The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-07-06

NEw YOHK, July 5,-The american
Eeoaenia will publish the following to-
morrow
The following letter from an intelll'
gent Michigan man, not wool grower
ormanuiaeturer, is a specimen OF many
inquiries, and our reply may, therefore,
answer many,
REED oIFY, Mich, June 10, 1903.
RdiloF american EeORom5t;
"rhe following items were published
in osceola County Democrat ut Reed
City Mich, The one from the Big Rap
ids Herald lin an adjoining county, with
out comment, and the other the editor
OF the Democratic own production;
Farmers are unloadl The wool season. may
ing their wool thlslbe considered fairly
spring at from tWelyelOpened In this section,
% seventeen cents, audIahd from u TO - cents
mud dealers not pnrtic- llor washed aud from "
ularly anxious 70 buy'tO l6oeuts for unWashed
even Of those uupre- arc the prices paid;
eedentedly low Urlces, Very low prices prevail
Hence their iaGes areeyerywhere In the state,
longer than the En0r6llThe prices quoted Tor
law Ask one OF themlthe choicest washed in
wheIe are the big prices Grand Rapids is 20 cents
the Mckinley law gives u pbpnd d, against twenty
them. and II he Is Re. seven aud thirty cents
publican you Woulda year ago, from 10
sooner explode q stickto 20 cents Is the price
OF dynamite under afor ordinary washed
bnrnl MecOsta c0untyand FROM TO 10 t0r un-
flrmefs.Yoled by sever washed tleeceA-O se,od
alhundred majority for County Democrat, Red
Protection They are Ciy, Aich, June u, 1893
getting it-Big Rapids
lisTcld
Now, want, you TO answer one or
both Of these articles."
The newspaper extracts are good SAM
Piles OF the free trade style OF saying TO
people: "You have been cheated Don't
you seep We knew you would be-"
Granting, for the arguments sake,
the Democrats statement OF wool prices
correct, why the change and decreased
A year ago the Mckinley tariff, pro-
tective in its wool duties, was In force,
and was expected TO last for years, but
now its permanence is doubtful, and
free wool 10 expected, hence the fall in
price.
But this may be called a narrow and
local answer, leaving unexplained the
fact Of low prices for wool, coming
down for years, the wide world over-a
fall which neither protection nor free
trade can avert, but from the full
weight Of which protection has and can
give US shelter.
Tho reason for this is plain. From
1887 10 1891 the world's wool product
increased from 1888, $4,000 pounds to
2,456, 7fS,600 pounds, or over % per
cent, an increase beyond the increase
OF the worlds consumption, and there
fore tending'to lower the price.
To this result Australia largely con.
trihuted by an increase Of sheep from
49,773,5S4 in 1871 to l14,62S,60I in 1891,
more than doubling their immense
focks in these years, and increasing
their wool exports50 per cent from 1881
to 1891, with range OF pasturage unlim.
tied, at tmall cost and labor Of herds.
men at low wages.
The effect on prices can best be seen
in the London wool market-the
worlds great mart for this great pro-
duct from every cline. In 1872 the Az
eraqe price there for sfx leading kinds
OF wool-St. Philip, Adelaide, Buenos
Ayres, &c.-was as follows: 25f pence,
15f pence, l2h pence, Ia pence, n
1871 pence per pound, the penny being
about two cents. In 1891 those woods
averaged 14a pence, 10 pence, Of pence,
81 pence, 5 pence, pence fall OF 40
per cent in 10 years.
This fall Of prices in London no ma.
tional legislation of ours could help or
hinder.
Has our protection OF wool in the Nc.
Kinley and other tariffs helped to shield
the wool grower from Its full effect, and
thus been real benefit to him and to
the country?