The  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
39 
Tanfl  on  Wool 
and  Cost 
Wool  Cloth 
$1.24.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  since  wool  is  not  so 
largely  imported,  but  produced  in  this  country,  the 
tariff  is  not  necessarily  included.  What  is  more 
important,  however,  is  that  there  is  very  little  cloth 
now  made  that  does  not  contain  used  wool,  some¬ 
times  known  as  “shoddy,”  and  some  cotton.  The 
cloth,  therefore,  in  an  average  suit  of  clothes  of  the 
common  people,  if  the  virgin  wool  was  all  imported 
would,  in  my  judgment,  be  less  than  (10  cents,  and 
this  for  the  protection  of  the  sheep  industry,  which 
would  have  practically  been  ruined  throughout  the 
whole  United  States  without  any  protection  for  the 
past  several  years. 
I  don't  doubt  that  the  great  woolen  trusts  will  use 
the  tariff  as  an  argument  to  increase  the  cost  of  a 
suit  of  clothes  from  $5  to  $10,  if  they  can  put  it 
across.  In  fact,  I  have  seen  circulars  from  some  of 
their  members  stating  that  there  would  be  a  $0  to 
$10  increase  in  clothes  because  of  the  tariff;  others 
stating  a  rise  in  suiting  materials  due  to  the  tariff, 
when  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  tariff  as  it  is  now  in 
force  is  lower  than  it  was  under  the  emergencv 
ta  riff. 
In  the  end.  in  my  judgment,  the  new  tariff  will 
decrease  the  cost  of  clothing,  because  we  shall  no 
longer  be  dependent  upon  wool  from  foreign  coun¬ 
tries  and,  therefore,  in  the  hands  of  a  monopoly, 
but  will  produce  with  increased  protection  to  the 
sheep  interests  the  wool  to  supply  the  needs  of  our 
people.  E.  F.  LADD. 
United  States  Senate. 
[Last  Summer  and  Fall,  while  the  new  tariff  was 
being  discussed  in  Congress,  a  number  of  clothing 
dealers  stated  openly  that  the  proposed  duty  on  raw 
wool  would  add  $6  or  more  to  every  suit  of  clothes. 
This  statement  was  accepted  by  many  people,  but  denied 
'by  others.  We  have  tried  to  find  the  truth  about  it, 
and  have  obtained  opinions  from  many  sources.  There 
follow  letters  from  prominent  men  who  have  studied 
the  question.  We  have  written  many  of  the  tailors  and 
dealers  who  advertised  that  an  increase  was  necessary, 
but  not  one  of  them  has  seen  fit  to  reply.] 
From  the  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee 
ERMIT  me  to  say.  in  regard  to  the  alleged 
additional  cost  of  $2  or  more  to  a  suit  of 
woolen  clothes  because  of  the  new  tariff 
act.  that  the  duty  in  this  new  act  is  31 
cents  per  pound  on  the  clean  content  of  the 
_ _  wool,  while  the  emergency  tariff  act  pro¬ 
vided  for  a  duty  of  15  cents  per  pound  on  wool  in 
the  grease,  30  cents  per  pound  if  washed,  and  45 
cents  per  pound  if  scoured.  The  clean  content  of 
wool  means  clean  wool,  but  there  must  be  added  to 
the  31  cents  per  pound  the  cost  of  scouring,  to  make 
np  the  difference,  which  is  generally  about  one  cent 
1  er  pound,  which  would  make  a  total  of  32  cents  on 
scoured  wool  imported.  Occasionally  the  cost  of 
scouring  is  as  high  as  two  cents  per  pound. 
It  is  plain  to  see  that  the  duty  under  the  new 
tariff  bill  is  in  round  numbers.  30  per  cent  below  the 
rates  of  duty  in  effect  for  l(i  months  under  the 
emergency  tariff  act  just  prior  to  the  adoption  of 
the  new  act.  which  took  effect  September  22,  1922. 
The  Tariff  Commission  reports  that  if  all  the  duty, 
the  highest  duty,  provided  in  the  new  act  were  added 
to  the  cloth  in  a  suit  of 
woolen  goods,  the  in¬ 
creased  price  of  that 
suit  would  be  but  92 
cents. 
Comparison  of  rates 
of  duty  under  the  new 
law  with  those  of  for-  . 
mer  laws  does  not  apply 
to  the  Underwood  act. 
when  wool  came  in  fret*, 
but  applies  to  the  Payne 
tariff  act  and  the  Ding- 
ley  tariff  act,  when  wool 
of  the  first  class  paid  a 
duty  of  11  cents  per 
pound ;  if  washed,  22 
cents  per  pound ;  and  if 
scoured  33  cents  per 
pound.  So  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  rates  in 
the  new  tariff  act  on 
wool  are  considerably 
below  those  provided  in 
the  emergency  tariff  act. 
and  slightly  below  those 
of  the  Dingley  and  the 
Payne  tariff  acts. 
Nothing  contained  in 
the  new  tariff  act  justi¬ 
fies  any  manufacturer 
or  dealer  in  increasing 
the  price  of  woolen 
goods  above  the  prices 
prevailing  under  the 
emergency  tariff  act, 
which  was  in  effect,  as 
before  stated,  just  prior 
to  the  present  tariff  act. 
J.  w.  l’ORDNEY. 
United  States  House 
of  Representatives. 
From  Senator  E.  F.  Ladd 
It  is  generally  esti¬ 
mated  thafr  something 
less  than  9  lbs.  of  wool 
produces  4  lbs.  of 
scoured  wool  in  the 
form  of  finished  cloth 
of  average  weight  of 
mien’s  suitings.  The  tar¬ 
iff  on  scoured  wool  is  31 
cents  per  pound.  There¬ 
fore,  if  wool  was  all  im¬ 
ported  that  goes  into 
suit  clothes,  and  it  was 
all  virgin  wool,  the  in¬ 
creased  cost  on  a  suit  of 
clothes  would  amount  to 
The  Original  Wearer  of  Virgin  Wool.  Fig.  8 
From  Senator  Reed  Smoot 
I  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  emergency 
tariff  bill,  the  law  in  effect  before  the  passage  of  the 
Fordney-MeCumber  tariff  act,  levied  a  duty  of  15 
cents  per  pound  on  wool  in  the  grease.  30  cents  on 
washed  wool,  and  45  cents  on  scoured  wool;  it  also 
provided  that  wools  altered  in  any  way  from  the 
condition  as  shorn  from  the  sheep  would  pay  double 
duties,  but  not  over  45  cents  per  pound.  Thus 
grease  wools,  i.  e.,  as  shorn,  but  with  heavier  shrink¬ 
ing  portions  removed,  were  taxed  at  the  rate  of  30 
cents  per  pound,  and  about  99  per  cent  of  imported 
wools  suitable  for  clothing  fall  in  that  class.  Since 
the  shrinkage  in  scouring  averages  about  45  per 
cent  for  these  wools,  the  effective  import  duty  on 
them  averaged  or  was  equivalent  to  approximately 
55  cents  per  pound  of  clean  content.  As  a  result, 
virtually  all  of  these  wools  imported  during  the  life 
of  the  emergency  act  were  placed  in  bond  in  the 
belief  that  the  Fordney-MeCumber  act  would  place 
a  lower  duty  per  pound  of  clean  content.  The  duty 
in  the  latter  act  is  31  cents  per  clean  pound,  or 
nearly  50  per  cent  lower  than  the  effective  rate 
under  the  emergency  tariff,  and  the  bonded  wools 
are  now  being  withdrawn  under  the  lower  duty  now 
in  force.  If  free  wool  means  cheaper  clothing,  as  is 
claimed,  then  a  lower  tariff  should  also  mean 
cheaper  clothing,  and  there  is  no  reason  whatever 
for  the  claim  that  the  new  tariff  should  increase  the 
price  of  clothing.  Rather,  so  far  as  concerns  a 
comparison  of  rates,  lower  prices  should  result. 
The  action  of  the  im¬ 
porters  of  wool  proved 
beyond  a  question  of 
doubt  that  the  durv 
upon  clean  wool  is  lower 
in  the  existing  act  than 
in  the  emergency  tariff 
act.  rt  is  beyond  ques¬ 
tion  that  between  May 
28  and  September  is 
only  the  insignificant 
amount  of  1.259,203  lbs. 
of  wool,  of  which  1,- 
223,040  lbs.  were  un¬ 
skirted,  entered  for 
consumption  in  t  h  e 
United  States. 
Again,  in  the  second 
quarter  of  1921,  imports 
of  Class  1  wools  for  con¬ 
sumption  totaled  02.- 
250.848  lbs.,  as  com¬ 
pared  with  63,006,865 
lbs.  general  imports.  At 
the  end  of  the  second 
quarter  there  were  only 
838,707  lbs.  in  bonded 
warehouses.  During  the 
third  and  fourth  quar¬ 
ters  general  imports  to¬ 
taled  11,802,418  lbs., 
while  imports  for  con¬ 
sumption  totaled  only 
410.513  lbs.  Stocks  in 
bonded  warehouses  at 
»the  end  of  the  calendar 
year  amounted  to  11,- 
370,679  lbs.  In  other 
words,  from  July  1  to 
December  31.  1921,  only 
410.513  lbs.  of  Class  1 
wools  were  p  a  s  s  e  d 
through  the  customs 
and  probably  paid  an 
effective  duty  of  around 
25  cents  per  clean 
pound,  while  30  times 
that  amount  was  held 
in  bonded  warehouses. 
Of  Class  2  wools  only 
70,532  lbs.  were  entered 
for  consumption,  while 
10  times  as  much  was 
held  in  bonded  ware¬ 
houses  at  the  end  of  the 
calendar  year.  These 
wools  were  held  in 
bonded  warehouses  be¬ 
cause  the  effective  duty 
on  them  under  the  emer- 
