Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1845-08-21
From The Bennington Gazette.
TWISTING AND TURNING,

TWISTING AND TURNING
The leading wings, as election draws
near, are twisting and turning every which
way to avoid tie blame which justly rests
on them forrhe present depression OF the
prices of wool They pretend that
The attempto Of Senator Wright to protect
the wool. growers of Vermont, by laying a
duty of 20 per cent ad valorGm on wool
from South America, instead Of the pres
eDt duty Of five per cent, was mere moon
shine, calculated for Political effect, with
out any particular benefit to the farmers.
But let US see what Mr. Gushing, a wing
representative, said, when the duty on
wool was discussed in the house of Rep
resentatves. Mr. Gushing moved to a.
mend Mr. FiIlmore's amendment. by slrlk-
ing out The words
son wool manufactured, the .poluc ~hcrc-
Of at The last port or place from whencC CO.
ported to the United States, shall be Scrcn
cents or mder per pound, there shalt be
leried duty of 5 per cent, al valorem,"
His object (Mr c. sadly was, at a proper
time to move that wool of the value of
eight cents per pound and under, should
be admitted duty free. This description
of wool had been heretofore imported duty
free; and under the compromise act, many
manufactures had sprung up, particularly
In his part of the country, at which the
coarse wool was used These, he said
would be materially injured, if not ruined
altogether, if this heavy tax should be i'm
posed on coarse wool.
When the bill came before the Senate
Mr. Wright moved TO strike out per cent,
and insert 90 per cent
M. Wright observed that lie saw no
good reason, if the purpose of gentlemen
was to afford protection, why manulac-
turers alone should be selected as the OBJ
iects of protection. He could see no JUS
tice in the princi pie Of giving protection TO
the manufacturer, and leaving the grower
of wool in this country entirely at the
mercy of foreign competition. The pro-
lection given in the bill was double as
great as that given to the wool grower
This was unjust. The agriculurist ought
to have cqnal protection with the manu-
facturer. This was unjust, The agri
culturis,s ought to-have some protection.
So forciblc was this argument that the
vote stood II to 10. Even orr senator,
Mr. Phelps, who went the whole hog on
the bank question, giving an United States
bank the privilege of one or two branches
in this state without the consent of the
state, and also for the bankrupt bill, dis
tribu,on bill &C., voted with Mr. Wright,
for protection to the farmers. Senator
Crafts and other whig senators voted a.
gainst protection, adopting the Webster
whig principle, "Protcc the rich, aud the
itch will protect the poor"
Let the authors of the wing addresses
twist and turn as much as they please,
this is the real cause the depressed pric-
es of wool, and succeeding acts prove it
to be so.
The present tariff bill was passed in
August 1912. The wings asserted that it
would give ample protection to the WOOL
growcrs-the fail passed away, but wool
did not advance. Wing promises were
again deferred. The price of wool con-
tinued so low, that during the year ending
30lh September l843, there was only about
four and half millions of wool imported.
This small Importation, together with the
constant assertion Of the wings, that the
tariff would eventually raise the price of
wool, induced spectators in wool to again
try their luck. In the spring of 1914
prices advanced.
The spectators gave, comparatively, a
fair price, and'it was thought by the farm
ers that they should in fact realize the
promises made by the wings. AS the
business season progressed prices began to
decline, and the wool-buyers were left
with large quantities of wool on hand,
which they could not sell to the manufac-
turers except at a loss. No one here in
the country could account for this falling
off in the price of wool-money was plen-
ty-the House of Representatives at
Washington had refus d to repeal, or even
modify the present tariff, contrary to wing
prophecies, and yet prices declined. Du-
ring the last winter Congress refused to
reduce the tariff on woollens, and it was
verify expected that wool would bear a
fair price this spring; but instead of this,
gentleman down East has written to a
wooI-grower ofthis county, that he cannot
pay into len cents pound of what he
gave last year.
This extraordinary falling off can only
accounted Tor from the fact, that the
wool-growers in this country are entirely
at the mercy of foreign ompe,ition. Ris-
ing of i3,OOO,O00 poun Is of wool was i'm
ported last year, and much greater
quantity will probably be imported this
year. This is the real cause o. the low
price of WOOL
FrOm the SNracilse IN. W SInn.lnrl.