Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1893 — THE SHODY INDUSTRY. [ARTICLE]

THE SHODY INDUSTRY.

DUTIES BRING PROSPERITY TO BOGUS WOOL MEN. How Wool Tariff* Foster the Making; of Cloth from ilie Moat Filthy Ha**--Hawaii and the Sugar Bounty—Pennsylvania Tariff Reform. How Cheap Coats Are Made. Those who think th;it there is no connection between high duties on wools and woolens and the rapidly growing use of shoddy and adulterated woolen goods should read the exceedingly interesting article on shoddy, in the November supplement to the New York World, by Mr. W. R Estell. Mr. Kstell, under the auspices of the Reform Club, visited many leading shoddy factories and collected information on the most recent methods of making and using this bogus wool. He tells us that shoddy is made from every imaginable quality of woolen rags, from the new tailors’ clippings to the most filthy scraps gathered from garbage barrel and gutter. After being assorted according to color and quality, they arc put through the various processes employed In manufacturing shoddy. Shoddy of the best quality is made from new all-wool rags. The rags are torn into shreds by means of a revolving cylinder, cal'ed “the devil,” covered with thousands of short, sharp teeth. So close do these shreds resemble real wool that detection is almost impossible. The shoddy is mixed with a little “live” wool, spun into yarn and made into the “allwool” suits we hear so much about. Manufacturers thus foist upon the American people clothing, which has been worn out before by four or five different people. The last appearance of shoddy as clothing is in the form of satinets, the admixture of cotton and shoddy out of which our $5 suits of clothing are made. Even then we are not rid of It, for it is put through another process by which it is ground fine as dust, after which it is called “flocks” and used for tilling the cheap mattresses and pillows which the poorer people buy. Mr. Estell also tells how the rags In which wool and cotton are mixed Is subjected to various processes which have for their object the destruction of the cotton, thus leaving the wool, though In an impaired condition, yet fit to be torn into shoddy. The “union” goods, us such rags are called, are bathed In acids in some instances and exposed to gas in others. The acids and gas cat the cotton or other vegetable fibers, leaving “wool extracts.”

Shoddy and “wool extracts" are made into yarn and wove into cloth. But since duties have made foreign fine wools so high that none but the rich can afford a genuine all-wool suit made of soft wools, many devices have been Introduced to supply the demands for low-priced Imitation fine-wool suits. One way of making “cheap coats” -Is to run the cloth—perhaps already half shoddy—through a “flock liquor,”containing wool dust. The dust adheres to the surface and is pressed firmly Into the cloth by being passed between large rolls. Another way of giving a soft, velvety texture and of adding to weight of cloth, consists of “flattening" the yarn. This is accomplished by blowing “(locks” and fine shoddy against the threads while they are being twisted Into yarn. Of course cloth made of such stuff has Its faults. These, however, are hidden from the unwary purchaser In various ways; the "flocked” or “fulled” sides of the cloth are pasted together and the cloth is then worked up Into readymade clothing; with openings left in the lower corners of the coats to prevent accumulations of “flocks and shoddy.” Mr. Estell shows how the growth of the shoddy industry has kept pace with the decline of the wool-raising industry, and by quotations from the manufacturers of shoddy themselves proved that “shoddy” and not “free wool” Is the enemy of the wool-rals-ers of America. Such men as Mr. Muhlhauser, of Cleveland, the largest manufacturer of shoddy In America, if not In the world, frankly said that the admission of foreign wool Into this country would mean the destruction of the shoddy manufacturing business, apd better prices to the American sheep growers for their wool.

Upon this point the following evidence is citei: The New York Press, the leader of high tariff newspapers, and then edited by Kobert P. Porter, contained in its issue of Aug. 23, 1888, the following news item: SHUT DOWN BECAUSB Or TflE MII.LS BILL. The manufacturing firm of J. U. Kenning A Co., at I.udlow, N. Y.. shut down their workt yesterday, throwing out of employment tome forty operatlvei of both sexes They were engaged In exacting wool from delalnea and other rag materials, to be used In the manufacture of shoddy cloth. They say the passage of the Mill* bill In the lower bouie of Congress, admitting wool free of duty, has detirred them from continuing their Industry. The following Is taken from a circular circulated in 1888 by the Republican National Committee, signed by seventeen rag and shoddy dealers: 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 electloi to supp rt the candidates of the protection party, Harrisoo and Morton. Their election we consider to be Indispensable to the maintenance of our business While in the last campaign the followlug, from the Johnstown (N. Y.) Republican, of July 27, 1892, is a typical Instance of the straightforward and frank avowal of the direct dependence of the shoddy Industry on high protection: PROTECTION IN AMSTERDAM. It does uot require much penetration lo discover that the McKinley tariff law has proved a blessing to Amsterdam. On every hand there are numerous evidences of the good effects the measure has bad upon business of every kind In this now very bu«y manufacturinz city. Four years ago there was not a fboddy or estreating mill In this city worthy the name. To-day the mill of Banta Bros. Is one of the largest and test equipped in the State. It Is the high price, because of tariff duties, which our American clothing manufacturers must pay for the foreign wool which is indispensable to the manufacturers of good cloths, that drives them to the use of shoddy instead of native ■wool. An examination of the statistics relating to the price of wool, and the price of shoddy as given by the Amer-

lean Wool and Cotton Reporter, shows that every upward stride at the manufacturer of shoddy has been followed by a decline of the price of American wools. : While prices of bogus wools have been well maintained prices of real wools have gone down rapidly and unceasingly until the election of 1892, when the lowest prices on record were reached. Since then real wools are in better demand and prices have recovered several cents per pound. With free wool our shoddy manufacturers may be expected to take a back seat and leave room for manufacturers of all-wool cloths. In a few years our farmers and laborers will be indulging in as comfortable clothing and blankets as are now common in nearly every other cold and civilized country.