WHY CLOTH IS DEAR

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 8, 4 October 1919, Page 5

WHY CLOTH IS DEAR

SPINNERS' PROFITS UP BY THOUSANDS PER CENT.

The decision of the Wool Council in London to recommend the Government to revive the standard clothing scheme ?? a „ c ° m Pi> 6 °iT basis is expected, wriW; the Daily Express." to have fnr-reaen-l»B,n,™> not only on the price of cloth, but on other manufactured goods m the making of which profiteering has been rife. One result which is certain is that the price of cloth will bo considerably reduced, and the decision to -.iroduce standard textiles on the conversion costs' principle should discover exactly where "» profiteering has been most ramnant. The conversion costs principle means that tho cost of the wool will be taken, and at every stage of tho manufacture the cost of converting tho wool into tops (combed wool wound into balls), the tops into yarn, the yarn into cloth, with the expense of finishing and dyeing thr> cloth, and the making up into suits and distribution to the customer, will be stated.

, The blame for the scandal of profiteering as far as cloth is concerned will be exactly proportioned, and the public will be able to draw its own conclusions. An interesting effect of the costing system will be to show why a 20oz. botany serge which cost about' ss. a yard in 1914 now costs about 255.; why vara which conld lie marketed at a profit in 1914 i nt 3s. Id. per lb. should cost 14s. per lh. to-day. and oohseouentlv why n suit costing ,{2 ss. before the war should now be 8 guineas or more. It will also reveal the circumstances in which tho spinner who was satisfied with a penny a lb. profit in 191-1 now gets about 7s. per lb. profit. '