The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1888-02-10
THE TARIFF ON WOOL.

There are facts in connection with
sheep husbandry and the tariff on wool
which we shall do we'll to consider. The
prices of wool the world over are low,
and the plain cause of this is increased
production. The extension of sheep
husbandry and wool growing in our own
country has been enormous during the
past twenty-five years. The history of
sheep ranching IN the west and south
west is familiar to all. The enormously
increased production of wool is the
prime and potent factor in the decline
of prices. In comparison the reduction
of the tariff in 1883 was an insignificant
factor, and has had no appreciable effect
on prices. In relation to the increased
production of wool in the world, let us
note the fact that Australia sold to Eu-
rope in 1860 10000, 900 lbs; in 1880,
00,000,0O0 lbs; in 1883, 362,OOO,O0O
lbs; in 1886, 422, 100000 lbs. Besides this
there has been an increased production
in all European countries, resulting from
improved methods of farming and i'm
proved breeds of sheep. Intelligence
and skill applied to sheep husbandry
has resulted in lessened cost of produc-
ton and better profits, and this again
stimulates production and increases the
supply. For this we ought to be both
glad and grateful. Lessened cost, in
creased production, and greater supply
means lower prices and larger consump-
ton. 1t means the laboring man can
buy better and warmer clothes for him.
self and his family.
WHAT DOES THE AMERICAN Wool
GROWER WANT?
refer to those who gather in conven-
tiOns and resolve to vote for no man for
Congress unless he will pledge himself
to vote for a higher tariff on wool.
There are hundreds and thousands of
wool growers who would scorn to ask
Congress to raise the price of their wool
by law, 80 as to increase their profits at
the expense of all other people. A high
er tariff can do the wool grower no good
unless it raises the price, and the in
creased price must be paid by those
who buy the wool after it is made into
clothes. If a higher tariff raises the
price of wool, it will take money by law
from the pockets of fifty-nine millions
of people to put into the pockets Of one
million wool growers. That the reduc-
ton of the tariff in 1883 did not cause
the decline in the price of wool can be
easily demonstrated The only way the
reduction of the tariff could effect a re-
duction of the price ofwool would be by
increased importations of the same
kinds Of wool we grow here and sold at
lower prices. But the fact is we import
ed during the four years preceding 1883,
the year the tariff was reduced, 1884,
753 more of the same kind of wool we
grow than in the four years since.
WHAT WILL BE THE EFFECTS OF ABOLISH
ING THE TARIFF ON Wool?
This country is the largest consumer
in the world of fine dress goods made Of
the finest woods, which We do not grow
here, the tariff on which is nearly pro-
hibitory. These goods are all manufac-
tured in countries where the raw mate
rial is untaxed, and are then imported in
to this country. If American manufac-
turers could buy these fine woods I'm.
taxed they would become competitive
buyers with European manufacturers in
the wool markets of the world, and
could successfully compete in prices of
finished goods with the manufacturers
of any country in the world. The labor
of producing many millions of dollars
worth of the finest fabrics would be
done here, and all the laborers would
be home consumers of our farm pro-
ducts. Manufacturing enterprises under
natural conditions promote the prosper
ity of the whole country. Especially
will it benefit farmers by furnishing a
population of consumers of farm pro-
ducts.
Wool GROWING PROFITABLE IN THE
UNITED STATES.
Sheep husbandry is profitable in the
United States and always will be. 1t
has not been and is not more subject
to depression than any other branch of
agriculture. Cattle men have suffered
more losses from decline in prices than
sheep men. Thousands and thousands
of wool growers freely admit their bust
ness is at least as good as that of any
other branch of agriculture. Dairying
is looked upon as one of the most GER
tain and profitable branches of agricul-
ture, and still the sheep men in Keno
sha county are not few in number who
conEdentlv i'm their business is
more profitable than dairying. Some
farmers who keep both COWS and sheep
think their sheep pay the best profit.
The wool growers who whine and beg
to have every man, woman and child in
the nation taxed for their benefit make
pitiable exhibition of themselves. A
tariff cannot benefit them unless it gives
them higher prices for their wool, and
the increase in price will have to be
paid mainly by the laborers of other in.
dustries, as laborers form much the
larger part of the population. 1t is fire.
quently asserted that good clothing
woods can be grown as cheaply in the
United States as in any country in the
world. If all the tariff should be taken
off wool it viii still be grown successfully
in the United States. If it were possible
that wool growing is not profitable in
the United States, the people are too
enlightened longer to submit to make
up out of their own pockets the sup
posed losses of the wool grower.
r. F. ROBERTS.