The sun. [volume], April 28, 1912, SIXTH SECTION BUSINESS SUPPLEMENT, Image 83

About The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916

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THE SUN, SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 1912.
The Great Woolen Industry of America
More Than Twelve Hundred Woolen Mills in the United States and Their Output
The Tariff and Conditions as They Are To-day
6
INKTT-FIVF. out of every! Hon were $21,000,000. probably iflsplac-1 In these woolen and worsted mill not buy. Hut the nntlrmnl trail of thrlftl-, Kurope Is diffcicnt from that of tho and the Rtockmen of the country have I the great Iron and steel Industry
hundred of the American Ins In this country about J3r,000,000 Including carpet, felt, hosiery, knit noss Is manifested nowhere morn United Hlalis. aright to share. American manufac- product of the protects o tariff system
people who wear wooicn worm or American Roods. These Im- Ron,iM nw mar establishments -In- markedly than In the selection of cloth-, me sharpest Kind or competition Hirers pay higher wages to their There was spasmodic and. a a rule,
clothing re clad In good ported fabrics were bought and used creased from 330,000.000 pounds In 1S99 InR. No people In the world are sn well prevail In the manufacture of clothing. ' operatives-wages twice ns MrIi as
. i4 I ........ i ntwl lhi uumn lu trum nt Ittu monnfinhtfo 1
fabrics from American rauu. tnieny iy we small wealthy class and, tn 471,000.000 pounds In 1903. or 4t per clail. Clothing may cost mor. here, but I -.... , (hplr com)elI,or lt KnBinn,i nmj mo,e
This short sentence sums up therefore, the tnrlff on woolen Roods, cent.: reckoned on n scoured wool basis nowhere else do tho nx-crage plain ' 01 v,m"' u,uo ln a w "uc 8 P1)"l,tmn than twice ns hlsh as their competitors
fnf Pf the most significant phasea of
American Industrial activity.
Sixty ears ago more than one-half
. I ..... In
reolcn fabrics Imported from abroad.
Our population is nearly inree limes as
Urge ns It was In 1841, but the Amerl-
an wool manufacture hua advanced
far more swiftly than has the popula
tion. The total output of our woolen
factories, which was JTS.OOO.OOO In 1860,
cached nearly $500,000,000 In 1909, If
urpcls. hosiery, knit goods, etc., are
Included.
There are 1,200 woolen mills of all
I kind In the l.'nlted States. About
Vce-flfihs of the whole Industry Is
located In New KnRland. though (ha
major p.xrt of the great domestic wool
. I . M .1 ,11.
apply 11 1110URIU irom ocjonu me mia-
M Mppl 1th cr. Tho United States Is
far and away the greatest wool consum
er country in the world. Its per capita
consumption, which was CIS pounds In
IJ"1, was r,.C7 pounds In 1909. In 1910
tU total production of American wool,
an everybody In the trade knows
1 Roods, cent.: reckoned on n scoured wool basis nowhere else do tho average plain ' of i,,Hl1'' O,uo ln a w,,Uc 8 H)lllltIon j than twice as high as t
I in 'the Increase was 50 per cent. This "" ' n "f ! "r nPW""ar ""Iia "f " "' 1 , ,he connet of K
of well i...idc, skilfully designed, be-, "woolen trust." There Is no woolen
coming, durable garments.
, trust or combination In America. Of
practical effect n tax on articles of vol- marks a prodigious expansion In the In
untary use and hixurv. It fulls, n sneh ' .1. ...... T,..
"v"" " " """' ""u ",v The flrst thing that new come Imml- the 1.200 woolen manufacturing estab.
taxation ahoutd, on those most compC- moro significant tho fact disclosed by Kran(a lor ar.,va, , ,,, rmm. 8hmrnts, more than m aVe devoted to
tent tO bear It- I Ihn eenKIIS IllOUlrV. that (hp tlUnntltV Of tru I. I.. ,llu...,.-.l ll, ninth,,,, ,l,l,.l, ttmu llin infilllnr nt Wc.l.M, ami nnnlnil
uropc. Hetwcen
1897 and 1907 the average wages of
woolen operatives In America, accord
ing to the Federal Rureau of Labor,
lncieacd 31 per cent.
Not ven the very wealthy class need raw cotton consumed In these woolen have brought from the old World ln ' fabrics for personal wear and use. A very Interesting, study of conditions
X-AW'RlVNCii. MAS.
AMERICAN WOOLEN CO.
ik urns, u imm x jtl f :tii,ti w oki i'MsiTimmmfir-t... . mmsz?
IHaMrllrlaaM 1 I 1 ll I II V V I wflBr iafLt'l'i if ""WW M fT 'iTrt f UWiTWHWmiT' "TT TTtrmT f fftwMmKh
Inadcipiate protection for this Indus
try ln the vurlous tariff lawa up tn
ISM. Wool was not n Southern product
and. therefore, the Industry received
scant favor from the public men who
were dominant In Congress from 184H
to the outbreak of the Civil War. Dur
ing n part of this time wool manu
factures were actually dutiable at the
same ad valorem rate as tha raw ma
terial of wh'.ch they were composed.
This policy wis virtually dictated from
Europe, with the eager assent of
Southern politicians rf the period, who
feared and hated the manufacturing
activities of the Northern States. The
Kngllsh manufacturers of Bradford
wrote to Congrest nt this period re
monstrating against any American
protective duty on worsted fabrics, on
the pround that these were not and
could not be made In the United Slate
and Congress meekly assented to their
preposterous demand. This was r.tlll
the age of feeble provlnclallrm ln
America.
It was the Chll War of 1SM-1SS3
which created the woolen manufacture
of this country us we now know It.
The clothing of the huge Federal armlci
In strong, durable fabrics mightily
stimulated the business of American
special "exclusive" character. Vhe high ton yarn purchased Increased only from wool manufacture Is that Rreat dlstinc- therefore, has almost ttUO Independent Institute of Kngland. As to the work- jmllla for tho government of lilncoln
quality nnd wide range of American 3S.000.000 pounds to 3?.00n,ooo pounds, tlvcly national Industry, the making of ' American competitors. Tho American crs Dr. Davis has this to say: iwns wlso enough to recognize that It
LANGtiST WORSTED MILL IN THE WORLD.
Total length over 1,900 feet, width 311 feet, total floor space 1,300,000 square feet.
woolen fabrics of to-day are frankly or about 11 per cent., leaving as a net ready-to-wear clothing, which of late Woolen Company doea about one-ninth' "America is good to tho vjrkcr. He
recognized the world over so frankly result "a decided decrease In the amount years has enlisted some of the ablest of the woolen and worsted manufactur- Is a man of Importance here. Much Is
that the most conspicuous Importer of of cotton used as a material by wool administrative and technical skill In the lng buslnoss of the United States. Its expected of him nnd ln return be Fe-lt could for rifles and cannon, Miot
United Statci. The representative capital stock of $40,000,000 Is about one- cures wages much hlcher than nt home.
practically all of it fine enough to use 1 00i to Kurope for Its woolen good un- and worsted mills decreased from 40,- favor of attire mad ln the American Thirty-four of these mills, some of them In the American textile manufacture
fT clothing purposes, was 521,000,000 Css It prefers to do so In order to se- 24.'i,000 pounds to SO.O.IS.ono pounds, or fashion. ; large and some small, are Included In Mias Just been made by Profefcsor Wlll-
fetinds, nnd the Imports of foreign wool cure fabrics of peculiar type, n certain 50 per cent., while tho amount of cot- Closely associated with the American the American Woolen Company, which. 'lain Davla of the Ituwlclc Technical
nrrc 263,000.000 pounds, of which 120,-
on.ooo pounds were of the coarse Class
111 wools designed for carpet making
and rug making. Of the 461,000,000
pounds of fine wools retained for con
sumption In 1910, 70 per cent, were
American wools grown by American
farmers and ranchmen
American wool manufacturers draw
m all the markets of the world for
their necessary raw materials. The
protective duty on raw wools of the
llr.'t class Is 11 cents and on wools of
tli" second class 12 cents a pound.
Ttiese are relatively high rates, but they
.: not prohlblthe. They do not pre-
"nt our mills from securing whatever
could no more depend upon Kurope
for the uniforms of Its soldiers than
f' reign wools they need for the blenda woolen cloths made here are generally
f-Fontlnl to the making of certain 1 better than those of equal quality to be
z 1
fabrics. But the main reliance of I obtained In any other country. Amerl
American wool manufacturers Is and j can colors are. as a rule, better, clearer
Kngllsh cloths ln New Tort; city has manufacturers."
lately said:
"There are no more expert manufac
turers anywhere than the best of those
In this country. They are wonderfully
quick to catch Ideas, to modify, alter,
Improve and to meet quickly the ever
changing demands of fashion and fancy.
They produce as great a variety of
woolen cloths as can be found ln the
whole of Europe together.
"The fine and medium grades of the
AMERICAN WOOLEN COMPANY'S "NEW SETTLEMENT" OF.ALL BRICK HOUSES AT LAWRENCE, MASS.
nnd shell. Even before tho war. how
ever, In the early spring of ISf.l, tho
Mrst Morrill protective tariff act ha 1
provided a potent stimulus for the In
dustry. It has been the fortune or mlsfortuno
of tho wool nnd woolen achcdule to
look higher for many years than any
other portion of tho tariff. The phrnso
'"look higher" Is used ndlscdly. Other
great textile interests, silk and cotton,
have thctn raw materials free of duty
In the United States. The wool manu
facurcr, on the other hand, Is required
to pay a relatlely high protective duty
on the crude material of his art. For
iiays has been the sound, strong and more lasting than those of similar, toretr, "the figures also show a clothing manufacturers of this country eighth of the total capital Invested In This has the effect of Increiislug bis, ibis high duty he must bo nnd Is com-
American-grown wool, the finer varle-
lef- of which are produced largely In
lis range of country southward from
'hlo, including West Virginia, one of
foreign made fabrics. The ii-i;'nlng marked .decrease In the use of shoddy, are men of superb enterprise and the Industry. These exact figures are 'self-respect, he clothes himself better. ' ponsated before he can bo given uny
talent In America Is quite equal to any The quantity purchased decreased Jf, ' senilis, who have practically evolved 1 sufficient proof that the company, ' he lives In a more roomy and convenient j protection of his ow n. This Is the
In Kurope." percent. The amount manufactured In a new Industry In. the last twenty or ' though a great and powerful concern, dwelling. . . The bracing ntmosphcre factor that makes tho average nd va-
Thls eulogy of the efficiency and con- woolen mills fur use therein fell off 10 thirty years. They have almost abso- j in very far from being a monopoly, has perhaps "omethlng to do with the jlorem duties on wool manufactures run
i" tinest pastoral nnd general ngrlcul- sclentlousness of American wool manu- pr cent. In 1S99 the total amount of lute command of the American market, j Certainly not an excessive return from unquenchable optimism of the Amerl-! up as high ns 90 per cent. The actual,
r;il regions In the world. The chief ' facturlng Is borne out by the exact sta- shoddy consumed by woolen and and their models and workmanship a calling subject to the peculiar vlclssl- can. Ha Is never 'downhearted,' but deliberate protection w hlch It Is Intended
jrecs of American wools, however, ( tlhtlral Investigations of the Federal wotsted manufacturers wan 6S,000,000 hnve won admli.Ulon abroad, The tildes of textile manufactur.
lafter failure nt once rets himself for, Hint the mills shall receive Is, how-
" 1 L ""n." " 1 1 1 1, aifwi
f
Mr IlifliiflEia' N ' ''WaflHiiiiiiHiiiiB
WOOD MILL RESTAURANT AT I.AWVENCE, AUS(S,
Ij" " " 111 f -" I ' '" I "M -1
OPERATIVES' COTTAGE. WOOD WORSTED MILL, AMERICAN
WOOLEN CO,. LAWRENCE, MASS.
TYPE OF OPI:RATI PS' HOUSES, AMERICAN WCOl EN CO.,
LAWRENCE, MASS.
up now the new and progressive Rocky Government. The Bureau of the Census, pounds" In 1909 It was only 53,000,000 ready-to-wear Aiiieiltan clothing In-' American woolen and worsted mills another determined try. lie Is broad- ever, no more than 50 or 55 tier cent.
'minim mates, woming anu ii"- Jn Its preliminary report of the Uecen- pounds, n decrease nil the more mgnlll-. utistry lias lieen hum up almost entirely pay moro money for both their domestic , minded nnd Impressed by the manl- ml valorem, or somewhat less than
running a close race for "d-j nJa cengUa 0f ioio, notes a very great cant when the growth of the Industry ' on tho foundation of American-made 1 11ml foreign wools because of the pro- 'tude nnd rrsiturces of his country. He tho highest protective rates uciordeil
j tn j decline In the Hue of ahoddy and cotton, Is considered." woolen fabrics. It Is peculiarly ndapted teeth e tariff, designed to shield Ainer- 'h kindly disponed towuni emigrants of to innniifuclurt is of cotton nnd silk.
,., , . . . . . ' the chief substitutes for new wool In No people In the world are such ex-' tn thoho fabric t), nnd it could not hope 'lean wool growers. Hut there Is 110 the tight ort and Is glud to have thcmh'hlH Is nil Important fact which mtnv
mattery or the great American market I ,
n the fare of keen incessant competl- the manufacture of woolen nnd woratrd acting purchasers ns the Americans, to secure nn equivalent for them from ' complaint iihmit that. The manufac-jniake their hmun here." newspapers and even some distinguished
'!"n. Imports of wool manufuctures In fabric" In America. The quantity of No people in the wmlil h.ixo w much foreign manufacturers. The whole Hirers recognize Unit protection Is a The American wool nuiiuf.utiirc of public men In America tlo not scciu
the j car 1510 on the low foreign valua- wool consumed In condition purchased money on tho average with which, to organization of tho clothing Industry In national policy lit which the farmers to-duy lu ecn more distinctively than to compichcnd.
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