The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1893-12-24
THE WOOL QUESTION.

the policy Of increasing the duty upor
the foreign article. That policy wa!
. entered upon in 1867 The theory was
that the tariff tax would make the
cost of the raw material greater and
this would benefit the wool-grower
therefore the tax on foreign cloth wa.
raised to compensate the home manu-
facturer. Thus the consumer was com
pelled to pay both the additional cost
of the raw material and of the manu-
featured article. Protection is always
for the classes and against the masses.
Another feature of the Republican
protective policy has been to place a
higher proportionate duty upon the
cheaper kinds of goods than upon the
dearer. BY this means not only are
the consumers taxed for the benefit OF
the producers-the many for the few
but the poorer among them are taxed
porportionally higher than the richer
liz that they are the purchasers of the
Icheaper but more highly taxed articles
But the theory that the high tariff
would benefit the sheep men did not
work that way 1t tended to cripple
manufactures so that the demand for
the kinds of wool grown in this coun-
try decreased. What was the conse-
quence? Why the price of domestic
wool dropped every year. In 1857, when
the high tariff policy was entered upon,
fine domestic wool brought an average
of IS cents a pound in the eastern mar
ket. In 1869 it was down to so cents;
in 1873 it took a rise and then went
down gradually until in 1879 it reached
"a cents. That was under the highest
tariff known to the country until the
passage of the Mckinley bill
Every Wool-grower in Utah knows
that since the passage of the Mckinley
law the price of domestic wool has de-
clined, until the bottom dropped out of
the market under the full operations of
that law during the past summer, and
which is yet in undininished force.
Let it be understood The Herald does
not ascribe all the fluctuations in the
wool market to the tariff. We only cite
these facts to show that the theory of
a high price for domestic wool as the
necessary result of high tariff on the
foreign article, does not work There
fore the argument that free wool must
bring down the price of the domestic
product is not tenable
The cry will be raised in answer to
this. why. the very fear of free wool
brought the big reduction and if the
fear of it will do that, what will be the
result Of the reality?'' Well, that is all
speculation. Because the Republicans
frightened the dealers and manufacture
ers, and wool spectators took advant-
age OF the scare, does it follow that
all they held out in terrorem will come
to pass? Not at ALL
The charge that the Democratic party
want to ruin the West and to foster
nobody outside of an asylum for the
feeble minded should entertain it for
a monument. The papers that make it
know better. They know that as a
matter of fact the average Democrat
is as anxious for the welfare of the
country as is the average Republican,
and the difference of policy is caused
by a difference of opinion as to the
best way of reaching the desired re-
suit.
1t is believed by the promoters of
tariff reform, as exempIified in the Will
son bill, that the removal of the duty
from foreign wool will supply American
manufacturers with raw materials of
a class needed to mix with the home
product and that this will create a
greater demand for our native woods.
thus keeping them at q. fair figure At
the same time the reduction in the tar
iff on wooden goods will cause a reduc-
ton in the cost of such goods to the
consumer here, because dealers will
have to compete somewhat with the
foreign article. But the supply of free
raw material should compensate the |
for this and the result |
will be for the benefit of the masses
One of the evils of shutting out for
sign woods by the high tariff has been
the growth of the shoddy interest on |
the one hand, and a, paralysis of the |
genuine woolIen industry on the other. |
1t is no reply to this to say shoddy |
goods are also manufactured in Eng
and. In that country they are sold |
at very low prices and are known for
what they are. In this country they |
command as high prices as those for |
which genuine goods can be bought in
he old world. The effects of free raw
and the reduction Of the tariff
IN woollens ought to be the encourage
nent of the manufacture of genuine
,loths. at a price that will be reason
sbIe to the purchaser.
At present. while the wool producer
md the farmer have not been benefited
" the high tariff, they have had to
,ay through the nose for their wooden
# pretended wooden goods of all kinds.
Under a high tariff the farmer gets
ess for his wool and pays more for
lis clothes. A change was demanded. |,