Evening star., 1925-05-16
BY ROGER w. BABSON.
Special Dispatch to The Star.


WELLESLEY HILLS, Mass. Nav
Io;-As the textile industry in the
minds Of many includes both cotton
goods and. woolen goods, 1t is neces-
sary to divide textiles" into two
DIVISIONS. There Is a great difference
In the two lines at this time. Although
year ago both cotton and woolens
' We're depressed, yet today the cotton
industry has revived much more than
mas the woolen industry
Spring demand for cotton goods is
ialrly strong and the mills are han
ding large volume of business. More
over, most mills are making some
money. although the margin of profit
is comparatively small. The spindle
hour activity for April, 1925, should
snow about 10 per cent over the
spindle capacity of April, 1924. TAX
ing an average of all cotton mills of
the United States, 1 should say that
they are running about rs per cent
capacity.
Close to Profit Margin.
The difficulty is that it costs almost
as much to run rs per cent as TO run
100 per cent; therefore the real profit
In the business comes from running
iuli time. In other words, most mills
are like hotels. One must have the
rooms 40 per cent full in order to pay
expenses. Then as the rooms fill up
above 20 per cent the additional in
come is really all profit.
The wooden situation shows no such
Improvement as does the cotton-mill
situation. Woolen goods are out of
line with the general price situation
and high costs and poor demand have
put the industry in a rather unsatis-
factory economic condition. Short
skirts, low neckS and elimination of
sleeves have tended to raise havoc
with the woolen industry. Without
doubt the introduction of artificial
SILK has also been a tremendous fac
tor In upsetting the woolen industry.
Artificial Silk Big Factor.
Artificial silk has accomplished two
things: FIRST. in enabling people to
get what appears to be silk article
Tor very much less than formerly; and
secondly, it has popularized silk in
general and made a staple industry
out OF what once was a luxury. AL
most every one is wearing silk of some
form today in place of wool. AS a re-
suit the loom and spindle activity in
wool for April, 1925, is only about l
per cent greater than April, 1924.
Furthermore, although wool has de-
clined nearly 20 per cent in price since
January /, II is still nearly 125 per
cent over the pre-war level and 25
per cent over the level of a year ago
Nineteen twentyfour was one of the
poorest years in the history of wooden
goods, and 1925 has thus far not been
much better.
The textile industry as a whole is
suffering from a decline in exports
This, however, is only natural and is
not surprising. We cannot expect
Europe to buy both our raw materials
and our finished products. The nat
ural thing is for Europe to buy our
raw materials, and we cannot expect
her to buy our manufactured goods,
either cottons or woolens. Europe
made great purchases during the war
because its workers were in the army
and the mills on the battle fields: but
the situation is now fast resuming a
normal condition.
Apparently the cotton industry is
rapidly getting on its feet and efficient
cotton mills have little to fear. The
future of the woolen industry is, how
ever, more or less questionable. Only
the future can tell whether wooden
dress goods have definitely gone out
Of fashion.
The woolen people take the position
that silk is merely a fad, and when