The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-07-27
THE RISE IN THE PRICE OF
WOOL. s.- ...
Great Excitement In the Trade
Wool and WOolen Goods Up From
10 to 25 Per Cent. I'm Few Weeks
Causes OF the Rise

Wool and woolen Goods Up From
10 to rs Per Cent. I'm Few Weeks
Causes OF the Rise. ..
From the New York Sun, July 81
An Uncommon excitement pervades
at present the usually quiet circles of
dealers in wool and goods made of wool
in this country. The cause is the sud-
den rise in the price Of that staple,
which commenced some six or eight
weeks ago, and appears not as yet to
have reached its full limit Common
Mexican wool, which used to sell at
from Is to 20 cents pound, is selling
at from 80 to 80 cents. Carpet woods,
usually quoted at 80 cents, gold, are
held at 374 cents. Cape woods have
gone up from IS cents to 40 cents; Aus.
tralian wool from AZ cents to 80 cents !;
and what are called extra heeces,
which are standard in the wool mar
ket, like middlings in the cotton market,
THE VARIOUS WOODEN MANUFACTURES
have responded, Of course, to this rise
in the raw material Carpet yarns
have advanced from 81! cents per pound
to GO cents per pound. Two and three
ply carpets are l29 per cent. dearer than
they were, and Brussels, which recently
fetched 81. % per yard, are held at 81. Is.
All kinds of wooden cloth and clothing
material have advanced, on an average,
10 per cent, with an upward tendency.
The utmost activity is manifested in the
trade. The manufacturers have orders
ahead for everything they can make for
several months to come, and, as is
usual, the fear of the retail dealers Of
higher prices still to come leads them to
rush in and supply themselves at pres
ent rates.
THE CAUSES OF THE RISE
are manifold, and it is entirely explica-
bic according to well known laws Of
trade.
|. In the first place the price Of wool
has been exceedingly low for several
years past, so that it has not been profit
able in this country 10 produce it.
Hence our farmers have, to large ex-
tent, sold off their sheep and raised
hogs instead. The result has been that
in 1869 the wool clip was twenty per
cent. less than in 1868, and 1870 twenty
per cent. less than in 1869. This alone
might not have materially affected the
price, but other things just now come
in TO assist it.
.. The recent war in Europe created
an extraordinary demand for soldiers
clothing, and a rapid consumption of
it by wear while at the same time the
withdrawal of so many men from labor
diminished the production of wool, the
sheep being slaughtered for food instead
of being kept to shear.
5. The yellow fever in Buenos Ayres
has also stopped the shipment for the
present from that part of the immense
wool clip of Brazil. This cause will
soon cease to operate, but for the mo-
ment it is as if Brazil were shut out of
the market altogether.
t. Another element at work is the
abundant supply of water this season,
enabling many mlllsto run constantly,
which last year owing to the drouth,
were stopped for long time. This
practically doubles the demand for raw
wool.
). The great ease Of the money mar
ket co-operates with the previous causes,
and assists the rise by furnishing not
only the regular dealer, but outside
spectators with means to buy and hold
large stock Of wool and keep it out OF
the market. If money was tight and
nobody bought but the manufacturers,
and they only from hand to mouth to
keep their mills going, the scarcity of
the supply would probably only cause
slight advance in prices. As it is,
there is foolish desire to buy for
further rise, and this very desire, while
it lasts, brings about its own apparent
qualification.