The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-04-06
The DUTY ON WOOL.

1t Has Not Been a Failure-Importations
of Wool Have Increased Because Our
own Production was Not Great Enough
to supply the Material for the Larger
Amount of WOODEN Goods Which the
Mckinley Bill Enabled Us to Manufac.
ture at Home.
In the North American Review for
February, the Hon. VIM. NJ. Springer,
chairman of the ways and means COM
! mittee, in his article on "How to Attack
the Tariff, makes the following state
ments:
'"The imports of wool for the ten months end
ing October 30, 1890 1.-THE Mckinley bill took ef.
feet October g. $780, amounted TO ss,O0O0CO
pounds, while the imports for the ten months
ending October 30, 1891 the ten months next
/ after the passage of that bill-were over 49,
| 100000 pounds, an increase of over 30 per GEN.
| tum.
For the ten months ending October 30, 1890,
the imports OF wooden goods were valued at over
| Si9,00000O, while those for the ten months end.
ing October 30, 1891 were valued at only S29 OOO,
| 900, decrease of over Al per centum. II also
| appears that the price Of wool has averaged
from two to three cents pound less since the
passage of the Mckinley bill than it was when
| the bill passed
| The conditions described by Mr..
Springer for October remained practical
ly unch anged till December In consid-
ering his figures we shall extend the
comparison over the whole year, ending
months ending October 80. We will thus
have the advantage of later figures and
whole calendar year, while the phe-
nomena he mentions will appear with
out material change.
1t is true that during the last calendar
year our imports of raw woods of all
kinds were greater than in 1890 by 3d.
636, 800 pounds, about the rate of in
crease given by Mr.. Springer. This is
the fact that seems to puzzle our CORE
spondent 1t ought not to.
The United States consumes an
nually about 900, 600, 900 pounds of raw
WOOL We grow about one.half of this
quantity, or 800, 900, 900 pounds, and i'm
port all the rest. Some of it, about
100, 900, 900 pounds, we have been in the
habit of importing in an unmanufac'
tured form, and importing the rest IN a
manufactured form as wooden goods
The trainers of the Mckinley law saw
that the great evil they had to remedy
was the importation of woolens, which
not only displace American wool just
as really as do importation of raw wool
but also the labor which should receive
employment making the imported ar
ticle here. 'If we do not grow WOO
enough for our own use," they said
then let us import the raw wool in
stead of the finished product and sc
give work to our own people instead Of
to foreigners They aimed at the 200,
900, 600 pounds imported as wooden
goods rather than at the 100, 900, O0l
pounds of imported raw wool. As ;
matter of fact the increase in the tariff
on woods was immaterial. A uniform
rate of II cents a pound was substi
tuted for the two rates of 10 and l:
cents on unwashed clothing WOO
(class ~; uniform rate of 10 cents in
stead of two rates of 10 and 12 OIL
combing woods (class II.
The slight decline in American WOO
prices during the last year or two ha.
been due to downward movement
throughout the world, caused by an i'm
mense expansion in production in near
ly all wool-growing countries. The
good effect of the tariff in shielding oul
farmers from this worldwide fall il
prices appears in the fact that from
January 4, 1890, to February 6, 1892
wool fell in the London market 10 pei
cent. on an average, and only ~ pei
cent in this country between the same
dates. 1t would be equivalent to fall
of 81 cents pound on a pound of WOO
worth 23 cents, as against l cent OF
wool of the same price in this country
not 2 to cents, as Mr. Springer says