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Show ly merit that description ami n'.i'-h t'ooils have grr-atly deteriorated :r..'0 tho oulbrcftk of the jL'rcat var in l'tll. We doubt if the fir-ht on shodJv a::l oid rags v.-ill win, hut sou:e good would ho accomplished if the manufacturer uvre con:j, .died to label thi-Tr cloth 50 that the exact amount of virgin wool u-icd eould he arcrtuinr-d and j.rir.-s fixed accordingly. Just now there seems to be an effort to ascertain the basic, cost of things in connection with the campaign to reduce the high cost of living and there may Le some very interesting developments before the subject is exhausted. USE OF SHODDY. After declaring that the production of virgin wool nowhore equals the people's peo-ple's needs and that the grossly inadequate inade-quate production of such wool imposes great hardship and forces the people to wear clothes made from shoddy instead of virgin wool, for which thoy pay exorbitant ex-orbitant prices, the national sheep and wool bureau adopted the following resolution: reso-lution: Resolved, That nil branches of the government, gov-ernment, all trade and civic organizations, organiza-tions, educational institutions, educators and all others interested in protecting" and rehabilitating; sheep husbandry, one of the world's most essential industries, he urced to unite in an urgent appeal to the United States govern in on t to forever for-ever end the pernicious practice of per-! per-! mittlnK shoddy to be sold in fabrics wlth- i out making i ls presence known a prac tice that throttles sheep huslftindry, wrongs the reople and outrages truth and justice. The fact that the "United States does not provide a stiff icieut quantity of wool for home consumption has long been known. Tliie government has been endeavoring to stimulate tho industry, but is has not been successful. The I bureau declares that "men and capital will not engngo in sheep husbandry because be-cause it is not sufficiently profitable. ' ' ! This was probably the conclusion ar rived at by Secretary Kedficld when ; he made public tho opinion of the de partment of agriculture in a letter concerning con-cerning the difficulty of increasing nhvvp husbandry in this country. Tho following quotation is taken from this letter: A conference was held with the offl-, offl-, cials of the department of agriculture and wo were advised that, although the department of agriculture has been conducting con-ducting a campaign to stimulate the sheep industry in this country In order to increase, not only the supply of virgin vir-gin wool, but also the meat supply of this country, it is the opinion of that department that it is doubtful if tho industry in-dustry can be d evelopcd to such a degree de-gree that a sufficient supply of virgin wool can be secured to meet tho domestic domes-tic demand. The bureau insists that it is not difficult diffi-cult to get men and money to engage in business that is profitable, whether : sheep raising or any other pursuit, and ihe assertion is undoubtedly true. Capi- 1al can always be enlisted if returns are reasonably certain. The expansion of t;hecp husbandry would have a tendency ' to lower tho price of wool and mutton. .Tf shoddy could be eliminated in the manufacture of clothing wool prices ' would hold their own, while mutton ; would be cheaper. So the public would be benefited by lower meat prices and more durable arCcIes of clothing. Few of tho "all-wool" pieces of goods real- |