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CHAPTER VIII.

STATISTICS RELATING TO THE WOOL INDUSTRY.

Compiled by WILLIAM LAWRENCE.

SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER.

I. PRICES OF WOOLS-STATISTICS.

1. The effect of the free wool act of August 27, 1894.

2. How free wool operated in Texas.

II. NUMBER AND VALUE OF SHEEP

Page.

131-139

137

141

139-143

III. THE WOOL SUPPLY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM AMERICAN FLOCKS. 143-149 1. Exports of American wool to Mexico

IV. PRODUCTION, IMPORTS, EXPORTS, AND CONSUMPTION OF WOOL IN THE
UNITED STATES..

V. THE COUNTRIES FROM WHICH WOOLS ARE IMPORTED-STATISTICS

1. Three classes of wools imported..

2. Carpet wools used in making clothing goods.

3. How much wool is used in making carpets

4. China wools-low prices

5. Silver and wool...

150

149-152

152

154

154

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154

152-154

VI. NUMBER AND VALUE OF THE FARM ANIMALS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1880 TO 1896

I.—STATISTICS OF PRICES OF WOOLS.

HOW FREE WOOL REDUCED THE PRICE OF WOOL.

155

The following statistics, compiled from the wool circulars of Justice, Bateman & Co., of Philadelphia, show the price of wool in that and other Eastern cities, under the McKinley act, until the election of 1892 gave the certainty of free wool, and the continued and further decline in price after the Wilson bill became a law.

133

Table showing the price per pound for the leading grades of American wool in the Eastern market and on the farm on January 1 and July 1 for the years 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, and 1896.

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Table showing the price per pound for the leading grades of American wool in the Eastern market, etc.-Continued.

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Table showing the price per pound for the leading grades of American wool in the Eastern market, etc.-Continued.

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American sheep husbandry.

Every woolgrower knows that these free-wool prices are ruinous to

PRICES OF WOOLS.

[From the Bulletin of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers for September 1, 1896, by Hon. S. N. D. North, secretary of the association.]

In the Bulletin of this association appear the monthly quotations of the prices of sixty different varieties and growths of domestic wools in the Boston markets. Taking these quotations by groups, as they are arranged, and comparing the prices in April, 1890, with the prices in April, 1896, we have the following results, by groups:

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The average decline in the whole group is 42 per cent. No other commodity, raw or manufactured, has suffered a decline in value which approximates this. Its extent and significance may be shown in the specific case of Ohio XX wool. It has dropped in value, in the face of equal competition, from 29 cents in 1892 to 183 cents per pound in 1896. The 1892 price on the scoured basis was about 28 cents above the value per scoured pound of the London price of the corresponding grade of Australian wool, while the 1896 price is about 4 cents below the London scoured price of the like grade of Australian wool. This drop of 42 per cent in value represents the loss to the farmer from the repeal of the duty fixed by the McKinley act. It is not in any sense due to a general decline in the world's wool markets, for a comparison of the London prices of various grades of wool at the same dates shows an average advance of about 9 per cent in 1896 as compared with 1892.

The pretense that the woolgrower got no benefit from the tariff on wool has thus been exploded for all time to come. With the obliteration of the theory has come the practical demonstration of the fact that the growing of wool can not be carried on as a profitable industry in this country without some measure of protection. Cheap as is domestic wool to-day, it is not as cheap, when all the conditions of shrinkage are taken into account, as many of the foreign wools which are now everywhere to be found in our markets. As the pressure of these foreign wools increases, the prices of domestic wools are destined to fall still lower, in comparison with foreign prices. This is proved by the fact that they can not now be profitably shipped abroad for sale in competition with foreign wools. The experiment has been tried a number of times during the present year, and each time it has proved a failure. Some sale abroad may in time be found, but not at prices that will pay the farmer to export.

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