The Cordova daily times., 1923-04-13
PATTERNS PUBLIC CRAZE

The retailers Of WOOlen clothes, especially those catering to the fashionable trade, under take to justify their boosts in suit prices by charging that the Fordney tariff bill made increases in duty that must be passed along to the consumer. As a matter of fact the duty on the sort of wool that enters into clothing was placed at 31 cents pound in the Fordney law, as against 45 cents pound in the emergency tariff law that had been in effect for 16 months prior to the enactment of the Fordney measure.
 Nevertheless, in spite of the reduced duty ion imported wool the price of wooden clothes has risen particularly those of the higher grades. The real reason is to be found in the public passion for imported textiles The word "imported'' seems to have fascination for the American buying public and, in the clothing line especially, the people are willing to pay a premium when they are told that an article was made in England or some other foreign country.
 The New York Daily News Record states the case when it says, ''Put two pieces of the same cloth side by side. Label one domestic and the other imported. Price the imported piece a third higher than the domestic piece. And the average buyer will take the article labeled ''imported.'' Apparently distance jlends enchantment, and real values are ignored while the buyer comforts himself with the thought that he has something that was man. ufactured abroad and brought all the way across 5000 miles of ocean for his deectation. But it is an empty distinction, for American textiles are fully up to the standards of any other country in the world.
 But wooen textiles is not the only mpor- tant product to which the glamour of foreign manufacture seems to attach. Germany has the reputation of making certain articles bet ter than can be produced Tn the United States. Dolls and other toys, Christmas tree ornaments, picture cards, and the like have an added character in the minds of many if they show the German label Japan puts out wide range of articles of paper, bits of wood, and much paint that seem to have an individua1ism of their own. Other ooun- tries send their products to our markets and are able to add something to their prices merely because of the magic word ''lm- ported."
 Probably there is not single article on the list the design of which is not duplicated bv American factories, with better material and more careful workmanship. If the con sumers in this country would look for the label "Made in America'' before making their purchases they would find themselves pos sessed of better quality at less price than in the selection of imported goods. They would also be contributing to the commercial inde7 nendence of their country, which would free them in the future from any disruption of foreign production and cessation of imports.
 Let us get away from the idea that "lm- ported" is a guarantee of superiority, and cling to the more likely truth that it is an indication of inferiority. Let us abandon the foreign fetish and accord our own producers the credit that they have earned. The selfish instinct to get the most for our money de- mands that we buy at home, and considera- tions of the highest patriotism point to the domestic market.
 Tn