The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1897-04-10
WOOL AND THE TARIFF.

aCUlOn.
WOOL AND THE TARIFF.
The Chicago Tribune, one OF the
staunchest protection journals in the
| country, takes a correct view of the
effect the Dingley wool schedule will
have upon the price of that staple, and
,ruthfully shows what disappointment
wool raisers will meet with should that
schedule remain unchanged when the
| bill becomes law. Commenting on
the wool schedule in the Dingley bill
as it passed the house, the Tribune
says:
"The committee on ways and means
has managed somehow to hit on wool
duties which disatisfy everybody. Al
| though those duties are higher by
10 per cent on the average than those
of the Mckinley law, the Ohio ram
raisers sceff at them and say they are
not, half high enough. Nothing will
| satify them short of duties which will
keep out foreign wool and bounty on
| the home grown-article which will
make it bring the producer 60 cents
pound.
ssThe committees schedule is often
| sive to the manufacturers, for If it be-
comes the law, they will be limited
| practically to the use of few out OF
the many kinds of foreign wool they
must have at their command if they are
going to compete with the foreign
mills in the manufacture of all the diff
| ferent varieties of wooden goods.
''The manufacturers recognizing the
need of revnue will not find fault ii low
duties are put on wool. But they do
protest against duties which will force
| them either to raise the prices of their
| goods to a high figure or to charge for
| goods adulterated with cotton. cows
hair, and DEVILS dust little more
than they charge now for all wool fab
ric.
"All those republicans who remem-
/
befell the party on account Of it, are
| justly alarmed when they see on the
committee on ways and means bour-
| bons who remember the disastrous
schedules Of 1890, but who seem to
have forgotten the efeats those sche-
dulles led up to.
"When the duties on wool were
raised 20 to 40 per cent in 1890 the
woolraisers of the United States were
told that they were going to get better
prices for their fleeces. They waited
hopefully for those better prices, but
they did not come. When the pro-
ducers became impatient they were
told big stocks of wool had been i'm
ported in anticipation of the higher
duties, and that when those stocks had
been worked off everything would be
all right.
"Those stocks were worked off, but
prices of American wool fell instead of
rising. II sold for less under the high
duties of 1890 than the lower duties of
1885. The price of wool outside the
Uuited States had fallen greatly,
owing to the enormous Australian
production. Heavy surpluses had ac-
cumul2ted and they helped to force
down the price. That of the American
product could not be kept up when
there was such decline outside.
"The sheepraisers, however, es-
pecially those who had free pasturing
on government lands, added to the
numbers of their flocks. Soon they
began shipping tons of mutton to the
East, thus compelling the sheepraisers
of that section to take lower prices for
their meat. The latter finding them
selves getting less for their wool and
their Amutton than they did prior to
1890, contributed with their votes to
the defeat of the republican party in
the fall of that year.
"Very likely there are men with
focks of sheep who believe that if
wool, on the free list now, is made to
pay a duty of II or II cents a pound,
they will get that much more for their
clip.LIt will not take them long to
discover their mistake. A years sup
ply of wool will be imported before
new tariff law can be enacted. Then
when that has been wooked off the
manufacturers will use more adulter-
ants. The supply of domestic wool
will increase, but not the demand.
Hence no advance in price need be
expected.
"More mutton will be sent east and
eastern sheepgrowers will get less for
their mutton. All the unpleasant
things that happened six years ago
republican defeat included-may be
looked for in 1898.
'"The senate should have wisdom
enough to rewrite this wool and WOOL
ems schedule or the republican party |
will have both producer and consul
mers on it's back, rs when it went mad |
over wool in 1890. If not, there will |
be political storms in 1898 and l900."