Speech #630054745

Moreover. 200.000.000 pounds of shoddy are used every year by wool manufacturers in Great Britain as against SO.000.000 pounds in the United States. The admission of foreign fabrics at reduced rates would degrade the woolen clothing of the American people. as happened under the GormanWilson tariff law. and would force American manufacturers. who use shoddy sparingly. to use a great deal of it in order to be on an equality with their foreign competitors. The Tariff Board report shows that its careful inquiry has formally substantiated practibally all the chief protectionist contentions regarding the woolen industry. that the tariff is riot added to the price and paid in full by the consumer. that competition keeps down American prices. that American goods cost more because of the higher cost of labor. mill buildings. and equipment and supplies and materials. and that unskilled immigrants in the woolen mills of the United States are paid wages as high as those earned by the most skilled and experienced English. Scotch. and Irish immigrants in the woolen mills of the United Kingdom. The Tariff Board report gives an analysis of a typical readymade suit of wool clothing made to sell at retail at $23 and upward. the entire cost of the woolen cloth in which was $4.78 and the entire cost of the raw wool $2.23. the profit of the wool manufacturer on the wool required to make this suit being 23 cents and the profit of the grower of the wool that entered into it being 68 cents. The experience of the American wool manufacturer under the GormanWilson Democratic tariff of 1S941897 has been referred to.