Little Falls weekly transcript., 1894-11-02

"good Port Philip the value Of which
since August, 1898, with but temporary
exceptions, has been about Is cents in
, London.
Under the duty of II cents per pound
of the Mckinley law Ohio Xxx was
worth 3O1aa on March l, 1898, and only
/ 1915 cents today, or IS days after wool
! was put on the free list, and the inter-
mediate prices in the interval indicated
the anticipation or discounting Of the
free wool prices. Wool Of the same kind
and quality as Ohio Xxx in the London
market at this date is worth IS cents,
with tha difference against it and in
favor of the 'good Port Philip" that
the latter is skirted wool, whilo Ohio
Xxx is not That is to say, the inferior
and stained leg and belly pieces have
been torn off of the Australian fleece, SO
that it requires no further sorting. while
tho Ohio fleece, which contains these
pieces, involves the cost of asserting III
addition to some loss OH these inferior
parts.
Tone of the Market.
l.
arc easy and in buyers favor. Sellers,
in their efforts ito recover the trade of
those American mills that since the
passage of the free wool bill has been
transferred to foreign wool markets,
have offered concessions OH tho domestic
staple, and decline Of from 10 per
cent to rs per cent since the passage Of
the free wool bill has taken place on the
fine or merinO grades, but without hav
ing greatly increased the demand. The
contrast between busy woOlen HI $ and
dull wool market with falling prices
is ono of the first fruits Of the repeal Of
the duty OH wool. Many manufacturers
who previous to the putting of wool on
tho free list were using American wool
exclusively are now using foreign.
Others are now using foreign woods
to mix with domestic who heretofore
wore using the latter exclusively, so
that the promised increased use Of do
mestic wool for mixing purposes has not
; been fulfilled, but the latter has been so
far displaced by the use Of foreign that
concessions in prices have been neces'
sary on some grades to place them on
even terms with foreign. Thus we find
under the free wool bill the only declin-
ing wool markets in the world are in
the United States, and the advancing
markets are foreign markets. Domestic
woods have declined at q time when the
American mills are the only mills in the
world that are really crowded with or
ders.
The London Auctions.
The London wool auctions which
opened on the 18th ult. have been in
operation for 10 days. During this time
the competition has been good. The
cleaner and moro desirable qualities
suitable for America have advanced 8
per cent. 1t is estimated that less than
10 per cent Of the amount sold is of that
GLASS and the prices obtained for the re-
manning 90 per cent have been without
change since July. The daily with
drawals have been heavy. 1t is assumed
that if tho lots which were withdrawn
had been sold tho market would not
havo been sustained. Tho sales have
been disappointment in that tho OK
pectcd advance of 20 per cent has not
been realized. At tho Antwerp Scptcm-
Der sales of South American fine wools
only 80 per cent of tho cntiro offerings
were sold. This, coupled with the large
withdrawals from the London auctions,
together with the we'll known over
stocked condition Of tho leading wool
markets Of Europe, is discOuraginy to
holders Of the American staple most Of
whom looked for a considerable advance
in the markets of the world to reverse
the downward tendency of American
prices, which, as will ho seen by the
diagram, has been almost uninterrupted
for :, years.
, Woo! Prices March l. 1898. and Oct. I. 1894.
in response to almost daily requests
f)r u comparison of prices of American
wool on March /, 1898, with Oct. |,
1894, and for comparison of prices on
Aug. q, 1894 (the day wool was put
on the free list, with prices Of today,
wa have prepared tho following table:
Prices current on March /, 1898, were
those under tho Mckinley law before its
protective influences were impaired Ivy
threatened repeal, which was the case
almost immediately afterward. Tho date
of Aug. 81 was selected for comparison
with tho present time in order to show
how far free wool has depressed the
price Of American wool during tho 35
days that foreign wool has been free of
duty. Oar quotations Of today are even
higher than some of the other eastern
wool market reports would indicate, so
that the average decline of more than
per cent in American wool since tho
duties We're removed is less than half
Of the extreme decline OH the mcrino
qualities which comprise thrce-fourths
If the whole American wool product
It will be noticed that, whilo the aver
sge decline in - months has been over