[From No. 1, series 1896-97, Monthly Summary of Finance and Commerce, Bureau of Statistics, Treasury Department, July, 1896, p. 82.]

Comparative prices per pound of leading articles.

Year.

[From Circular No. 1, United States Department of Agriculture, Division of Statistics, Washington, D. C., July 24, 1896.]

OHIO FLEECE WOOL.

Prices of fine, medium, and coarse washed clothing Ohio fleece wool in the Eastern markets for the months of January, April, July, and October, from 1852 to 1895.

[Data furnished by Messrs. Mauger & Avery, New York.).

1852

1853.

1854.

1855.

1856.

1857.

1858.

1859.

1860.

1861.

1862.

1863.

1864.

1865

1866.

1867

1868.

1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

1873.

1874.

1875.

1876.

1877.

1878.

1879.

1880.

1881..

1882..

1883.

1884.

1885.

1886.

1887

1888.

1889.

1890.

1891.

1892.

1893

1894.

1895.

NOTE. This table exhibits, in a concise form, the prices of the three grades of a standard domestic fleece wool in the seaboard markets at the beginning of each quarter. In its present shape it is deemed to be intelligible to all interested in wool. In the special features of character and condition, "washed Ohio fleeced wool" is less subject to variation than any other description, and thus is more a basis of value than any other class. Wool, owing to its wide variety, difference in character and condition and liability to shrink in cleaning, is precluded from speculative operations which apply to products which may be dealt in as "futures." For these reasons the prices of wool are not liable to the same changes as cotton, wheat, etc.

Table showing prices of wool under the McKinley and Wilson tariff bills, difference in price, under the two systems for 1892 and 1896. [Congressional Record (Appendix), Vol. 26, page 226.]

[From a statement by Helmuth Schwartze & Co., published in the London Economists' Commercial History and Review of 1894.]

The following gives the mean point and the value in pence per pound of some leading descriptions of wool on the 31st of December:

II. NUMBER AND VALUE of Sheep—STATISTICS.

ESTIMATED PRICES OF SHEEP ON FARMS AND RANCHES IN JANUARY,

1896.

[From New Series, Report No. 134, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Statistics, Washington, D. C., February 18, 1896.]

Report upon the number and value of sheep on farms and ranches in the United States in

January, 1896.