Fergus County argus., 1906-01-09
WOOL SECURING PLANT.
Why Such Enterprise Will Not Pay
in Montana

III NVOuSouds
One of the most prominent wool
growers of the state, in speaking to-
day of the. discussion in the Helena
Record regarding wool securing
plant, said to the Argus:
"The communication of r. j. Walsh,
which appeared in the Helena Rec
ord few days ago in regard to
wool securing plant was certainly in
teresting to the sheep men, and it is
tc be hoped that Mr.. Walsh is better
informed in regard to the railway rate
proposition than he appears to be on
the wool business The plan of scour-
ing our wool at home was taken up
by the wool growers of Fergus long
before Mr. Walsh thought OF engag-
ing in the sheep business, and they
found that both the wool merchants
and the manufacturers in New Eng
land preferred to scour their own wool
to buying it already secured. When
the manufacturer does this work, he
knows that it is done TO suit him.
There is one large securing plant at
Lawrence. Mass. but it runs prin-
cipally on samples and certain class
es of wool They scour at San Fran
cisco and also at The Dalles. Ore. the
latter place being practically at tide
water. but the woods nave to be grad
ed and sorted before securing. This,
of course. they did largely while
woods were low. as being at tidewater
they could take advantage of the wa
ter competition in freight rates. If
wools We're secured here the railways
would. of course, have to get a larg-
er freight rate. as the value of the
wool would be more than doubled and
the opportunities for injuring it in
transit greatly increased. AS wools
are shipped out of this state at pres
ent they are placed in coal cars or
anything that will hold together, and
there is no danger of damage result
ing. This, of course. could not be
done with secured woods. Relative to
the prices which woods brought here
last year, and which Mr.. Walsh
places at 40 cents per secured pound,
this wool, sold here in this market
on a basis of 6S to Y cents per scour-
ell pound, landed in Boston, or % to
25 cents per pound here in the grease.
Our Merino woods here shrink from So
to 67 per cent, and wool selling here
at % cents is equal to &c cents in Bos-
ton. after paying freight and commits
sicns, and 30 cent wool shrinking 65
per cent would net the Seller mere
65A cents per secured pound, or from
73 to IA cents in Boston. secured.
'There are many things to be con
sidered in connection with any wool
Gil mill or securing plant located II
Montana. Among these would be the
higher price for skilled labor. All the
graders and other employees wOulC
have to be brought ont from the east
ana about the first thing that woult
happen after they had landed here
would be the formation of a uniO,
by them. and they would want two o
three times as much pay as they re
ceived in the east for the same labor
They would be entitled to It, too, 70
il costs the mechanic very much NOR
for living expenses here than in tn
east Then many of these men, a
soon as they got located here, woul
see better opportunities and get on
in some other industry to make liz
ing In the large manufacturing eli
les it is easy to obtain all the labo
wanted at the rates paid there. Thi
would he utterly impossible in Nor
tana. and the matter of labor alOn
would probably present difficult
that could not be overcome, to sa
nothing of the rest"