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Show WDDLIi MEET I CDH11 I II LAKE Salt Lake, Jan. 14. With an attendance attend-ance which is said to make it the largest livestock convention ever held In this country, the 'fifty-second annual an-nual meeting of the National Wool-growers' Wool-growers' association was opened yesterday. yes-terday. More than 1000 persons, Including In-cluding sheepmen, government exports, ex-ports, wool buyers, representatives of livestock companies, railroad livestock live-stock agents and others Interested, were In the city last night. During every hour of the convention sessions yesterday the attendance increased, the crowd at the opening session being be-ing by far the largest In the history of the association. The annual address of Prank J. Ha-genbarth Ha-genbarth of Salt Lake, president of the association and head of the Wood Livestock company, was the moBt Important Im-portant feature of the day's program. Clearly and concisely Mr. Hagenbarth outlined the developments in tho sheep Industry since the last convention, conven-tion, fourteen months ago, and from these summaries he deducted conclusions conclu-sions and presented suggestions and advice which received the enthusiastic approval of the woolmen. Advises Preparation. Mr. Hagenbarth reviewed the unprecedented un-precedented prosperity which had come to the sheep Industry during tho past year, but took occasion at the same time to sound a warning. Periods of depression, he said, almost Invariably followed such unusual prosperity, pros-perity, and he proposed that the sheepmen devote some of the profits made at this time to preparing their businesses for tho reaction. Better and more improved methods were urged as an absolute necessity In the future, if woolmen are to be successful. success-ful. Taking up the homestead bill which Is now pending before congress, con-gress, and which has already passed the lower house, Mr. Hagenbarth expressed ex-pressed the belief that it was a bad p:ece of legislation. While favoring homesteading, he said ho believed there was danger in permitting homesteaders home-steaders to take up every available acre, as much of It was unfitted for agricultural development. Addresses of Welcome. Mayor W. Mont Ferry and Governor Gover-nor William Spry both made addresses address-es of welcome, In which they assured the woolmen that they 'were always welcome in Salt Lake City. The mayor said that he would not say that the" latchstring to the city was out, for that implied that the doors of the city were closed, whereas he said that the doors of Salt Lake were always open to tho woolmen. Dr. J. M. Wilson of Douglas. Wyo., one of the most active members of the National Wool growers' association, associa-tion, responded to the addresses of welcome, and declared that he heartily hearti-ly favored the permanent location ot the national offices in Salt Lake, because be-cause thfs city was the logical center of the woolgrowlng industry-One industry-One of the most Interesting lectures ever given before the association was that given in the afternoon by Edmund Ed-mund Clifton of Wellington, New Zealand, Zea-land, commissioner of livestock for New Zealand at the Panama-Pacific exposition. Mr. Clifton spoke interestingly inter-estingly on the wool and sheep industry indus-try of New Zealand, and outlined the mothods which aro In use in that section. At the conclusion of his address ad-dress he was subjected to a rapid fire of questions from his interested auditors. On Range All Year. Livestock lives on the range the year around in New Zealand, he said, because that country has a climate similar to California. There are no predatory animals there, and there is a large amount of excellent pasturage, pastur-age, he said, so that livestock can bo raised with the minimum amount of care. There are about 25,000,000 head of sheep there, he said, and about 2.-000,000 2.-000,000 head of cattle. The livestock is valued at $50,000,000, and of this the sheep are worth $25,000,000. It Is possible, ho said, under the excellent methods used there, to slaughter some 8,000,000 sheep annually. New Zealand exports about $6,000,000 worth of sheep annually, he said, chiefly to Great Britain. The most Interesting part of his discourse, perhaps, was his description descrip-tion of the methods of shearing sheep there. The shearing shed, ho said, is the most conspicuous building on a New Zealand ranch. The sheds aro built in the shape of the letter "T" and are kept scrupulously clean. Fleeces are carefully handled and expert ex-pert classers grade the wool into three classes, fine, medium and coarse. Inferior wools that are stained stain-ed or otherwise injured, are put into still another class, ho said. Romneys Dominate. Tho Romney, ho said, is tho dominating domi-nating type of animal there now. Ordinary Or-dinary flocks, he said, of as high as 10,000 head, will produce ten and one-halt one-halt pounds of wool to the animal. The Romney, he said, is a development develop-ment of tho Corriedale. F. C. Richmond, president of the Commercial club, made a brief address ad-dress to the woolmen during the afternoon. aft-ernoon. He said he had come to the conclusion that the woolmen must get a new clip about every thirty days, because every time he had occasion to go to a bank to borrow money the bankers told him they had to hold the money to handle the wool crop. Mr. Richmond Invited the women delegates dele-gates to attend the Orpheum tonight, while the men will go to the boxing match at the Salt Lake theatre. F. A. Ellenwood of Red Bluff, Cal., another prominent member of the association, as-sociation, delivered an interesting paper pa-per on the "Handling of Sheep in California." Mr. Ellenwood went into detail on the methods of caring for the sheep in the district where he resides, and his talk proved Intensely Interesting to the sheepmen. oo . . |