There is no considerable amount of cloth to be had in Europe; the
stocks are very short."
The Secretary of War was as devoid of ideas as the Secretary of
the Treasury was and even less equipped with resisting power.
Though he could not undo the work already done by the agents of
the Government abroad, he gave way as rapidly as possible to the
allied parasites whose headquarters, at the moment, were in
Boston. The story grows uglier as we proceed. Two powerful
commercial combinations took charge of the policy of the woolen
interests--the National Woolgrowers' Association and the National
Association of Wool Manufacturers, which were soon in control of
this immense industry. Woolen mills sprang up so fast that a
report of the New York Chamber of Commerce pronounced their
increase "scarcely credible." So great was the new market
created by the Government demand, and so ruthless were the
parasites in forcing up prices, that dividends on mill stock rose
to 10, 15, 25, and even 40 per cent. And all the while the wool
growers and the wool manufacturers were clamoring to Congress for
protection of the home industry, exclusion of the wicked foreign
competition, and all in the name of their devoted
"patriotism"--patriotism with a dividend of 40 per cent!
Of course, it is not meant that every wool grower and every
woolen manufacturer was either a "disloyal" or a parasite.
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