16 



Since 1882 the goods made have been of higher quality than the above, and 

 the prices obtained have averaged a little more, though really a little lower in 

 proportion to cost. 



A statement from another mill manufacturing woolen fabrics proper, 

 the oldest and one of the most extensive establishments, shows the 

 greatest reduction of prices to consumers under the operation of a pro- 

 tective tariff. This statement, be it remembered, was not prepared lor 

 the use to which I apply it in this debate. 



Memorandum of market values of the leading fabrics of the Middlesex Company, Low- 

 ell, Mass., for the years 1870, 1880, and 1884. 



The difficulty of comparing the prices of 1860 and 1880 is enhanced 

 by the circumstance that the records of many of the mills in New Eng- 

 land for I860 were destroyed by the great fire in Boston in 1872. Mr. 

 Horace Greeley's work on political economy, however, contains a state- 

 ment of the prices of the most important woolen fabrics of 1859. 



At my request, a gentleman skilled in woolen manufacture has added 

 to Mr. Greeley's list of prices for 1859 the prices, obtained from manu- 

 facturers or selling agents, of the identical goods named, the prices at the 

 present time. The prices for 1884 were furnished by the well-known 

 houses and individuals, Parker, "Wilder & Co., Faulkner, Page & Co., 

 J. B. Bradlie, J. D. Sturtevant, Wendell, Fay & Co., of Boston. In 

 respect to a portion of the goods described in Mr. Greeley's list it may 

 be observed that no corresponding goods of the manufacture of the 

 present year could be found. 



"The prices of the most important woolen fabrics ten years ago, 1859 (when 

 we had comparative free trade in wool and woolens), and now," says Mr. Gree- 

 ley, " are as follows, namely." I add to his column the prices in 1884: 



Comparative prices of woolen fabrics in 1859 and 1884. 



