Show THE WOOL MANUFACTURERS II I I I The Question FreeWool I Under Discussion I Arguments inIts Favor BOSTON Sept 17 The execute committee com-mittee the National Associationop Wool Manufacturers is in session here today The question of tree carpet wools is one of the principal topicsunder discussion No action as yet has been taken but the association asso-ciation quarterly bulletin just published says editorially It was admitted in 1SG7 that the duties upon caret wools were not designed to serve as protective duties but i were imposed for purely revenue purposes We cannot subscribe to the claim now made that conditions have sOChanged in twenty years that a protection duty is now desirable and would be advantageous The argument is that the couditions now existing exist-ing which removed all necessity for a protective pro-tective duty on carpet wools have been increased in-creased and intensified by the lapse of time A prohibitory or highly protective duty on the cheaper grades would not lead to the production in this country of wools similar to those now imported for this purpose pur-pose The manufacturers would be justified justi-fied in insisting that the low grade carpet wools shall go upon the free list These low grade carpet wools are almost al-most the only raw material on which a revenue rev-enue duty was imposed when the government govern-ment needed money from which it has not since been removed for it is not there in the Senate tariff bill proposed toremove it The argument in favor of free carpet wool is vastly stronger than that which was made for free hides The difficulty in the way of giving the manufacturer the full benefit of the principle arises from the trouble in securing at th customs houses the classification necessary for the prevention preven-tion of frauds We hold this difficulty to I be the only valid argument that can be urged against the free admission of carpet wools proceedings of the executive committee commit-tee are private During the afternoon resolutions were adopted declaring that the Fortyseventh Congress reduced specific duties on manufactured manu-factured products so fa beyond the reduction reduc-tion in duties on wool as t destroy their compensatory character causing such an increasing importation of certain goods as to flood the market that the woolen I manufacturers of the United States sheet occupy Ihlt the manufacturers do matul a revision ur t i < j tariff in which there shah in every hu > ia < ce be placed on manufactured I manu-factured products rut full amount of the spccJic duty necvsary to compensate whatever rate of dutns public policy may require to be imposed ou raw material That as the existing dutiiffordednearly 51 per cent less protection t aMI was deemed necessary for the devclopnitru of the industry in-dustry h1 the rates of oT o WL = dl tho associi Inu densiisan increase in uu 1 ralurmi ituies and Mh i s for tt V mm of a xingiv rule of tnt a lien I to I each item of the woolen schedule aud for the abolition of existing minimums I It is held that no rate of duty on wool can be protective to American manufacturers manufactur-ers which is not accompanied by corresponding I corres-ponding duties and protective on manufactured manufac-tured articles to enable our manufacturers to hold the home market Resolutions of protest against making the wool industry any longer a football of politics The resolutions will be submitted to the annual meeting of the national association to be held in New York October 23 |