Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 March 1892 — THE SHODDY INDUSTRY. [ARTICLE]

THE SHODDY INDUSTRY.

ITS PHENOMENAL GROWTH UNDER HIGH TARIFFS. Example Better than Argument In the Matter of Tariff Taxes—American v*. Foreign Labor—Trust Economies—Sample Prices Under McKlnleylgin. Shoddy and the Censns. Under the high tariffs on wool and woolen goods since 1860 the growth of the shoddy industry has been phenomenal. Shoddy is a comprehensive term, and in common parlance includes all the various wool substitutes used in manufacturing, except cotton, cows’ hair. etc. There are two classes of shoddies: ' The first is made from the waste pieces of woolen goods left over in the manufacture of ready-made clothing, and known in the trade as new shoddy; and the second from old woolen rags collected from the ash barrels and refuse heaps of our large cities, called old shoddy; but, like other industries, the Shoddy industry has grown to such an extent that there have been added new terms to describe the products which formerly went undef the general name of “shoddy." Chief among these are “extracts," which are made from mixed cotton and woolen goods by the application of an acid-: which eats out the cotton, leaving the woolen fibers intact, though much im- ! paired. At the same time extracts are j subdivided into two classes: First, those 1 made from waste pieces of cloth not in 1 use, just as new shoddies are produced; ! and second from old mixed rags picked ! up from all possible places. So great have been the improvements ! in machinery used for working up shod- I dies and extracts that they are now used ! In all classes of woolen goods, and are j bo disguised as to be detected with =roat difficulty.

The growth of the shoddy industry cannot be better shown than by a comparison of the census figures since 1860. The following table shows the number of establishments, the capital invested, the number of workmen employed, and the value of the products during each census year: Estiblishs ments, Workmen,- Product, Census. No. Capital. No. value. 1860 30 6133 £>oo 291 $4u2,590 1870 56 815,9=0 632 1,763,592 1880 73 1,165,100 1,282 4,983.615 1390 94 9.268,011 From a product of $402,590 in 1860 this industry has increased until, according to the census of 1890, the prodobt is $9,208,011, or an increase of 2,187 per cent. Though the growth of the woolen Industry as a whole, including the shoddy ! industry, has been considerable since 1860 it has not been in proportion to the grotvth of the 'shoddy industry. In 1860 tho value of the woolen goods produced in the United States was $65,596,- | 864; in 1890, according to the last I census, the value of the woolen goods ! was $338,231,109, showing an increase sin'ce 1860 of only 415 per cent. Nothing will show better the great | growth of the shoddy industry and its i present extent than the figures from the ! census of 1890. In the following table 1b shown for each of the large woolen products the amount of wool used, and the amount of shoddies, extracts, cotton, hair, and other substitutes for wool: Kind of Wool used, Substitutes, 1? c. goods. pounds. pounds. sub. Woolen g00d>....185,347,914 93,64J,388 34.7 Worsted goods... 97,701.474 7,574.264 7 2 i Felt goods 6,729,083 4,2,1,344 38.4 ! Wool bats 4,537,953 453,931 9.1 < arpets 50,687,8-6 5,054,011 8.2 Knit goods 21,669,393 37,206,934 63.2 Total.. 372,> 73,713 154,130,891 29.0 Total 1680 396,192,229 106,499,952 20.1 The consumption of wool in 1890 in-ereased-25.8 per cent, over the consump-tion-in 1880, while the consumption of shoddy in lSOlHncreased 44.7 per cent, over the consumption in 1880. No wonder that when President Cleveland advocated,in his famous message the putting of wool on/the free list so as to build up the industry the shoddy men got out a protest declaring that by free wool “our business would be ruined and we and those dependent upon us would Buffer. There is only one way to avoid this loss to ourselves and that is by .the defeat of the candidate of the Free Trade party, Grover Cleveland. We have determined in the coming election to support the candidates of the Protection party, Harrison and Morton. Their election we consider to be indispensable to the maintenance of our business. ” Free wool would be the death of Bhoddy.