The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1893-01-07
HOW WOOL IS PROTECTED
THE HIGHER THE TARIFF THE LESS
THE WOOL GROWER GETS.

sherman and Thomas Dolan. the Man
ufacturer Of Woolens-The Dilemma
Presented to Major Mckinley.
High tariffs on wool affect the price OF
domestic wool in two ways. On the M
hand they restrict the importation OF
tine wools to mix with our medium
woods in making fine goods, and thus
invite the importation Of the goods
themselves. In this way the demand
for our medium woods is decreased and
their price goes down. On the other
hand high tariffs SO enhance the price of
goods that there is a constant tempta-
ton to use shoddy and other bogus ma
terials in wooden manufacture. This
also decreases the demand for wool and
lowers its price. To such an extent is
shoddy used now that it is a common
remark among wooden manufacturers
today that all wool goods are the excep
ton and not the rule; that in fact the
greatest advancement in the wooden in.
dustry during the past ten years has
been in machinery and methods for the
working of shoddy and other bogus ma
terials.
Hence it is that with every increase in
duties the price Of wool goes down.
Senator Allison recognized the truth
of the above when he said in 1870 during
the debate on the wool duties: Il allude
to the wool tariff, a law the effect Of
which has been materially to injure the
sheep husbandry of this country. AS
the law now is the tariff upon fine woods
of a character not produced in this
country is 100 per cent. on their cost.
Before the tariff of 1867 our manufac-
turers of fine goods mixed foreign fine
woods with u domestic product and
were thus able to compete successfully
with the foreign manufacturers of SINH
lar goods. But, being prohibited from
importing this class of woods, these fine
woods cannot 10Y be produced in this
country as cheaply as they can be i'm
ported. Consequently mills that were
formerly engaged in producing these
goods have been compelled to abandon
business OF manufacture the coarser fab
RIGS. If they could afford to manufac-
ture these fine goods they would make
a market which we do not now have, for
our fine woods to be mixed with other
fine woods of a different character from
abroad. The want of a market, as !
understand it, is the reason why our fine
woods now command so low d price,"
Senator Sherman expressed a similar
rrSnrry IN 1902 xryhnr, hD ~ns1 ,Sp~ @1,~
debate on the wool schedule: "In 1887
the price of wool was ffty-oue cents; in
1870, forty-six cents; in 1880, which was
an abnormal year, forty-eight cents.
This was the result Of the policy of pro-
tecting the wool grower, as it is in all
industries, to grs iually reduce the price.
Under the operation of the existing laws
(the tariff of 1862 the price Of wool has
gradually gone down."
Believing that the same thing would
occur again if the duties were raised,
The Manufacturer, the organ of the high
tariff Manufacturers club of Philadel-
phia, advocated an increase in the duties
on wool. In January, 1880, it said:
when the duties have gone up. prices
have gone down; when duties have de-
clined, prices have advanced. The 90
nestle manufacturer has always had an
abundance of superior fiber at low
prices under tariffs which imposed high
duties upon wool. and he is today paying
more for wool than he would have paid
if the defective t:.:iI law of 1888 admin
istered by a free trade administration
had not practically cut down the wool
duties" Aud on Oct. Is, 1880, after the
Mckinley tariff had gone into effect, it
expressed its satisfaction as follows:
1.-THE prices of wool have always de.
clined when the duties have been ad-
vanced, and no doubt exists in the mind
of any well informed man that they will
again decline now that the new tariff
has put the duties up"
1t seems that the editor had a good
pointer for the above prediction, for MI.
Dolan, the president of the club and its
representative at the conferences with
the wool growers at which the duties
were agreed upon, recently said: at is
An interesting fact, deserving much en-
phasis of statement, that the prices OF
wool are lower now than they were one
year ago. This result was distinctly
promised by protectionists during the
discussion which accompanied the fran.
ing Of the tariff bill"
No wonder that, in view Of the above,
Sherman and Mckinley are avoiding the
wool question in their attempts to justify
the new tariff.