Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-09-27
WOOL GROWERS.
ADDRESS OF
HON. GEORGE |. CONVERSE
Before the Ohio Wool Growers
Association, at Columbus.
THE DEMOCRATIC MILLS BILL A
SECTIONAL MEASURE
AHdin the Interest Of Cheap Labor
VIEWSOfaVETERAN DEMOCRAT
HIS INDIGNANT DENUNCIATION OF THE
Attempt to Betray Northern Interests.
THE SOUTHERN COTTON LORDS
Would Drag Down Northern Labor
Tn TUE LEVEL 0F EY.SL6VF LbgOR
HIS INDIGNANT DENUNCIATION OF THE
Attempt to Betray Northern Interests.
THE SOUTHERN COTTON LORDS
Would Drag Down Northern Labor
TO THE LEVEL OF EX-SLAYE LABOR.
An Address that Should be Carefully Read

were reduced about three cents a pound
You know the facts. because it has been
your business and your interest to know
them. Aside from official statistics. the
fiock-masters of the United States have a
realizing sense of the condition of their
industry through that most sensitive
nerve, the pocket. Information which
reaches the human mind and understand
ing through that channel is often more
reliable and convincing than official sta
tistics or the reasoning of the most learn
ed. logical and eloquent political ecOno-
mist. 1t is the logic of events in which
fact and reason are blended.
Yet we can not too often recur to prom
inent statistical facts, which are in their
nature calculated to reach the under
standing and convince the judgment of
reasonable men, who have no personal
experience in such matters. a large ma
iority of our lawmakers are without such
experience as are also those who write,
and thus manufacture or mould public
opinion. Their opinion and judgment is
generally formed from mere theory and is
therefore often erroneous. One well es-
tablished, opposing fact, ought to upset
any mere theory.
| will first invite your attention to the
diminishing number of sheep, and the
diminishing quantity of wool product in
Ohio since the reduction of wool duty in
1888
The official reports in the Office of the
Auditor of State made up from sworn
statements of owners, to the Township
Assessors, show the number of sheep i'll
Ohio, in the spring following the taking
effect of the act of 1888, to have been as
E. t., L.. in A
922: in 1886, 4,277, ,463; in 1887, Jos, III; in
1888, 3,739, ,449.
The total reduction in the number of
sheep in Ohio in four years is 1874, ,435,
equivalent to an average decrease of 343,
600 per year.
The wool product in Ohio was in 1888,
24.349.1O9 pounds, in 1884 23,55S, 713
pounds, in 1885 22,0S1 ,552 pounds, in 1886
1902, ,329 pounds.
have not been able to obtain any later
statistics of the wool product in Ohio
than 1886, which was published in 1881.
But the three years show a loss in pro-
duct of 1876, 7S0 pounds, or an average
decrease of 1,548, ,926 pounds. At the same
rate for 1887 and 1888, the wool product
in Ohio for this year would be 16,604, Az
pounds.
From the rapid decrease in the number
of sheep | have no doubt the product this
year is less than that quantity. The diff
ference between the years 1888 and 1888
is 1.374.435 sheep and 7,744,623 pounds.
We have lost over One-fourth of our sheep
and nearly One-third of the annual wool
product. not to mention losses from de-
preciation in value of both sheep and
wool.
If such are the effects Of so small re
dttctiOn Of d1tty aOhGt 2CiU probably be
the effect of remOoilg the duty GltOgethers 2
Five years of free trade would probably
leave Ohio with less than million of
sheep and an annual product of less than
100000 pounds of WOOL or about two
thirds of a pound of secured wool for each
inhabitant of our state.
The estimated decrease in the wool
product of the United States is less pro
rata than that shown by the official sta
tiSticS of Ohio.
The product of the present year in the
United States is estimated at 244,U 1900
pounds, which would be decrease since
1883 in the annual product of 66,OOOO0
pounds. The decrease is probably greater,
for which opinion good reasons could be
given, if time permitted in addition to
the official statistics of Ohio.
For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888,
we imported 113, ,5SS, ,753 pounds of foreign
wool valued at S15SS7 ,217 as against 3d.
O49. .967 pounds in 1888, valued at $S,491,
9SS23. ImportatiOnS have more than
doubled in quantity and nearly doubled
in value. We also imported 1,124, ,So2
worth of manufactures OF wool as against
S42. .553. .456 in 1888. During this last fiscal
year the total valuation of imported wool
and wooden goods was S63,612,O69, as
against SOL ,044 ,444 % in 1883, an increase
of $12,56 ,625. Every ounce of that prod
uct costing abroad $63, ,612,0 ,069 could have
been produced and should have been pro-
duced at home by American labor, rather
than abroad by foreign labor.
We bought abroad during the fiscal
wear ending June 80, 1888, S723, ,S79,S17 of
foreign products of all kinds and sold
abroad only $685., ,862, ,236 of our own prod
ucts of all kinds: which shows a balance
of trade against us of S40,O17,577. That
is. the last geGrs trade has pat the people
of the United States ip debt to foreign
nations OUer toTty millions, 1Chicb must
be paid in gold, or carried over as debt
at interest, and paid at some future day.
If the wool and woolen schedules of duty
were what they ought to be, that $685.
612 ,O69 of wool and wOolen merchandise
would have been produced at home, in
stead of being purchased abroad. Then
instead of being indebted S40017,577 on
last years foreign trade, foreign nations
would have owed us $23, ,594, ,492, which
they would be obliged to pay us in gold:
and the people Of the United States COUId
be $63, ,6I2, ,O69 richer today than they are,
Red7Iy all of 2CIicb SltHp 1COutd hd0e gone
into the pockets Of labor.
What has been the loss of the United
States in this regard in the production of
wool and wOolenS, has been the gain of
foreign nations, for they have to that eX-
tent supplied our market.
Again | ask, if such are some of the eff !
fectS of small reduction in duty in five
years. what would be the effect of free
trade during the next five years? The
figures establish the probability that the
United States would not at the end of
five years of free trade, be able to produce |
more than two-thirds of pound of scour
ed wool for each inhabitant, while six
pounds for each would be a moderate al |
lOwance for the supply of the ordinary |
and necessary demands of the American |
people. In other words, we could supply |
the quantity of wool which our
demand.
Wool is as great q dtpI0BlGt on qIeS-
tionS Of acar and peace as gunPoaoder,
md as necessary to our defeilSe and in
Andrew Jackson, in one of his MESA
yes, mentioned wool as necessary to our
and defense in time of war,
and on that ground urged its production
10 be encouraged in the United States, to
she extent of our own needs as nation,
by an adequate and suitable tariff on the