The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-04-12
Hon. William L. Wilson Exposes
the DiRgiey WoOl Schedule.
HIGH Prizes, CHEAP GOODS
The sheep d stry Steadily Decrea .
ing In Spite of PrOtection-The
Dingley Tnriff Means Increased
Cost 10 tie American People and
Poorer Qaality of Goods.


Wilson has prepared a long statement on
the wooleA schedule OF the Dingley bill
in which he says its effect. if enacted
into law, viii be to increase iLIlnedi at,sly
the cost ana degrade the quality OF the
woolen goods aad So-called wooden goods
consumed by the American people. To
suppose that they viii quietly sablnit TO
such oppression and wrong, he says, lis
TO ignore all past experience and TO un-
derrate their intelligence" Cont nuing
Mr.. Wilson says:
From the famous compact OF 1867 be-
tween the associations OF wool grow
ers and wool manufacturers, which die
tated the tariff duties OF that year, down
to 1894 Congress has, without regard
TO public revenue or 70 the interests OF
consumers, allowed these associa u ons
TO frame their own schedules. This they
have done In such language and with such
rates as they believed most protective Of
their Interests.
When Mr- Mckinley presented the CON
ference report ON the bill or 1880 in the
House, he said OF its wooden schedule:
This schedule has the hearty approval OF
the National Wool Growers Association
and of the several State associations
throughout the country.
1T was lanIe ana again proved in the
debates of Congress that the president
OF the NatiUEal Association OF Wool Man
ufacturers am other interested parties
had framed the separate clauses by which
their own prOuucJS were protected, the
propositions submitted by them to the com
mittee atils hearings reappearing verbatim
IN the bill as reported.
There is no acJuary in the whole coun-
try who can compute the amount OF boun-
ties which during the twenty-seven years
following the tariff OF 1867 were exacted
from consumers OF wooden and partly wool
en- goods for the benefit of wool growers
and manufacturers, nor the number OF
those who fell as victims to consumption,
pneumonia, gcip aad like diseases. or whose
earning power was lessened because or
their inability to supply themselves with
genuine and needful wooden clothing by
reason of the immense increase, through
tariff taxes, of that plain necessary of life
Yet with all these untold bounties, with
these mnuga0ered victims Of death and dis
ease as the annual tribute eXac1ed from
the American people, we never suoceededin
producing more than 0ne-haif OF the wool
needed for consumption in the United
States.
"There was not as much wool raised in
1894 as in 1884 There were fewer sheep
an the country in 1893 than in 1883.
Under the operation of the tariff in 1867,
made by aud for themselves alone, and
90 which the Wool Growers Association
now point as the tariff which offered
them ample protection there were
fewer sheep in 1850 than in 1870
with hides, a more valuable product than
wool, on the free list, and very large
export for foreign markets, and foreign
competition of 10th live animals and beef
products, the number of cattle increased
from 15.O00,C00 in 1870 TO 36,o00,-
600 in 1894. With a large and growing
export of hog products for like consunIp-
tion, the number of swine increased from
26. 1000 .oGa to 45,oOo.000 in the same
perod, Rorses doubled in numbers. Yet,
with all the pampering and protecting
legislation that Kelfinterest could devise,
the number OF sheep increased less than
z250 900, or from 4o.S63,000 to 45,-
048, 900.
aSadmithedby Mfr. Lawrence, OF Ohio,
In his recent statement before the Dingley
committee, that we need today, to yield all
the wool thaJis required for consumption in
this country, 1850, ,595 more sheep, and
he advocated return TO the tariff OF l867
70 bring about this increase in our flocks.
when, at the above rate OF progress, even
Tatt and
our consumption OF wool continued scant
and insufficient, can we expect to attain
such an incredse2
Moreover, Mr.. Lawrence counts only nine
pounds annually of unwashed wOOl-enOugh
for two or three pounds of cloth, according
20 quality, as our full need per head OF pop
ulation, ana this beggarly quota is to sup
ply us with woolen clothing, underwear,
blankets, carpets, felt hats and all other
wooden goods, and when this product OF
nine pounds per capita is reached he de-
Inands tariff prohiht0ry of the importa-
tion of any foreign woods whatever, so
loug as nerican woods command no more
than the most ample prices to reward cap
fsal invested and services rendered in wool
production
sI,etus take Mr Lawrence's own State OF
Ohio. whose shepherds have been most
Clamorous for wool duties, extreme or
prohibitory, through all the tariff changes.
In 1868 that that State had $780, 600
sheen: in 1880, 1850, 900; in 1890, g.
e43, 900; in 1894, 3,765,704, and this
steady decline was under protection die
tated by its own wool-growers- The num-
her has fallen until il shows less than one
eheep per head Of population. At five and
one-half pounds of wool per sheep the
present Ohio product would he less than
&c, ,ooO 600 pounds.
tConceding the claim that the duty on
wool proposed in the Dingley bill will
raise the price Of this wool 10 cents
pound, in face OF the fact that under the
same duty in the Mckinley bill the price
OF Ohio wuol steadily declined, fine
washed fleece. bringing in the Boston
market 80 cents in $50 and % cents in
1892, the benefft secured TO Ohio wool
growers would be 50 900 .000-by taxes
transferred by law from the pockets of
consumers TO their pockets
'If now we estimate that the 1000, 900
population OF Ohio, with it's somewhat
rigorous climate, consume at present prices
an average OF $40 worth of woolenc clothing
snd of ali other fabrics of wool annually,
we have the sum OF Sac, ,oo0, 600 as their
annual expenditure
Until the Ohio shepherd can prevail on
Mr. Dingley TO prohibit the coming of wool
from Texas, California, Oregon, Wyom-
ing. Montana, and New Mexico he will not
ne able to contribute under any tariff di-
rected merely against the woods OF Aus
tralia, Argentina, and China to the inn
rnense vacuum in our whole nrodu.t. as