Rocky Ford enterprise., 1897-03-25

other unwashcd woods. The argument
In support of this will be found in SEN
ate Document No. II. December. 1895,
pages II. ~, so. 9s. 173, and in Senate
Document No. II, December 2, 1896,
pages 11S. 1914. and still more fully In
my argument before the committee Of
ways and means, January 0. 1897,
which will be printed In the volumes
OF "TarIff Hearings" In brief, the ar
guments are:
| /. These woods used In the manufnc-
ture of clothing compete with Mcrino
and Down wools. This was not the
case until within recent years.
9. As these unwnshed woods are I'M
ported. they will not shrink In scOur.
Ing thirty per cent, 80 that every
pound imported yields as much clean
wool as two pounds OF unwashed Me-
rlno.
3. In order to encourage the raising
of Merino sheep. and the Down mutton
sheep. to give cheap meat food to our
cities and manufacturing districts. the
tected from the ruinous competition OF
these cheap foreign woods.
4. In the fiscal year 1905. the i'm.
ports of China wool were 2G,0S0, AIS
pounds, at an import free wool price.
with no motive of differentiation Of
5.15 cents per pound. with each pound
Welding as much clean wool ns two
pounds of Merino.-Senatc Document
No. II. December. 1895. PIP. 30. 45.
8. In the fiscal year 1905 the total
Imports of the woods of this class. in
Guiding China, were 144.4SS.2 255
pounds. at an average import price of
90 cents per pound. while the imports
of Merino and Down woods were only
12l, ,237.612 pounds. Thus the vast
amount of Imports of these woods
work more ruin to our wool industry
than all others.
6, The Mckinley bill of 1890, as
originally reported. proposed duty OF
eight cents per pound on the higher
grades of those woods. Nothing less
than eight cents per pound on all will
be even moderate protection.
WHAT OF THE FUTURE?
| There is necessity for increased
duties far beyond the rates in the Nc
| Eipley act OF 1890. because the worlds
prices of wool have declined since 1890
and will decline still more. The lower
the foreign price the greater the need
of higher duties.
Thus the eminent wool merchants,
Justice Batemnn & Co., In their wool
circular of February !, 1897, say:
"If there was any guarantee that the
present prices of foreign woods would
be maintained, duty of nine cents per
pound would probably approach n fig
ure that would be satisfactory to all
but wool growers. But as the best class
of skirted Australian woods on at
least two occasions within the
past eleven years have been six
cents per pound below the pres
ent price, and will in all prob
ability, soon be that low again after
the reimposition of Il tariff upon wool,
six cents OF the nine cents tariff would
soon be offset by the foreign decline.
The American grower would then
have on nn average of but three cents
per pound more than the present prices
for his wool. Therefore, while a duty
of nine cents would be ample Mt the
start, permanent duty Of nine cents
| per pound would, in our opinion, be In
sufficient"
When the tariff comes. foreign wool
growers will put down their price tG
get into our markets.
They can afford to do so.
Hon. George II. Wallace, United
States consul general to Melbourne I'M
der the administration of President
Harrison. shows that Australian Meri-
no "skirted'' woods can be put on ship
boad at Melbourne for twelve cents
per pound. and that whole fieeces can
be placed on shipboard for nine cents
per pound. His statement Is quoted
In full In my argument before the COM
mittee of ways and means, January @,
1897: Quarterly Bulletin of the Nation
al Wool Growers Association, Boston,
wool will shrink in securing only about
fifty per cent.
| This is the competition Ohio and sim
liar woods must encounted-scoured
and skirted foreign woods laid down in
Boston at less than thirty cents per
pound.
A THREATENED DANGER.
Theodore Justice has shown that in
six States giving their electoral vote to
Mckinley, his popular majority was so
meager that 1t was saved only by the
votes of free silver Republicans who
preferred wool tariff to free silver.
If they do not secure the promised
most ample protection for WOOL" they
will be driven over to free silver.
An eminent Republican wool dealer
of Philadelphia, Theodore Justice, in n
letter November s. 1896 referring to
the presidential election of 1896, and
vote of wool growers, said:
I ht NoVl SloNeiS WCIe tthI'tu ny
the proposition that Bryan's election
meant premium of fifty per cent. or
more upon gold, which would be
equivalent to that much tariff protec-
tion, as the duties as we'll ms the cost
of importing wool would be payable
in gold, but they never forgot that
Bryan voted for the Wilson bill, which
destroyed one-third of this great in
dustry and closed one-half of the
American wooden mills, and thus de-
stroyed. to this extent, the only mar
ket the American wool grower ever
had for his wool On the other hand,
Mckinley favored not only protection
for WOOL but under the Mckinley tar
iff act tof 1S9W the factories were rum
ming night and day; and enough wool
growers in these States with free sill
YER leanings voted for Mckinley in
their struggle for life, to elect him,
and his election was due to the McKin-
ley protection which wool growers in
these close States California. Ken
tucky. Oregon. Indiana, West Virginia
and North DakotaD believe in"
The gold premium cannot be evaded
by perjury and fraudulent bills of lad
ing, as the ad valorem duty of the
Dingley bill can, until its thirty-two
per cent. will be less than twenty per