Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1895 — FREAKS OF FREE WOOL [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FREAKS OF FREE WOOL

A MANUFACTURER PREDICTS THE CLOSING OF FACTORIES. i ■ ■ Report from England that Indicates His Aatatenesa—British Goods Sold Here Below the Coat of Stock-Large Increase in Foreign Exports. Labor Bears the Loss. As an illustration of the manner In Which American woolen manufacturers are faring 1 with free wool, sAys the American Economist, we hare beei\ advised by a manufacturer at Franklin, Mass., that “had I thought Grover would have allowed such a bill (the Gorman tariff) to become a law, I would have stopped and retired. There is nothing in the business to-day for a worsted maker.” This manufacturer was in receipt, July 22, of a letter from Bradford, accompanied by samples of serge and fancy worsteds. The serge is sold in grease from the loom by the manufacturer at 28 cents per yard. It is woven, burled and sewn and ready to dye. It is 64 Inches wide. The American manufacturer cannot buy yarn, or stock, necessary to make similar goods and place it in his 1 loom at the same price, 28 cents per yard, at which the Bradford serge is sold, the stock alone costing here 35 cents; jet the Bradford manufacturer can buy his yarn, weave it, sell it at 28 cents iipr yard and figure v>ut~a profit. The same is the case with fancy worsteds, selling at 51 cents by the Bradford maker. As wO have free wool and the English manufacturers have free wool, the mills In both countries can start upon nearly the same footing as far as® their raw material is concerned. What, then, is the difference? It is, as was clearly phown in the Economist of last week, in the labor of spinning and manufacturing, which in weaving is 112 per cent —higher in the United States than in ... Bradford. , This simply confirms the argument of protectionists that the hulk of the cost, in this case fully 90 per cent, of a manufactured article is the labor employed in making it Free wool affords no protection to American labor in the woolen ! mills. 7" Our Franklin correspondent states that one importing house has sold for a Bradford.firm, this season, to the extent of 10.000 pieces of fine worsted cloth at $1 per yard, and he anticipates that “in less than eighteen months there will be more machinery stopped than in 1593, unless the tariff is advanced." Confirming this opinion of the manufacturer at Franklin, we append, without any comment, a letter received from a correspondent at Bradford, England: Bradford, July 13, 1895. The great manufacturing districts of Yorkshire, but more especially Bradford, ppp full steam ahead. Work is plentiful, competition is keen, wages low. That . may seem to'be a paradox to some readers of the Economist,, but it nevertheless is. bo and must continued On every hand our merchant princes and the press claim, as one of our leading daily papers said last week, that our manufacturers have taken your market by storm. Whether that be so or not I will leave your readers to settle, but it does appear to me that when 1 consider the amount of exports that are leaving these shores destined to your market, the English operators must be receiving a fair share of patronage, which patronage your own operators and employed have a just right to demand. The few returns which I have hurriedly gathered and put together, showing what we sent across to your side in June only, is indeed a splendid object lesson to all truehearted Americans.- It should promote

thought and reflection in all those wno have the power to think, and especially among your own responsible parties. The following are the increased shipments when compared with the corresponding month of June, 1894: Bradford ~ £203,531 12 7 Glasgow 3G.5G8 3 10 Sheffield 41,910 G 2 Leeds 40,109 6 9 Manchester 85,737 13 G Total £497,923 2 10 The exports from Bradford alone during the half year reached £2,1G9,2G5 12s. 9d. more than during the same period in 1894. Further remarks just now are needless. Consider these figures soberly , and rationally. My sketch speaks loudly the fact that foreign imports are rapidly rising. How long is this to continue? YANKEE. Failures and Liabilities. With about 355,000 manufacturing concern in the country, the failures for the'first half of 1895 were 1,254, or 3.5 1q every thousand. In 1894, with substantially the same number of concerns, the failures In the first half were 1,501, or about i-2 In every thousand. But with about 838,000 traders the ratio of failures was 6.4 per thousand In both half years. The risk of failure, the death rate, so to speak, Is nearly twice as great in trading os in manufacturing. But when magnitude of liabilities of firms falling as defaults.

the amount for every firm in manufac? faring averaged In the first half of 1895 sll3 and sll7 in the first half of 1894. But the trading defaults averaged only $54 for every trading firm In the first half of 1895 and $62 in the first half of 1894, the average not being half the average In manufacturing. Substantially the same fact Is brought out if avclas3 are noticed, as follows: Average liabilities. 1895. 1894. In manufacturing... .$32,139 $27,500 In trading 8,560 : |9,§90 —Dun's Review.

: —Where Labor Is Idle, We have in our town a good large nuim ber of laboring people who are without employment fully one-half, and possibly two-thirds, the year. They are mostly women and children and quite a number of men. I employ 50 to 150 hands of this class in my fruit business for a few weeks or mouths each season. lam anxious to find employment for them for the most of the year. Can you suggest something that we can make that will use this labor? It is not skilled labor and can be obtained at low figures. I,have means to engage in any work of moderate proportions, but do not care to engage in, an extensive work or to use much, if any, machinery. I prefer to employ this labor at piece work, letting each earn in proportion to the work done. It is only raw labor, but willing and anxious to work. We are located on Mo. River and C., B. & Q. Railroad. WM. 11. THOMAS. La Grange, Mo. We gladly publish the foregoing letter and trust that some of our readers may be enabled to suggest to Mr. Thomas how the Idle labor of which he speaks can be employed to the best advantagse of all interested. There Is a great deal of this class of labor throughout the country for which employment can only be found at certain periods of the year, such as at fruit picking time. If farmers were to grow sugar beets, and sugar factories were gcnerally established throughout the country, this labor would, later In the season, find employment In thinning and weedfEe ,youngT)eeF _ plants. We haveS been assured by a gentleman of experience that no State in the Union has soil, in one locality at least, that is better adapted for the successful cultivation of sugar beets than the State of Missouri. Time to Begin Business. Business men ought to take a greater interest in politics. The reason is obvious; political parties affect the business of the country—especially tariff and currency legislation. The experience of the past few years has certainly taught the country that its best Interests are best served by serving ourselves. Tariff legislation that has contributed to the promotion of our own business Interests, agricultural and manufacturing, has invariably advanced the welfare and prosperity of the American people as individuals and as a whole. On the other hand, tariff legislation that has been enacted with the direct purpose of promoting prosperity among manufacturing producing interests of other countries, has "verynaturally served to depress POT" American interests. This fact should urge business men to give more attention to legislation. The late Congress afforded a depressing example of detrimental legislation, and that Congress was sadly lacking in business experience. But a small number of Its members were business men who understood business affairs or appreciated business methods. It is not wise to leave in the hands of such men the national legislation in which the prosperity of the people in America, is at stake. Our experience has taught us that It is the business men of the country, as a rule, who are standing by Its best interests; hence, a large number of business men should be in Congress to held shape legislation.—Burlington Hawkeye.

Home Industries Protected. The Manufacturers and Producers’ Association secured two great victories that entitle them to the thanks of every loyal Californian. The committee on fireworks of the Fourth of July celebration were released from their contract with an agent of an Eastern firm, and the order given to the California Fireworks Company. The Police Commissioners, after examining the sample of cloth offered for their inspection by the Golden Gate Woolen Mill Company, gave an order for 100 police uniforms, and Police Commissioner Alvord, struck with the magnificent appearance and undoubted quality of the cloth, gave instructions to his tailor to make him an overcoat out of the material. This is a record for one day that the association may well feel proud of. The Golden Gate Woolen Mill Company are to furnish the cloth at $5.50 per yard. The police have formerly been paying $7.25 per yard for a foreign cloth of poorer quality than the home manufactured article. The Police Commissioners instructed the representatives of the mills to put on a large extra force of men if need be, to have the cloth ready in time.—Journal of Commerce, San Francisco, Cal.

Free Trude in Eggs, J Free eggs are of great assistance to the British fanners: The Imports of eggs into » United Kingdom (luring 1894 were worth $18,426,118. With a protective tariff upon eggs most of this money would have been retained in the British Isles instead of being sent to France, Germany, Belgium, JJenmark and Russia. Tbe Same Old Issue. There will be no new Issue until a Republican protective tariff has taken the place of this Democratic tariff of debt and destruction. There will be no new issue until American industry stands where It stood in 1892 and American wages hare been restored to the high standard that then prevailed.— Tbe Press. New York.

"FOREIGN IMPORTS ABE RAPIDLY RISING."