The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1906-03-13
THE SITUATION in WOOL AS.
COMPARED WITH THE PAST

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The American Shepherds Bulletin
devotes several columns Of their space
to a consideration of the wool situa-
ton: the present price of wool as COM
pared with that of past years, the gov
erning conditions Of the situation and
the developments which may effect and
have effected the course Of the market.
While it may be futile to attempt to
forecast the course of prices for the year
to come, there are certain considerations
which may properly engage our atten-
ton at the present time and without
which it is impossible to correctly dag
nose. the real position of wool These
include the relation of supply to demand,
the production of wool, past, present
and5prospective, the increasing consump-
tion Of wool i'll spite of the liberal use
which has been made of substitutes in
recent years, the present and prospec-
tive needs of our mills, the importations
of foreign fabrics in relation to the in
Ecreasing clothing requirements of our
people, the tendency Of the production
of wool to increase or diminish, either
at home Or abroad, the condition of
general business as affecting the demand
for clothing, the monetary situation, etc.
These matters will be found to be treat
ed at some length. iii our columns this
month. j + gsfs6 ~ ~. .. a.....
That woolsis at present selling at a
high price as compared with the average
price Of the past fifteen years, and es-
|pecially as compared with the price rul-
ing in, 1895 1906, no one will deny. But
it may not be SO generally known that,
as compared with the prices ruling in
many of the years previous to 1885, the
precent price Of wool is low, for in
1864 Ohio Xxx washed wool sold at
ST. o3 J; in 1880, it sold at 55c; in 1879
|it sold at Soc. ;; in 1873 at 7oc. in 1884
at 4oc; in 1867 at 68c. On the other
hand, in 1895 it sold at I61zc.
|. The conditions governing the situa-
ton at present, however, are such as to
make for high range of values.
The burdensome supplies, which for
several years hung over the market, have
been wiped out, as the consumption of
wool throughout the world has increas-
ed very substantially without any cor
responding increase in the production of
this article. The result has been that
consumers of wool find themselves very
close to the Sleeps back, and they have
been obliged, in order to obtain their
necessary raw material, to take the new
woods quickly, or practically as soon as
they have come off the sleeps back.
Indeed, many of the clips have been
contracted for by manufacturers before
they were shorn. The woods are being
cleaned up rapidly, and they are not
being taken for speculation--they are
being bought to fill consumers needs.
This is apparently the situation, also,
both abroad and at home. =. ~"
Fl AS we show in Our article, the out
look for domestic manufacturing is
not such as to justify the belief that
there is to be any substantial din1inu-
tion in the consumption of wool, at any
rate while the present prosperous period
continues. The buyers of goods are TAX
ing them at prices which net the pro-
ducer fair margin of profit, and in the
absence of any increase IN importations
Of goods. to supply the enlarged de-
mands of our people, it will be up to
our manufacturers to make the goods
needed, which will call for large guam
titles of the raw material. The clip of
wool during the present year is esti-
mated at about 3oo,ooo,ooo pounds, but
the consumption of wool at present is
at the rate Of about 55o,ooo,ooo pounds
per annurn. The strength of the situa-
#tion with reference to domestic woods is
therefore clearly apparent, and it has
been only natural sequence that it has
been found necessary to import about
25o,ooo,ooo pounds during the fiscal year
ending June 80, 1905, to make good the
deficiency
Some Of our woods are selling at
close to the importing point, but there
is no evidence of any substantial weak
ening in foreign markets which would
enable olir manufacturers to import
woods at prices which would materially
weaken the situation with reference to
domestic stock. The low woods, which
for the past. several years have advanc-
led relatively more than the finer woods,
are slightly easier than they were, on
the other side, but no slump is looked
for and the observation of one Of the
oldest and most experienced wool buy
|ers IN London is that wool is going
higher. 81 3
There are so many broad considera-
tions, however, which may enter into
the determination Of wool values, some
Of which cannot possibly be foreseen,
that one should be careful in dogmatiz-
ing with reference to the course of val
,ies and future market developments.
But iii the light Of such knowledge as