The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1881-01-21


As the wool growing interest of Kan
sas has developed within the
last few years into immense
and at present promises a
growth which will soon surpass that of
Ohio and Michigan in the same depart
ment of industry, brief discussion of
a Characteristic of Kansas wool which
seriously impairs its reputation in the
principal wool markets, may not be out
of place in your widely circulated paper.
1t is high time that the intelligent
men engaged in this business should look
the fact square in the face that Kansas
wool suffers the odium of being very
dirty wool. AS consequence its val.
ue is deprecated, and its quotabIe
price In the wool markets is at least two
cents a pound less than that of the same
grade anu quality from Ohio or Michi-
gan. 1t must be conceded that one of
the agencies contributing to this condi-
tion is not preventable. High winds al
ways prevail in Kansas in the spring
months and up to shearIng time, and
during this period sheep are exposed to
locity of the wind through the outer sur
face of the wool. The spring of 1880
was very dry and very windy, and the
consequence was that the most careful
management could not exclude the dust
which, in some cases was forced through
the wool to the skin. But the dirty
condition of much of the Kansas
wool can not be wholly account.
ed for by reference to at.
mospheric causes. Any one who has
sampled the wool of Lyon, Coffey
Greenwood and WOodson counties this
last season must have observed great
contrasts in respect of cleanliness oil
condition in different lots of wool ex
posed during growth to precisely the
same atmospheric conditions. And there
is no difficulty whatever in ascertaining
the cause of this discrepancy. Ignor
ance or culpable negligence of those re
sponsible for the care of the sheep is, il
every instance, the cause of this inferior
condition of the wool. There has MOI
been an adequate supply of litter in the
sheds; or the sheep have been driven tC
and from the pasture over long, dusty
lanes; or land prepared for sowing OF
oats has been fertilized, not by spreading
the refuse matter of the sheep sheds up
after hight upon consecutive portions o
the field; or the arrangements for shear
ing have been uncleanly; or the clip ha.
been piled up under an open sheep shed
exposed for weeks to the southwesterlJ
winds of summer laden with dust; anC
so on Gd inJinituRa. Is it surprising tina
a manufacturer inspecting such wool il
q ware house in Boston or Philadelphia
comparing it with q similar grade from
Michigan or Ohio, after making all due
allowance for the atmospheric agencies
should accuse the wool grower of de
liberately inserting part of the dirt
The causes, assigned above, of in
ferior condition of wool are not imag
mary. The writer knows wheroi
he affirms. "One sinner destroyeth
much good" is an inspired statement
aud one lot of such conditioned wool as
the writer has seen, this last season, in
Lyon, Woodson and Coffey counties
when exposed for sale at the seaboard
stigmatizes Kansas wool or indirectly af
fects lnjuriously good conditioned clips
from the same state. That there may bC
some wool growers in Kansas who have
deliberately introduced foreign sub
to be gainsayed. Such things have oc
CURED in Michigan and Ohio, and the
perpetrators have been summary
smoked" out. If the business of WOO
growing is not disgraced by some rouge:
engaged in it, it is passing strang'
that sheep-raising should be the solitary
exception to all other branches of human
effort. The writer has no knowledge
of any such practice, and yet he is NOR
ally convinced that such a charge coulC
be substantiated in at least one instances
in Lyon county, and one in Coffey coun
ty. Nevertheless, he is fully persuaded
that the wool growers of Kansas as |
class are eminently intelligent, honora
BILE and enterpIising, and in no respec
inferior to tie wool-growers of the olde
states.
Messrs. Walter Brown s. Co, of Boston
in their circular of November, called tn,
attention of Kansas wool men to the fac
that frauds of this nature had in some in
stances been practiced in Lyon and Col
fey counties, and that prominent grower
in those counties had given them in
formation to that effect. They did no
assert that this kind of fraud was com
mon one in Kansas. The Greenwood,
county wool growers association are re
ported to have adopted at their annua
meeting, in December last, q 6rHtuh
ftllaen against this highly and just,
esteemed Boston firm. because they hat
made statement which every intel
ligent man outside of Greenwood county
conversant with the subject, believes to
true; or, if not true to the letter
abundantly justified in view of the fou
condition of a considerable portion O
Kansas wool. The writer thank
Messrs W. B. s. Co. for thus cal
ing the attention OF Kansas WOO
growers to the objectionable cond
| ton Of much of the Kansas wool
and in SO doing, he believes he is e.
pressing the views of the leading woo
growers in the state There is no sort @
benefit produced by foaming at til
mouth and passing fine sounding resolI
tions against those who present unpIea.
ant truths for our contemplation. Sue
proceedings may rival the rhetoric c
the complete letter writer" but the
lack wisdom. No sensible man believe
for q moment that W. B. s. Co. are no:
| tile to the wool growers of Kansa.
But II they are. let US adopt the wisdoT
of the ancients and be willing a6 h0st
dOeeri. The reputation of Kansas WOO
will never be advanced by such vagu
and irrelevant action. Investigation, nc
| denunciation is needed. The establish
ment of the credit of Kansas woo
and Kansas WoOl-groWers, can be secure
| and maintained only by q welcome a.
ceptance of the truth, from whateye
quarter il come OF however disagreeabl
| il be. and the intelligent and peFsIstcr
/ application of the appropriate means I
| remedy the evil comDiaiaed of