Jasper County Democrat, Volume 17, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1914 — CHEAPER CLOTHES [ARTICLE]

CHEAPER CLOTHES

Those critics of tile present tariff who have been so much distressed over its supposed’fatlure io do anything to reduce (he cost of high; living iriiglit, to their profit, consider the question of woolen clothes. It was these (hat, according to the, protectionists' iht-tlry. were to be least affected. We are told, as the New / York ‘ Eyening Post reminds its, that tlie cost of the cloth is spell tin inappreciable part, of- the cost of the suit , that.: Hie saving on account of the lower tariff was hardly worth considering. The Post reprints the following advertise-

ment of “an eminently respectable firm of merchants”: Customers will find a saving anywhere from $2 to $5 on practically all our suits ‘ and overcoats of imported woolens. This roughly is the difference the tariff madelabor cost is, of course, unchanged. The high tariff people are surely 'most unreasonable in expecting that all the evils wrought by them can’ be undone in a few months. High prices after they have been maintained for a sufficiently long time become, as it were, customery prices. And they are likely to pr e-! vail ever after radical changes in! Hie tariff taxes that made them | high. Even under absolute free trade we should not pass immedi-j ately. from high to low prices. The. new influences must have time to niake themselves, felt. Men get used to charging certain prices, and other men get used to paying, and ! there is likely to be little or no reduction till dealers actually begin I .to compete with one another. Generally speaking, it must in truth be said that practically every evil that we are now seeking to cure is a 1 heritage from republican days. For j years we have been proceeding on the theory that all government had to do was to make people rich A which, of course, meant making, some people rich at the expense of others. Now other ideas prevail.’ We are beginning to see that the’ so-called little people be safe-’ guarded against tlOrapacity of. trusts and tariff benWciaries. A reduction of from $2 to $5 in a suit of clothes is certainly something to be welcomed. In addition to lower cost we shall get better—greatly better - material. When! manufacturers can draw on the wool supply of the world they will not be tempted or driven into using shody. Even the woolen men are doing well. It is most unlikely: that the people of the United States ' Would vote to exchange the present! wool schedule for th,e schedule of the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, which President Taft himself denounced as indefensible.” it is no reverence tor “maxims” as against "mar-J kefs’ that leads the average man! to congratulate himself on being able to save from $2 to $5 on a! suit of clothes. On the contrary his I thought is almost wholly of “mar-; kets." We judge from our adverHsing columns ■of yesterday that! there are some remarkable “values”! in dur own shops,-—-Indianapolis News-. ■ ( ailing cards, the correct sizes, both plain and linen finish, constant- i iy in stock in The Democrat’s fancy! stationery department. flirth announcement cards and envelopes at The Democrat office 1