Show THE WOOL TARIFF The wool industry has for twenty odd years conducted itself like the silly little knockkneed baah ling of which THACK ERAY speaks but seems at last to be acquiring ac-quiring a little mature sheep sense When first the woolen manufacturers and wool growers held a convention at Syracuse Syra-cuse in 1867 they concocted a tariff which has oeen the bane of the wool and woolen industries ever since The wool growers on that occasion were shown that when the duties on wool were greatly reduced by the low tariff of 1840 the price of wool went and that when in 1857 up the duties were I abolished on some grades and reduced on others the price went up again This made no difference to the wool growers they had been told to protect themselves from the pauper labor of the naked Australian and they induced Congress Con-gress to enact the amended wool tariff along with tho other changes made In 1867 the price of wool under the low i tariff was 61 cents In 1863 the price oEi wool fell a the increased tariff wont into I 4SiLi effect to 4 cents and has been falling ever since Meantime the price of most of the foreign wool has been higher than ours and English French and German merchants every year invade our markets and buy up large quantities of our protected pro-tected wool for the simple reason that it is usually the cheapest wool in the world We can readily understand therefore why tho Sheep Breeders and Wool Growers Grow-ers association of two counties in New York state should have passed the following follow-ing resolutions last month IWe recognize that the wool duty is a de lusion and a snare to the wool grower and that i has largely been instrumental in driving to the wall an industry it was calculated to benfit 2 Prior to 18G7 under the various changes of the wool duties tho price of wool fluctuated not in sympathy with the tariff but by reason of the ever controlling law of demand and supply sup-ply the grower having received high prices and low prices under high tarts and conversely low prices and high prices under low tariffs 3he success of the wool grower depends on the success of tho woollen manufacturer while the American manufacturer is seriously handicapped handi-capped by reason of being compelled to pay exorbitant ex-orbitant tariff taxes on every pound of clothing wool imported for necessary admixture while all foreign countries of any consequence have the benefit of free wool and aro thus enabled to undersell our manufacturers 4The great wool tariff of 1807 resulted in driving from the eight chief woolproducing statesfor whose special benefit said taiiff was conceived and passedmore than 5 per cent of their sheep in a single desade while the price of wool declined in a nearly corresponding ratio 5Tho importation of foreign wool increased from about twentysix million pounds in 1807 to more than ono hundred and twentysix million pounds in 1871 just four years succeeding the highest duty ever imposed on wool and woolens G During eight of the past oigateen years the foreign price of imported clothing wools at the last port of export actually exceeded the price of our domestic flcece in the markets of Boston New York or Philadelphia while in no single year did the domestic wools bring the foreign price plus the du y 07England rance and Germany are the only three countries in tho world that export woolen manufactures in excess of the imports of raw wool in other words these countries by admitting ting wool free have created a demand for their home wool in excess of all wools required to I clothe their people and after giving employment employ-ment to labor export more wool than they have imported The United States on the other hand by imposing a high duty on raw wool has not only destroyed our export trade but so I throttled manufacturers as to rain the market mar-ket for domestic fleece and give to the English French and German manufacturers the cream I of our markets for cloths 8The free importation of raw wool into the I United States would knock out the imports of r woolen goods and would revive tho present depressed de-pressed state of our own manufacturers thus I giving employment to labor here and create Increased I increased i demand for our strong wools for necessar admixture Recognizing the truth of the above facts therefore we the members of the Ontario and Livingston Sheep Breeders and Wool Growers association in convention assembled most respectfully re-spectfully petition Congress to immediately place wool and woolen manufactures on the free libt in order that their industries may again thrive and assume that magnitude commensurate I commensur-ate with a nation of 03000000 people |