The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1891-07-03

The low price OF Michigan wool, IN,
statement that IL Is stuffed more than IN,
wool OF other states. intinatng that Michi
gan farmers are nmre dishonest than tn,
farmers of other states, and the reasons fol
such state OF affairs, are problems thai
have been bothering some of the farmers
the buyers and the state press for some
time. A. III. Whitehead. one of the states
veteran wool buyers and prominent
Lansing business man, solves the puzzle fOi
his own ediicati0n as follows:
Yes, 1t is quite true" he said this morn
ing, Michigan farmers do stuff their wool,
and during few years past it has become
quite general: and naturally, too. 1t Is due
just as much 10 the buyers as to the farmers,
if not more So Michigan has been yearly
afflicted with commission men, buyers for
eastern firms, who have been very careless
as TO what they buy and have totally ignored
the stuffing and tags i'm the wool. This
know from experience, and the reason for
such action is easily conjectured. Well,
one farmer stuffs his wool and sells it for as
much as his neighbours clean wool is sold
for. The next season the neighbor won't
clean his wool as he sees he gains nothing
by il. Thus it has spread among the farm
ers, the commission men buying wool, tags
and stuffing Unfortunately, encouraging
the dishonesty to such an extent that it has
almost come to be an exception where the
wool is not stuffed. The eastern firms OH
receiving this wool have gradually learned
to distrust the Michigan product, and have
made allowance for it in price"
But it is stated that Ohio and Pennsyl-
van.a markets are three cents more "A pound
than Michigan wool of the same grade. DO
you mean to say that all this dishonesty
is confined to Michigan, or at least excluded
from Ohio and Pennsylvania
'Ohio wool always brings little more
than Michigan WOOL" was the response
Il presume it is owing to the climate that
their wool is longer; but while Ohio and
Pennsylvania may not be free from stuffing,
still don't suppose they are afflicted TO
such gripping extent, as Michigan has the
most commission men. Last year i'm Michi-
gan wool alone there was 1000. 600 pounds
of taggy WOOL no wonder confidence in
Michigan wool is somewhat shaken. l
bought a clip Oh Saturday, and wrapped up
inside the fieeces of washed wool | found
cut pets, shaggy and dirty Luckily dis
covered it in time to make the farmer re-
fund a part of his money. So it goes good
share of the time. This year we have no
commission men and the farmers will have
to suffer for their tags and stuffing, as men
and will examine the clip closely.
'Other reasons for the low price of wool
are because of a stringency in the money
market, and because when it was assured
that the Mckinley bill was to pass, millions
of pounds of Australian and other woods
were rushed into the United States. This
has not been used yet, but when il has you
will see the price of wool take boom. The
heavy supply of all cloths on hand, too, has
had something to do with it. l received an
advice from Boston this morning that
delaine and combing woods would fall two
or three cents pound in few days. 1t is
all due to a stagnation In the market caused
by the heavy supply of Australian wool, the
heavy supply of cloth OH hand, the strin-
gency in the money market, and lastly the
stuffing of wool. which we hope to do away
with if commission men will keep out of the
market for two or three years. State Re-
publican.