The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-06-28
WOOL PRICES AND PROSPECTS.

The Republican sheet which has be-
come so notorious for its unrelia bility.
has made great exertions to impress
on the minds of the public generally
and the sheep owners in particular,
that the wool industry has been
ruined and the sheep industry has
been killed by the Democratic
party. That is to say, that free wool
is responsible for great trouble and
loss and is therefore something to be
denounced and repUdiated as soon as
possible by the American people.
We have a few facts to present
which are of much more value than
reckless assertions and infammatory
expletives. When the clipping season
commenced The Herald advised flock
owners not to be in a hurry about
selling their wool. 1t informed them
buyers were bearing the market. That
in little while prices would go up
and that it would be folly to rush
their clips into the hands of the spec
ulators who were urging immediate
sales.
Our deceptive contemporary really
encouraged the sale of wool early in
the season by its continual assertions
that the Democratic party had COM
pletely smashed the wool market.
That foreign wool could be laid down
in the United States at so low a figure
that American sheep men had no
chance whatever to compete with it.
A number of our wool men sold their
fleeces, realizing but from five and
three-quarter cents to seven and a
quarter cents pound
Others, however, guided by The
Herald, many of them being Demo-
Gratis, determined to hold on to their
wool until better prices should rule in
the market. The forecast made in
this paper locally and editorially has
been realized. Recently the Deseret
Live Stock Company sold three hun
bred thousand pounds at $9.121s per
hundred. Hon. John c. Mackay a few
days ago sold three thousand pounds
for $3.50 per hundred. We are in
formed that first class staple wool
now commands 10 cents a pound in
this market.
Now, we do not say that this price
is as high as it should be to make
good profits to wool growers, taking
into consideration the losses that fire.
quently occur. But it is sufficient,
taken with the increase of sheep, to
furnish very good returns, and if
70 oil
would be handsome and far above
those that accrue from most indus
tries.
We are informed that the lamb in
crease in Wyoming and Utah this
year averages one hundred and four
per cent. on the ewes. Sheep are in
excellent condition. Renters are able
to pay the percentage contracted for,
which is usually one and a half
pounds of wool per head and ten per
cent. increase on the old stock, which
is TO be kept good.
OF what use is it for Republican
sheets to proclaim to the public that
the sheep industry is killed" that
the wool industry is smashed" and
that free wool has proved a national
disaster? The dreaded Australian
wool cannot be purchased in the Bos-
ton market as low as the prices of our
territorial woods, and the kind that is
imported ranks far above them in
market value and is different in tex
ture.
American wool growers are doing
very well, and doubtless will do
better because the wooden industry is
increasing, creating a greater demand
for the raw material. At the same
time the prices of wooden goods have
been greatly cheapened, thus benefit
ing millions of the population, while
the reduction in the price of native
woods, even if that is consequence of
the new tariff, only affects a very
small number of people in COMPARE
son.
Taking the sheep industry in this
region as it now
stands, it is more profitable by far
than horse-breeding for the market.