Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-08-10

u - NioACAN ulVh bHO Va
w~ool-growing in the United States, as
proved by the decline in that industry
amounting in four years to a decrease of
over seven million sheep, or a reduction
of over II per cent in numbers, and in
valuation of a still larger proportion.
The figures are: Jan. /. 1884, 5O,626.-
626 sheep, estimated at S2.31 each,
amounting to Sll9,902, 70G in value; and
Jan. /, 1888, 43,544,755 sheep, estimated
at S2.05 each, with a total valuation of
$S9,279 1926, a deterioration of S3O,622,l $50
in the value of the nations tlocks of
sheep in the short period of four years:
nor does this show the full deterioration,
for between the enactment of the law of
1888, and the LIST of January 1884, the es-
timated value of the sheep per head fell
from S2.53 to $2.37, or Is cents, a decline
which, added to the decline of the four
years that followed, makes over thirty
five millions decline in value in five years.
1t may be interesting to figure out how
much this decline in numbers has affected
the product of wool in the United States
for the foul years. | find it to reach
nearly one hundred million pounds, and
if we follow out the figuring further, we
shall find that if the same encouragement
had been extended to the production of
wool and woolens in the United States
that we had previous to the act of 1888,
the focks of our country would number
at least s., 900, 900 sheep instead of 49,
SOC, 900, a difference of over 10000, 900,
and in the wool product, at least 100000
600 pounds per mi or more than one
third of the amount of our domestic pro-
duct in 1884.
Il am aware it is claimed that the de-
cline in sheep husbandry, and the falling
of in wool production, has been brought
about by other causes than the reduction
of duties by the act of 1888, but | think
it cannot be successfully denied that the
reduction of duties by that act has been
the most potent factor in making wool
growing Improbable. | am also aware
that w are warned that if we ask for an
increase of duties on wool and woolens,
and for such changes in the law as will
make the rates intended to be collected
by it available to protect us from UNI
equal competition of foreign wool-grow-
ers, we are liable to lose the protection
we now enjoy. In answer, / would sug-
gest that the w~ool-growers do not enjoy
very highly a rate of duty that deprives
them of any profit in prosecuting their
business. In proof of this, it is only nee
essary to cite the falling off in the num-
Der of sheep during the four years the act
reducing the duty on wool has been in
operation, and it will be a hard task to
convince the wool-growers that it is for
their interest to continue a business that
entails a loss, and if any manufacturers
have a hope that the duties on cloth can
be maintained after the woOl-growing in
wool free, or by Interpretation of the law
from the importers or free-trade stand
point, they will find it much easier to set
the million wool-growers clamoring for
free cloth, than it will to keep them rails
ing wool at a loss.
As | looked over the last number of the
Wool Reporter, | noticed a very few
cases where mills engaged in manfactur-
ing woolens had shut down, or were
about shutting down, but | found a much
larger number OF cases where mills EN-
gagged in such manufacture were en-
larging their capacity, and not a few
notices of new mills about to be erected.
! take it there could be no such state of
affairs if the business of manufacturing
under the present tariff, as bad as it is,
was as Improbable as growing wool
under the same tariff. ! think it is GER
tain hat the amount of wooden goods
manufactured, and the money invested
in such enterprises, show NJ such fall
ing off during the last four years as
there has been in sheep h%usbandry.
The wool grower has no such easy
remedy as the manufacturer when bust
utss Is uull. vi HIS " Dt run at IL loss lie
cannot shut down, and lay out of interest
for Il shorter or longer time: his remedy
is to slaughter, or dispose of his flock,
and it takes many years for him to breed
up or replace the flock sacrificed when
wool growing again becomes profitable.
1t will take many more years for us to
increase our fOcks ten millions, han ii
does to slaughter or get rid of that num-
Der, and meantime the discouraging
nature of the business tells most serious
ly against the improvement of our sheep,
which tells against the breeders of stud
fiocks still more seriously. -.
The greatest hope of the wool grower at
this time is, in the sympathy and under
standing of his necessities by nearly all
of the manufacturers of woolens, and
their appreciation of the fact, that one
domestic industry cannot be sacrificed 10