Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1894-01-04

but l have been in the sheep business
my present location for twelve
years and, until July, 1898. / never
paid a herder nor a ranch hand less
than $40 per month. With free tim
Der for buildings and fences, distance
of eighteen to twenty-five miles for
every stick of it to be hauled, at these
wages the cost has been enormous
We have not only paid herders and
ranch hands the 'going wages" but
we have annually paid the shearing
crews 10 cents and later 8 cents per
head to get the wool off our sheep.
We have paid freighters at the rate
of one cent per pound per 100 miles
to take our wool to the railroad and
bring back our supplies. Our money
has gone to the grocer, the clothier
and the shoemaker in town, and from
that point has been distributed to
the man of the baling press, the rail-
road and the commission man. /
challenge the editor of the Democrat
to show an industry that has dis
tributed its revenues through more
channels, done more to develop Fer
gus county and been more appreciated
by the people of this country than
the sheep industry. Oftentimes we
are forced to buy grain and vegetables.
And w have bought sawed lumber by
many thousands of feet. We think
our patrons are feeling this present
depression with us. The owner of a
Fergus county sawmill told me not
long since that he had sgone down
with the sheep men" and sold his mill.
In the light of the Democrats effusion
on free material, such a statement
seems marvellous, since he was getting
his timber for saving free of cost.
To get out of our fiocks all that We
might, reduce loss to a minimum and
insure a liberal increase, we have been
obliged to invest capital with a gener-
Gus hand and far beyond what is
guaranteed by the production of wool
alone, or in competition with that
raised in countries whose economical
and natural conditions are so radi-
cally different from ours. There are
those OF. us who can look back to the
time when there were no sheep in
Montana, who have seer the ranges
utilized, the country settled, COM
merce developed, prosperity made to
blossom on barren prairies and hills,
and have been glad to take an humble
part in the great work which has gone
on under a protective tariff.
How many cases can the Democrat
mention where sheepmen have actually
failed? Have not they as a class
withstood a most severe shock the
past season? Ourpoint of contention
is that wool annot profitably be
raised here with the removal of the
tariff entire. We claim that our ex
penses are enormous compared to the
expenses of the grower in such coun-
tries as Australia and South America.
There they have to make no such pro-
visions for the protection OF their
focks against the climate. Our wages
paid have been proportional to our
profits and are infinitely more than
those paid Ill the wool producing
Countries mentioned. 1 put a fair
question to the editor of the Demo.
crat.
If We have enjoyed a protection
duty on our wool to the extent that
amounts to ''little less than highway
robbery" why can not the sheepmer
at least pay their running expense,
out of that wool? And will he kindly
furnish us a list of the woolgrowers o
Fergus county who do successful,
run their business from the proceed
of their wool alone, or who feel tina
they car do so with the total II mova
of the present duty on wool.
We we're taught in 1850, 1886 an,
1892 that our flocks needed protee
ton from storms or they would b
subject to almost determination. w
cannot turn them lose on the rang
; like cattle and stop further expens
; until spring. The protection thus al
, forded by shelter and feed is obtaine'
at the cost pure and simple of tn
labor involved to secure it.
u With the reduction of our wool tt
half it's former value, from 1S@16c
to 9@sc., the price it can be raise'
for in Australia and shipped to GU
seaboard, our employees must suffer
similar reduction and work for $500
$17.5O per month. And for what
To save rs cents on a suit of clothes
better than the majority of then
wear. And i'm fact have one dollar Il
buy it with where they formerly hat
two dollars.
Tear down the Mckinley wall o
protection to America. Throw GU
seaports open to the free trade of the
world! Free trade has made England
great. 1t must make America great
But England has grown rich by pilfer
ing the wealth of her colonies to fill
her own Golfers. Her m~ercenariei
guard her East Indian subjects, who
vainly lament the riches borne away
by the greatest navy of the world