Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1890-12-20
FOR FREE WOOL

A High Protection Paper Wants Free Wool
lit Warns the Wool Grower to stand
From Under-Jet the nufscturer A 50
Shell Out.
The Boston journal OF Commerce is q
high protection paper which does no,
believe in duty on wool In recent
number 1t comments on the westward
movement Of population as shown by
the census, and finds in that movement
'an exempliflcation of the course OF
settlement and development of coun-
try"
That course OF settlement and de-
velopment 1t describes In words which
1t quotes from somebody as follows:
After the hunter trapper and prospect
or, the berdsman follows, and for a
time the raising of cattle is the chief
industry. AS settlement becomes less
sparse, this is followed by agriculture.
which, in its turn, as the population be-
comes more dense, Is aucceeded by
manufactures
The Journal makes this the text
from which to read the wool grower q
lthsisi 'rsson 1ss.Here is an expression Of
4iacs. says, "thatis entirely ignored
I'by the wool-grower in his struggle
against the inevitable course of natural
events He is made to believe that
pioneer occupations can live and thrive
by the side of those that are fostered by
density of population and a more civil
lized order OF surroundings. 1t is be-
cause of these false ideas that cause
him to be constantly clamoring for Gov
ernment protection against the inroads
OF natural forces that denote social and
industrial progress"
In other words, Massachusetts wants
free wool for her mills, for she is smart
enough to see what great boon to her
industries free wool would be. The re-
cent election in that State, which re-
suited in Democratic majority in the
Congressional delegation of the State
for the first time in more than thirty
years, is an emphatic expression of the
New England demand for free raw ma
terials, above all for free wool.
1t will be only few years before
wool is entirely free. and then the 63,-
600, 900 people of this country will at
once have the advantage of cheaper and
better clothing-an advantage with
which the entire wool-growing industry
of the country does not for moment de-
serve to be compared. The wool product
Of the country does not amount to more
than two per cent. of our agricultural
products; and our native wool is con-.
siderably less than half of our yearly
consumption. In regard to our WOOL
growing industry, the one question
which always hits the bulls eye is,
why should $4,000, 600 people be made to
pay high tariff tax on wool for the
benefit of the insignificant number who
grow wool?
The Benton Journal of Commerce is
right; the duty on wool must go. But
the Journal as a protectionist paper and
on protection grounds, can not make
out a strong case against the WOOL
grower The latter has perfect right
to the same protectio that the journal
demands for the manufacturer, and
when the grower is put en- basis Of
competition with the whole world he
will not be thought unreasonable if he
asks that the manufactures should sur
render some of his protection also.
When the Journal cries out aga INST
the wool-grower for constantly clamor-
ing for Government protection against
the inroads of natural forces" it must
remember that the wool-grower is not
alone in that clamor. The tend
ency Of the time is toward the
cheapening of all manufactured
products as the result Of invention and
improved methods of manufactu and
transportation. When our manufact-
urers ask to be exempted from the play
of this cheapening tendency, they, too,
are "clamor.ng for Government protec-
tion against the inroads of natural
forces;" and it is only matter of simple
justice that when the emancipation of
industry commences the good work
should go forward along the whole line.
Let us have cheaper wool; but let us
also have cheaper coats--and no fear
that these cheaper coats will ''necessa-
rily involve cheaper man and woman
beneath the. coat" as our wise Presi-
dent has expressed it.