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Show WOOL -TARIFF -DISCUSS " ; , ;:BY FAIRBANKS; MONTANA IS GIVEN OBJECT LESSON f . ... t . , Roosevelt's Running: Mate Talks In Large Wool Warehouse on Benefits . ' of Protection to Amcrl-' Amcrl-' can Sheep-Raisers. BIG TIMBER, Mont, Sept. 27. Senator Sen-ator Fairbanks discussed the wool tariff . in bis first speech of the day made at this point at S:S0 this morning. Alight rain was falling and the air was decidedly de-cidedly chilly. The meeting, appropriately, appropri-ately, was held in a large wool warehouse ware-house by the side of the railroad track. In which President Roosevelt had also spoken. The only seats in the building were given over to the school children, who were present in force. Protection and Wool. On the wool Question, Senator Fair bankssald: .. "It is the policy of the Republican par. ty. so far as possible, to diversify indutf try throughout the United States, (t . has sought to stimulate the establishment establish-ment of new Industry by means of pf-tection, pf-tection, and it has endeavored to build -up .those we have by imposing duties wisely discriminating in favor of American Amer-ican production. It believes In enccnr-aging enccnr-aging sheep husbandry and in stlmulat-' lng the production of woolen goods in the United States. "There is no good reason why the American farmer should not be abl to produce the wool necessary to meet our great and expanding domestic needs. We should net turn over wool-growing for our uses to the farmers of Australia, the Cap of Good Hope, the Argentine Republic or elsewhere. We should not pursue a policy which destroys American Amer-ican floclm; but. on the other hand, should, by the-applicatian of the protec- -tlve principle, encourage sheep-growing in our own country. Democratic Destruction.. "There is a radical difference between the parties upon this important subject. The difference is not found only in the platfonns adopted by them, but in the legislation of Congress. - "The Democratic party stands by its traditional doctrine of free raw material. It placed wool on the free list in its last . tariff measure and thereby drove mil-nobs mil-nobs of the sheep to the slaughterhouses slaughter-houses of the country, the value of the flocks decreased and the price of wool declined rapidly and sharply. It is estimated esti-mated that there were on January 1, 1893. 47,000.000 head of sheep, worth J125,-000,000. J125,-000,000. Three years later the number had fallen to about S7.000.000 in number, and $67,000,000 in value, a loss of more than 10,000.000 in the number and a shrinkage of 158,000,000 In value. Republican Restoration. "With the return of the Republican party to power and the restoration of the protective principle the flocks were Increased until January 1, 1903, we had nearly 64,000,000 sheep, worth $168,000,000. Wool values were similarly affected. "It Is estimated that the wool clip in 1892 was worth $79,000,000, and four years' ' , later it had shrunk $46,500,000. Now it is more than double th value that it was at the close of the last Democratic administration. "No people have suffered more under ' the hostile Democratic , ad ministration toward sheep-ralslng and the weei Industry In-dustry than the people of this State, and no one has been more benefited than the Democratic leaders by the policy. During Dur-ing the last Democratic administration wool here was worth 7 to S cents per pound. Now it is 17 to 20 cents. I was advised yesterday by a large sheep-raiser sheep-raiser that he was recently offered 20 cents per pound for his next year's clip. Sheep which were worth eight years sgo $1.75 a head are now worth from $$.00 to $3.60. Which Shall Triumph f "We stand face to face with the question ques-tion as to whether we shall overthrow the Republican party, under which the wool Industry has been put upon a profitable basis, or whether we shall return re-turn to the Democratic policy, which so greatly injured it. No State would be more seriously injured than Montana if the Democratic policy should receive the sanction of the law. Democratic triumph tri-umph means to put in serious Jeopardy the sheep industry." Senator Dolllver also made a brief speech. |
