The evening times., 1900-10-15
DEPRESSION III WocL.
Growers Attribute Stagnation In
Trade 10 the Trusts.

Trade 10 the Trusts.
The text of several speeches by Mr..
GrosveneT during the last session of Con-
gress was Wool 1t was a habit with
him 10 Ell page after page of the Record"
with statements and statistics alleging
prosperity among wooIgrowers. At pres
ent the condition of the wool market is
one of congestion and stagnation. Dis
satisfaction with the market is said 10 be
particularly cutspoken in the sheep States
of the West. The woolgroweTs OF Wy
oming have, it is estimated, %, 600, coo
pounds Of Unsold wool stored at home
and in Eastern warehouses. Practically
the whole clip of the State. estimated by
the secretary OF the State Wool Commits
siCn at 2T,O00,0E9 p0uaos, and valued at
$3.5C0 eco. is unsoid, the sales so far made
this season being SO small and unimPor-
tant as TO cut 10 figure in the general
situation.
In explanation of the coEasose condi-
tiCn of The wool market, a grower says:
The American Wool Trust largely con
trolls the price OF wool, and is hammering
ii down to demoraIize the market and
buy at its own price. This combination,
with a capital OF $4,000, ,Ce0, is ostensibly
q woolen manufacturing trust, Sut has
its tenIacles out over the producer as well
IL
TO buy wool except at ruinous priees, they
are at the present moment raising the
price Of manufactured woGlen goods in
the market. Last year we had the same
experience. The impression prevails that
the price of wool is made in Liverpool.
AS general proposition this is true, but
owing to our tariff system an American
trust can defy the laws of supply and de-
mand. Last year the trust bought guam
titles of wool in Wyoming at from 10
cents to u cents, and afterward raised
the price to Is and 20 cents; but when the
trust was getting these prices the Wy
oming grower had none to sell. Yet the
wool politicians at once began to shout
all over Wyoming the big things the
Dingley tariff was doing for Wyoming and
wool. Under this delusion hundreds of
inexperienced men engaged in the busi-
ness and oyerstocked the range. a re-
action has come which assists the trusts
in bearing wool. Many OF the new wool
growing companies are heavily in debt
and depend on wool sales to pull out ex-
penses for the season. When they are
forced to realize the market is liable to
be still more demoralized
''The effect of the taft IS purely senti-
mental The price or reooi is made in
London, and is goyerne-I by The law of
supply and demand. I used to think a
Idflu OF IL cents or more on WOOL would
add that amount to the selling price |
got over that idea long ago. Did the
tariff stop wool from falling this season
from IS cents and 90 cents down to u
cents? The American wool trust can
raise or depress the price of wool, but
the tariff is utterly impotent in that re-
spect, as actual conditions now show
Aside from the trust the world market
makes the price 1t may not be generally
known, but 1t is a fact that the Eastern
wool trust has persuaded President Nc
Kinley to formulate a treaty under the
alluring term OF reciprocity allowing
the free entry of South American wool in
to this country, and that this treaty is
ready for ratification as soon as the cleo
tion has passed. The Eastern wool man
ufacturers will compel the adoption CT
| this treaty as a price of their contribu-
tions to the Administration in the pres
| ent campaign. The worst feature of this
| treaty, as it affects Wyoming, is that it
! admits free of duty the only wool which
| comes in direct competition with Wyo-
ming wool, being in the same class. If
| there is anything at all in the tariff con-
| lecture, this Mckinley free wool reci-
| procity treaty will utterly destroy the
| Wyoming wool industry