle industry the price of W
{. would 60 higher than before, the
crease going into the pockets of
Observation-Disclosures City, Iowa, Fl
man.