The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-03-07

They lInvC llrcn u Protection to tho Amer.
lean Fnrmrr-A frau Trader Knocked
Out.
M CaGt BWHm Tart, he B2ceinG htt2igeatr,
lIh"!t1g, ii'@, Virginia.
DEAR SiR:-Iours OF tho 2Sth ulto. is
received. have Just had time to
read tho letter Of MIR. WeIlcs in tho
Wheeling Register. lilo is evidently
ignorant OF the subject which ho dis
cusscs, and like Congressman Springer,
OF Illinois, selects such figures for
American wool as nro nearest to figures
abroad in order that no may make such
comparisons rs ploaso him, utterly
regardless OF tho fact that tho woods
which he is comparing arc not OF the
same kind and quality nor OF tho same
value.
Tho London price for secured merno,
q wool OF n No. COS quality is quoted in
London to-day at Spence. or l6c, shrink
ing 90 per cent. 1t has the skirts and
bellies trimmed OIL and is about such
wool MS NN Ohio and about such wool
as would make No. GO top like tho
sample OF top on exhibition in the office
OF tho lSTELLlGgSCER. This No. COS top
can be bought in England at from 3jc
to SIC. 10 make top like the sample ut
this price, akirted secured wool must
DO bought ut &c less than tho price OF
tops. In other words, secured, skirted
AN wool must be bought in the free
trade markets OF tho world at from Soc
to sc.
Now NN Ohio and West Virginia
washed fleece, to sell secured at from
80 to &c, would have 10 bring not ovor
10 or l6c in tho fleece. 1t would cost
all OF &c per pound to-day 10 ship 1t
from West Virginia farms to tho London
market, and il its value in London is
from 10 to l6c, tho price on the farm
would be not over lie for such wool US
for many years brought an average OF
3Oc on tho iarm during the happy pe-
Rod before Grover Cleveland disturbed
tho American wool market by his Of
lorts to destroy tho wool industry OF the
United States.
There is unlimited opportunity for
wool growers TO ascertain the accuracy
OF the above quotations i'll the London
market by sending some trial ship.
ments TO that market.
Any man that knows anything about
wool knows that Ohio and West Nir-
ginia tlceccs previous to 1861 were
lighter than the woods produced during
the past ten wears, and tho average
shrinkage previous to 1860 was under
10 per cent, while tho average shrink
age since 1880 has been in the neigh
borhoOd OF SO per cent, and when MIR.
Wclles undertakes to prove that woods
previous 10 1850 wasted over 50 per
cent. as is the case since 1890, he ex-
poses his utter ignorance on tho sub.
jcct OF the condition OF wool then and
now.
Ii he would consult the Hon. John
Mcdowell, OF Washington, he will find
that previous to 1850 washed fine wool
shrank u or 10 per cent less than the
same grades OF 1898. The actual secured
wool in the fleece is all that has Value
for comparison, and not tho grease that
goes down the stream.
Nevertheless. the fact remains that
American secured merino wool on
March l, 1898, was only ~! per cent
lower than the same grade OF wool
averaged from 1876 TO 1860, and foreign
wool OF the same kind and quality Was
over rs per cent lower in 1895 than its
value in the London market previous
to 1860, and this difference in favor of
the American farmer was wholly owing
to protection. Yours truly,
THEODORE JusTIcE.
Philadelphia, March 5, 1894.