The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-09-22
Special Dispatch to tho Intel,Irencer.

speaker was Mr.. Charles Burdctt Hart.
He was received with great enthusiasm
and held the str!ctcst attention OF his
auditors. His speech made deep I'm
preston. the results OF which will be
manifested ut the polls In November.
Mr.. Harts opening remarks were con-
fined TO n convincing discussion of the
money question. after which he took
up the subject OF sheep and wool. lie
spoke In part. as follows:
Four years ago the wool growers Of
the United States were urged to vote
for free wool. They were told that II
they would put In power the party that
championed free wool. the price Of their
wool would 30 up. Some very high fig
ures were set. Forty cents 4 pound was
II favorite figure with our Democratic
| friends. That waSv cry attractive. Your
wool was then bringing you about 2S
cents a pound on the average for ny
and above, the standard wool OF our
Panhandle counties. Some wool grow
ers took the butt. and voted 10 advance
the price OF their product by taking
the duty on II.
For one | was convinced tina: our
countrymen OF the free wool way OF
| thinking were mistaken. Their theory
was against all reason and all expert
ence. ! could not see how It was pos
siblc 20 make n man taller by making
| him shorter. Knowing what the wool
| Industry was 10 my own state, desiring
10 see West VirgInln's sheep increase
| In nlFOhpr hkll9Ilaa In t,Nan
| unsuited 10 cultivation. / did what
could with voice and plea 20 dIsSuadc
| my fellow citizens In West Virginia
| from sharpening the butchers knife
| for the sheep OF West Virginia.
l devoted myself especially TO a dis
cuSsion OF the wool question, for | felt
that II presented 10 our state the
threat Of q special peril. ! predicted.
in the event OF the triumph OF the party
| OF free wool. exactly what has come
to pass. 1t could not have been 9TH
erwiSe.
Protectionist Prophecies Verified.
There was no chance to advance the
price Of American wool BY placing 1t
on the dead level OF competition with
the wool OF the world There was ab-
soIate certainty that the removal OF
the duty would knock down the price
OF wool, cut the value OF the sheep and
send them by the thousands To the
shambles. The verlhcnti0n OF protec-
zionist prophecies Is one OF the sadIeSt
chapters In the history OF any coun-
try. The loss TO the people OF the Uni
| ted States by reason Of free wool
reaches an aggregate so large as to be
almost beyond Erasping. When We
come TO pile millions on millions. we
have no familiar things TO measure by.
and We are likely 10 be lost In a maze
OF figures.
How West Virginia Is Struck.
Let us take some more modest fig
ures which tell how the revolution In
sheep husbandry has struck US here at
home.
Here IS bulletin JUS: issued by the
agricultural department in Washing
ton. The dry statistics plead elo-
! quently for the cause Of protection. So
| much as relates to our own state Is clo-
| quent enough and illustrates the whole.
| In the single matter OF the value Of
| farm animals West Virginia has been
| thrown back sixteen years. In 1896 We
have less wealth In farm animals than
wo had In 1851. We have S7,O00.00O less
| than we had In 1893, the year the pres
4 cnt administration and IT'S party went
into power For eight years West VIr-
ginia had been gaining In this respect
| For the three years just passed we
have been losing. and losing heavily
| We gained without free coinage. We
have lost under free trade. II we had
| time It would be worth while to take up
| each Item that touches West Virginia
| but the decline in the number and val
uc OF our sheep IS striking enough In
| Itself. In this industry, as natural to
| West Virginia as her mountains
are. We have gone back more than six
teen years. We have now fewer sheep
by 5000 than We had In 1850. and the
value is sol 900 less.
In 1893. the high water mark OF our
sheep husbnndry. We had In West Viz
ginia 326.GjI more sheep than we have
to-day. our present number being 5i4.-
1S3. The value has fallen from s2,5l9, ,253
to $S9t.2Sl. The direct money loss. ac-
cordnG to this official estimate. Is
81 GA. .a7g-a very heavy blow to fall on
a single branch az our farming indus
| try. II there be any fault TO flnd with
these official figures II Is that probably
they are on the side OF conservatism.
The Pnn-IInndIo Counties.
In the Panhandle counties we had
100000 sheep, averaging five pounds
to tho fleece. and yielding an annual
clip OF 100000 pounds OF wool At an
average price of IS cents pound this
brought TO our farmers sl.4OOOOO. Val
using the sheep nj 81 n head--ccrtainly
n law valuation-thcy were worth
s3OOQ,O00. Have We half as many sheep
| Iy. l..
1892? h do not think 80. 1t Is doubtful
whether We have more than third as
| many.
Let uS place the number at onc-halt.
100000 sheep. At the same average per
fleece they yielded this year $500. 900
pound8 OF wool Shall we multiply the
number of pounds by the former price
to see what the whole clip brought?
wish We could. Fifteen cents IL above
the average price for this seasons clip.
| At thiH ia:c tho wool OF the Pan -huHdle
brought S37b,00O Instead of $l.lO00OO, Il
dead loss 10 our farmers and to the
whole community of more than Il mill
ion dollars IN this ono year.
II the 100000 sheep be valued Mt s. so
n hend--some OF you have sold them
for very much lcss-the ilocis will
have present market value OF Si,.5O,-
0OO u IL very doubtful whether they
would pcll for that. Under protection
the ilOcks on the same lands were
worth $3,0000OO.
| II may be said that the loss In the
numbsr Of sheep In not loss that
comes every day. II we take Into NC
count the resulting loss IN the number
OF lambs for sale, think We mny count
the missing sheep as mn annual loss.
The aggregate loss to our own neigh
borifOod viii then run UP to $2,775,O0O
] for this year. Whether that loss be