IGO THAySACTTOXS OF THE A.MERICAX ISSTirUTE. 



alike ill-founded. A preference for fabrics of foreign origin has very 

 naturally come down from the time, not very distant, when our 

 domestic products were generally' inferior. Of those who now habit- 

 ually insist upon buying the foreign article, some are honestly ignorant. 

 They are not aware of any improvement in American manufactures. 

 "With others, it is the merest aping of a senseless fashion. But the 

 delusion could not be long kept up, were it not for the interest of 

 the dealer to sustain it. It is easy for him to make a larger profit on 

 the imported article, from the fact that its probable cost is not so 

 generally known. In many instances the tempation is so strong that 

 truth, honesty, and patriotism make their appeal in vain. Not only 

 are American productions systematically disparaged but, in a multi- 

 tude of instances, these very productions arc labeled as French, Eng- 

 lish, or German. The extent to which this imposition is carried is 

 known only to those who are let into the secret. There are probably, 

 very few of us who hav^e not thus been taken in. And, what I am 

 inclined to regret as the most melancholy thing of all, is the unques- 

 tioned fact that some of the manufacturers themselves have consented 

 to tlie deed. I suppose the process by which such a bargain is con- 

 summated to be somewhat as follows : A manufacturer, after much 

 toil and outlay, is pre])ared to introduce a fabric not before made 

 here. He finds the market, however, fully supplied with the foreign 

 article. Those who hold it give him no encouragement, for they 

 know that the introduction of the domestic product must lessen their 

 chance for high profits. Between him and the consumer (who must 

 be reached somehow,' or his enterprise fails) stands a class of men 

 whose interest it is to sell foreign rather than domestic goods. Tlie 

 result is a compromise. Says the dealer to him, " I like your goods, 

 but I can nut sell them as American. Give them a foreign l:g'and, 

 confine the product of your mill to me, and I will take all that you 

 produce." The poor manuiacturei', seeing no alternative, closes tlie 

 unhallowed bargain. 



It will be strange if tliis exposition of our wool manufactures 

 does nothing toward correcting those mistaken ideas in regard to the 

 inferiority of American fabrics which arc entertained by so many. 

 It shows the great and respectable body of American manufacturers 

 that there are those among them who have no need to sail under 

 borrowed colors, and who, under any circumstances, would scorn the 

 thuiiglit. It is a silent but eloquent rebuke to those dealers in such 

 fabrics wlio, to promote their own selfish aims, are wont to deciy 



