Show OUR WOOL INTERESTS Fleeces Boomed by > lie Republican Republi-can Victory BUT TIlE BOOM DOESNT KEEP UP A Utah Wool Hans Views on the Market As It Stands and as It Is Likely to Dell De-ll J W SUMMEKUATS T0a GERALD asks What has been the experience of the wool trade during the past season its present status and future prospects To answer all of these questions ques-tions in detail would take more space I am afraid than you have to spare and more time than I can possibly devote to it but I will do the best I can and be as brief as possible As soon as it was known that the late Presidential election went in favor of the Republican candidatea feeling took possession posses-sion of a large class of our citizens that wool was all right and no matter what the laws of supply and demand said we were going to have a boom in wool As the time approached for the inauguration of the Presidentelect the boom feeling grew and when Harrison took the reins of government and the free trade President was ousted thousands of growers and dealers all over the country felt that they were now safe They did not apparently stop to consider that Congress would have to do something by way of changing our present unjust wool woolens and worsted tariff law before we could expect much better times in wool No we had a Republican Re-publican President and that seemed to be all sufficient consequently when a month or two later the clip was ready for sale every wool centre in the country sent forth a batch of excited buyers who were willing to pay any price that they could buy attn at-tn Utah and the territories wools that were bought at 13 to 14 cents per pound in 1SS8 brought 19 to 20K in IbSO and mark you this was not con lined to the territories terri-tories but extended from Portland Maine to Portland Oregon Chicago and St Louis seemed to take the lead with San Francisco Fran-cisco and Boston making a good second and Philadelphia and New York bringing up the rear with local dealers and speculators specula-tors everywhere joining in the grand rush The result was the clip was bought up quickly and the reason proved to be strictly a growers year A few of the latter held for higher prices and were not willing to take 20 cents they wanted 21 to 22 but some of these held too long the market slumped on them and they have since sold as low as 16 cents making a clear loss of 1 Scents S-cents per pound After the clip was bought the purchasers found it was more easy to buy at a big price than to sell at a profit They held on bravely for a while but soon found the load was too much When they would approach ap-proach a manufacturer he would inform them that he could get no more for his goods than he was getting in 1SSS and as he made no money then he could not possibly possi-bly pay 20 to 25 per cent more for his wool and run his mill and the consequence was that marufacturers all over the country played the bear because they had to and bought just enough to tide them over on the orders they had instead of buying large lines of wool and making goods ahead Several heavy failures in the wool leather and woolen goods trades made money tight Banks began to draw in their credits and the poor dealer who had bought a few months before with such rosy ideas had to sell and every time he sold he lost money Up to the present his thermometer thermome-ter has been going down To show just how the manufacturers felt during this period > we quote from the American Wool Reporter of October 10th There has been a fair inquiry for wool during the past week and while the market mar-ket is now characterized by some degree of firmness at tne recent reduction of quota ions there is still a severe pressure for lower prices on the part of buyers and the latter are limiting their purchases almost to daily requirements Should the mills turn to heavy weights earlier than usual in order to keep busy the machinery which is now In danger of idleness through a lack of replenishing orders for light weights some dealers are looking for an improvement in territory wools but such a course could not but be worse for all parties in the end With the lIghtweight season unsatisfactory any attempt tempt to force heavy weights upon the early attention of the clothiers would be almost al-most suicidal Some one will say right here we believe all you have said so far but we f 1ould certainly tainly have better times ahead for is it not a fact that the American clip is 23000000 to 25000000 pounds short Have not the dealers on the Atlantic seaboard been seud ing foreign wools back to England Are not Australian and New Zealand wools so high that they cannot be imported today And if this is all true why dont we have better times in wool and woolens We reply Yes all this is true and much more that you have not mentioned and we will answer you by saying until you get an American market for American wool you will see no better times Stopthis continued contin-ued strife that is going on between the grower and the manufacturer Pull together to-gether for the interest of all parties concerned con-cerned and bear in mind that unless the American spindle is kept running American wools will not be marked up When the first cost of the wool to the American manufacturer is as much as his English neighbor can place the finished goods on our market for or when our manufacturer runs his mills to compete with his English brother he is forced to use tops and waste made by said English brother instead of buying our homegrown wools or as much ot them as he can use Wo say when such a state of affairs as this exists we think that all parties concerned should use a united effort to correct the evil and either give us free trade or equitable protection If anything further is needed to convince our friends of the truth of this position we refer them to the following clipping from the Boston Herald of December Oth The strength of the market abroad Is very sensibly felt in the market for delaine and combing wools and buyers have sought them out to a greater extent than has been previously noted this season A few more weeks of such a trade will render these wools scarce and then the price maybe may-be based upon the supply to a greater extent ex-tent than upon wool generally But after all the market depends more upon what the manufacturer can do than any other feature It is idle to talk about any great Improvement in the wool market long as manufacturers are not able to sell their goods It is also true that the market on woolens is very dull at this time compared with the foreign market and compared with the market on other classes of goods Manufacturers say that If they could sell goods freely they should be in a position to di > s purchase wool freely But so long as the goods market fails to respond it is useless to talk about thefirmness of the wool market mar-ket abroad or any other feature presumed to affect the price of the stapleiu this country coun-try It is a fact admitted by manufacturers manufactur-ers that they do not own wools to any great extent at this time and they also declare de-clare that they do not desire to own them till they feel sure they can sell their goods Under such circumstances manufacturer are not very free purchasers of wools They do not deny but what the staple is cheap but it might be considerably cheaper than it is to day and jet afford them no inducement in-ducement to buy till they could see how they were to use It at a profit Such has been the season of 1SS9 and the present status of the wool business And now as to the future We think prices have touched bottom east If they have not so much the worse for those who have wool on hand for should prices go lower it will badly hurt holders of wool all over the country Utah holders not excepted As to what the price for the next clip will be it is too early to answer The usual laws that govern trade will have something to do with it but it lies largelywith the lawmaking law-making powers of oar nation whether the grower will get for his product the low price of 18SS or the better price of 1S > 9 If something is not done this winter we look for next seasons prices to be lower than they are today |