RURAL MANUFACTURES 305 



wool of unquestioned virginity still persists. The 

 practice appears to be common among the Finns and 

 obtains somewhat also among the French inhabitants. 

 Until recently one large Chicago mail-order house 

 supplied spinning-wheels to the trade of the north 

 country, and there is at least one Finnish resident of 

 the .copper country who, in 1920, reported a total 

 output of some fifty such machines, mainly dis- 

 tributed in Michigan, but to some extent sold else- 

 where, as far east as Massachusetts and as far west 

 as Wisconsin and Xorth Dakota. It is said to be the 

 practice among the Finnish farmers, when requiring 

 mittens or socks, to deprive a member of the small 

 domestic flock of slieep of its woolly coat, and to 

 convert it step by step into these articles of clothing, 

 which do not require a "truth in fabric law" as an 

 insurance of quality. 



The production of cloth by the factory process is 

 not an important industry of Michigan. There are 

 several small woolen mills in both peninsulas. The 

 Clinton Woolen Manufacturing Company of Le- 

 nawee County has been in operation since 1866, and 

 is engaged chiefly in the manufacture of cloth for 

 uniforms. It reports a consumption of some 1,000,000 

 pounds of greased wool annually, but imports its 

 raw material largely from western wool centers, 

 since it does not find readily available within the 

 State wool of a grade suitable to its requirements. At 

 Eaton Rapids another concern consumes approxi- 

 mately 2,000,000 pounds of raw wool annually, 



