The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-07
One Example Of
Free Trades Work
From the Timps-IeralI.


Very few people had any adequate con-
ception Of the magnitude Of the wool in
Gustry urder tAc customs law Of 1870.
1heIe We're ,JOU3O people whose principal
Industry was that OF growing wool There
Were probably ilIOu1 more who were
CwEers of small tlocks of sheep In the
United States. |; Is estimated that this
Industry employed. besides the owners of
rocks, at least half million laborers.
According to the industrial census of 1893
there were i.45i hlishmGrts engaged in
the manufacture o: wooden and worsicl
soCds, employing la.,Gi4 persons, 10 wAom
were paid in wages $l32,9T lo!. the value q!
the product Of these mills being estimat .d
At $o!2, i72,a9. The WILSON, -Goiman law re-
duced the tariff on wColen goods ana
'wors.ehs thi"ltHfIls and placed raw
wool on the free list.
FrCm 1890, when thc Mckinley tariff
tCck effect. unit! lSa5. under the Wilson
Corman tariff. the price o! wool. az shown
by the statistical abstract of the United
states declined nearly 80 per cent. Fine
WOO! which brought 81 cents per pound in
1890 brought only III. cents in January.
1895: medium wool fell from 81 cents to -
cents. and coarse wool from 81 cents to Is
cents per pound. The Mckinley tariff had
the effect to check the decline in the
price of wool in the United States, caused
by enormous production in other coUn-
tries, as compared with the decline else
where. Ii Gid this by checking the i'm
pOrta;lon of woolen goods manufactured
abroad. The importations of wool have
been as follows: 1891, l39.3l1,5Il pounds
in 1899, l7,7S4. 1870 pounds: In 1899 III. 752 6a3s
pounds; in 1894. ll5, 1876 $40 pounds. an aver
age of S3,6l7,Sl2 pounds per year under
In, -
importations We're 24S, $50 .211 pounds. valued
at s33,77Ol59, which is $l6.SlS,8S3 more than
the average value under protection. This
$l5slS, $50 represents the amount which the
Wilson law took from the pockets of the
American sheep growers in one year. The
imports of wooden cloths alone increased
from $6.lOi,793 in 1894 to So. PSI 66S in 1895.
The imports of dress goods increased from
S7.5i9522 in 1894 to So. 5l9. 1856 in 1895. Dur
ing the first nine months of the present t
fiscal year impor.ations of wooen goods
increased at such rapid rate that II was
estimated the value of these imortations
for the twelve months ending June 80,
1896, must have reached the sum of S57.
3l796O.
The reports of the department Of agricul-
ture at Washington show that there were
f,213O 900 sheep In the United States in 1899
valued al l2j,9G90O0. On the lst Of Jam
uGry, 1886, there were 3S. ,000 sheep in the
United States valued at $G5.0O0.O0o. a de-
crease of 9.000,OoO In the number of sheep
and of ,O99 in value. These figures
furnish an idea Of the loss to American
wool growers and manufacturers of wool
en- goods under the Wilson tariff law. The
excess Of imports Of raw wool and Of wool
represented in its manufactures, compar-
"a lp 81 nf 10 Np Il Ia n N Il
the first year under the Wilson-Gorman
tariff amounted In round numbers to the
enormous quantity of 3S,00G,0GG pounds
The question is between the home supply
and the foreign supply of the home de-
mand for WOODEN goods. The wool grow
ers and the manufacturers will decide in
November who shall supply this demand.