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Show PRESIDENT OF WOOLEN COMPANY REVIEWS PRICES . i BOSTON, Dec. 28. -- The in. istence; of the public upon cloth made from fine wools is a large factor in the pres- cut high prices of clothing, according to William M , Wood, presidenl of the American Woolen comoany. Mr. Wood.i who recently charged iat some of the merchants in Lawrenc were demand ing excessive prices 'or necessaries r.nd were in the habit f raising prices with every increase I i wages in the company's mills here, rave out a state-meni state-meni tonight In response to a request for his views upon, ihe high coat of clothing "If our people would consent." was diis conclusion, "to wear good, substantial sub-stantial durable clotbes made of the coarser wools, clotliincr could be pur chased at considerably lower prices 'than thore which now prevail." President Wood's Statement. His statement in part lollows: "It is generally thought that the cost of cloth is the controlling factor in the cost of clothing, but the fact is that the cioth cost is less than hair the cost of a complete suit, and other factors contribute quite as much to the price of clothing. Cost of Cloth. "In the last five years the prico of cloth in the ordinary suit of clothes hss advanced no more, indeed, has advanced ad-vanced a little less, than the cost of labor and other materials that go into the making of the suit. The following figures show this, which I hae from a manufacturer and merchant of cloth ing of the highest prominence in Boston. Bos-ton. "The cost in 1919 of the cloth for a suit of clothes of a particular grade is $13 07. The corresponding cost in 1911 Was $4.58. showing an increase in the cost of colth of $9 09. "The 1919 cost of making this suit is $14 47. The corresponding cost in 1914, was $4 98. showing an increase in the cost of making $9.49. ' These figures show that cloth contributes con-tributes slightly less than labor and other materials to the Increased cost of clothing. Therefore, to your question ques-tion why prices of clothing continue so high throughout the country, the reply is because the costs of labor and cloth and other materials that go into clothing cloth-ing continue so high." After pointing out that there is a shortage of clolh and clothing in the markets of the world, which "always means high prices." and that "almost every material and every process involved in-volved in the manufacture of clothing.' has to pay a heavy tax, both stale and federal, Mr. Wood continued: People Demand Fine Wools. "In a measure during the war and, to a greater extent since, there has developed de-veloped a curiously Insistant demand ofr colth made from the finer and more r buy cloth made of the coarser and 1 inseQuently cheaper grades, although dothing made from these wools If both serviceable and sound. Before the war the demand for these finer grades of cloth was chiefly indeed almost al-most exclusively from the more fastidious in taste, but now everybody I demands the finer cloth-s and nobody Iwill take anything else. "We recently made up a sample of cloth in which coarse wool was used in the warp only. The appearance of ibe sample was but slightly different from that made of finer wools It had i in a marked degree the smooth, soft' texturo of fine wool. Its cost was con-1 siderably less than the fabric made of j the finer grades. As a cloth it was) good, strong and servicable. Before the war it would have sold readily, but we were absolutely unable to put it on the market. "Our selling agencies told us that there was no demand for it; people would not buy it; that customers insisted in-sisted on fine, smooth, suft fabrics and that, accordingly, the m.nufact I of clothing would not buy this cloth If w mado it up in quantities, be-l cause they could not gHl clothes made from it. J To our suggestion that when people' were complaining so of high prices, i.this cloth that would moke a differ- ence of five dollars or more in the I cost of a suit ought to sell readily, the reply was that five dollars in the cost I of cloth for a suit of clothes did not j count at all these days, that th. peo-'ple peo-'ple are demanding the best and would put up with no other. "Nor is this all. While during the war the supply of coarse wools has remained about stationary, there is now a shortage in tho world's supply jof finer wools of about 200,000 000 pounds. "The action of our own government I has still further contributed to keep the prices up. "During the war. agents of our government gov-ernment purchased from the British government some hundred million pounds of Australian wool When the armistice eme they released or transferred trans-ferred two-thirds of this wool back to ih British 5vornment. The one third which our government held they offered offer-ed only in limited quantities, the keen competition for which carried it to tremendously high prices Recently the government sold ?omo of this wool in Boston at $2.75 a pound. "I am not criticising government officials. of-ficials. The doubtless felt justified both in returning this fine wocl to England and in getting the highest price possible for the wools they have on hand. "They are selling these wools at j prices far in excess of what they paid land therefore making a profit for the government which I assume they I think highly creditable to thomselres. ,'But when you put the question, why-lour why-lour people have to pay such high (prices for fine clothing which they insist on having, you must not fcrg4 itha: one of the reasons for it is that !ihe government Is holding the wool, which it bought at war prices for a j profit." |
