Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-05-28
PERTINENT QUESTIONS ABOUT
WOOL
From the Textile Record.

|. III the duties upon WOOL Snouli ne re-
moved. how long will the farmers Of
this country-half of the population
consent to help maintain duties upon
cloth:
,. If. by removing the protection from
American wool. we eXterminate the do
nestle supply. now amounting to - per
cent of our total consumption. will not
wool 30 up in price. instead of down:
g. If. as is persistently declared. free
entry for wool has always put up the
price of wool what do the advocates of
free wool and their allies want free wool
for: DO they wish to pay more for
their staple: And. if so. will they please
show Just how that is going to give them
any advantages over England here and
elsewhere:
/. If the price of wool in this market
is now lower than it has been for twenty
years, is not that a proof that the duties,
by stimulating the home supply. tend to
force down prices: And. if so. why
should any sane man want to overthrow
system which makes wool cheap. the
supply constant. and farmers able to buy
cloth:
). If American farmers can raise no
wool, but must grow more of the cereals,
of which we now have too much, will
not the decrease of their purchasing
power result in less demand for the
products of American wooden mills?
6. If. after we succeed in eXterminatng
our domestic wool-growing industry, we
should have a war, let us say, with Eng
land, where, and by what means, will
be obtained supplies of wool: England
has a navy large enough to blockade all
our ports and home wool supply can.
not be created in month.
I. If free staple i absolutely neces
sary to the success of an industry, why
is it that the American wooden cloth in
dustry, which pays duty upon import
ed fiber. is now, and all through the dull
times has been, in far better condition
than the cotton cloth industry. which
gets its staple free?
s. If free wool is the one thing needed
to enable us to beat England in the mar
lets of the word, why is it that England
beats us hundred to one in those mar
kets in cotton goods made from free sta
pie grown on our own sol?
o. If free wool will give our woolel
manufacturers control of our home mar
ket. why is it free raw silk has not givel
control of our home market to American
silk manufacturers:
10. Does any wooden manufacturer
, who is helping the free trader to attacl
: the wool duties, believe that the FIRE
traders will stop when they succeed i
having those duties removed: And wha
kind of man is it who helps to victor
! an enemy who will celebrate his trump
! by attacking his helper: Is not a shee
> who goes hunting with a wolf likely t
: feed the wolf at last?
e II. If the principle of protection
=, right, is it not just as right for the WOO
| grower as for the wOOl-spinner and WOO
e weaver? And does not the latter yiel
5 his entire case when he asks for himse
!, = what he is not willing to give to the WOO
4 grower.
j These are not idle questions. just no
: they are of momentous importance, an
they will have to be answered before r
S peal of the duties upon wool can be just
y fed to the American people. We eXpre
II the belief that no satisfactory answer ca
- be given to any one of them.