Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1847-01-05
Frosa TIC y. Y. Ere. Post.
Prospects of The Wool Growers.

The manufacturing class in this coun-
try are skiliful managers, but none more
go than the owners of the wooden mills.
II was for some time standing riddle with
the owners of aocks in this country, how
il could possibly happen that under tariff
framed By such jealous friends ofAmerican
industry as the mill owners & their agents,
there was no market for American wool.
At last the keepers of sheep in our pas
toral districts began to discover that vast
quantities Of wool were introduced from
South America, in great part ola very fine
quality, costing very little at the place
from which it was imported, clogged with
dirt, and paying only nominal duty at
cur custom houses. This cheap wool
took the place o. The aeeces sheared from
cur own fiocks, and supplied the greater
part of our mills with the raw material for
their fabrics.
But we believe that while truth in re-
lation to this matter has never been told,
it has never been generally known that
these excellent friends ofthe wool grove rs,
the Boston manufacturers, themselves
maintain large hocks of sheep in Brazil.
Here, in mild climate, which never
knows the frosts of winter, and amid a
pasturage which never fails, they are rear.
cd and fed with scarce any expense but
the wages oflhe shepherds and their dogs,
We have heard the name Of man ia
boston--a great nameo among the mill
CwEerE-who is also the Damaetas of
Brazil, and owDs flock ofthiriy thousand
sheep pistured upon its mountains. The
wool from thai region is brought to this
country in large cargoes, invoiced as wool
Of the lowest prices, and hitherto paid the
slight duty five per cent ad valorem.
About year ago samples of South
American wool were brought to this city
from the mills of the interior, which were
supplied with them as their principal ma
terial. They were examined at the Gus
tom house and elsewhere, and compared
with the finer sorts Of American wool, &
although mingled with inquiries, it was
decided that they were even of q finer
quality. Yet this wool was imported as
costing less than seven cents pound, and
paid duty of only five per cent on its
value in South America.
The opinion seems generally to prevail
that under the new tariff. which imposes
duty Of 80 per cent. upon all imported
wool, the rearing of sheep in this country
will prove profitable business. For our
own part we do not feel very certain
Of this, while the eastern mill owners en-
ter into competition with our farmers, and
become the owners of large flocks in s.
America.
In Brazil, and othor thinly peopled re-
gions of that part of the continent. Gbe
rent ofland is very little; the rudest shelter
will serve the flock, AMI no provision of
food is necessary for the winter, beyond
the heritage in the ground. The Yankee
proprietor Cf Aocks in Brazil will take
care, Of course, that the quality of the
wool shall be improved by every method
of cross breeding which will answer the
purpose, and enter it at our custom houses.
estimated in the invoice at the real cost of
producing it and transporting it to the
coast, which can be but very little. A duty
OF thirty per cent. on its value might give
the revenue one or two cents on every
pound Of wool imported-a deduction from
the profits Of the Brazilian wool grower
much less, we should think, than the cost
OF feeding and tending sheep through our
severe winters.