There is no doubt cotton knit goods are admirably cheap underclothing, most of them are well fitting, and some of them are durable. Where light clothing is sufficient—and with the general heating of houses, factories, and shops and cars, there is no longer the same need, for many people, of heavy clothing as in the old days—they are adequate. There is no doubt the young girl’s cotton worsted gown looks well at the start. The cotton warp “all wool” suit of the laboring man has a correct finish, color, and style, better perhaps than of old, for finish and cut are demanded by the poorest and are achieved remarkably by the cheapest clothiers. But in two particulars the cotton substitute fails. It has not the warmth, and it does not keep its appearance. True, if a man puts on enough cotton garments he can get the same warmth. But he cannot get from cotton the same protection against storm and wet, the same safeguard where his labor subjects him to excessive perspiration. He cannot get the same comfort at night. Moreover, his garment becomes shabby, loses its shape, in much shorter time. Women can no longer make over with satisfaction the gowns they once wore a series of winters. The man’s suit is no longer respectable as “long as it holds together.” Those of us who must buy cheap clothes can find them at the long established popular prices, but we no longer get the warmth or the satisfaction from them. During the discussion of the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, evidence enough of this was laid before Congress. Mr. Nicholas Longworth, for instance, read to the Committee on Ways and Means a letter from a clothier in his congressional bailiwick in which the man declared: “_I never handled cloth of so inferior a quality as I do now. Laborers, mechanics, and farmers who use ready-made clothing are receiving practically no value for their money._” The National Association of Clothiers were strong in their protest to Congress. “Standard winter worsteds,” their committee said, “which twelve years ago ranged from twenty-one to twenty-four ounces in weight per yard, have gradually been decreased in weight, so that they now range from fourteen to sixteen ounces per yard; standard spring worsteds which ranged from fourteen to sixteen ounces in weight per yard have gradually been decreased, so that they now range from nine to twelve ounces per yard. In consequence, a deterioration of fully thirty-three and one-third per cent in weight has taken place, in addition to the establishment of a much higher range of prices for the same qualities of goods. The clothing manufacturer, therefore, through the inability of the cloth to stand ordinary wear, is largely deprived of the opportunity to produce garments upon which a good reputation can be based.”