The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1906-10-13
WOOL AND THE TARIFF
Interests Hundreds Of Sheep Owners in the Vicinity
Of Dickinson, Where TOO, 900 Pounds of Wool
Were Marketed the Past Summer.

Were Marketed the Pa
In his address at the fifth annual meet
ing of the Alumni Association of the
Philadelphia Textile School recently,
Mr.. Theodore Justice discussed the in
Auence OF a protective tariff upon wool,
as follows:
The only history of the wool question
in the United States that is of any value
to us now is that of the period since the
close Of the War of the Rebellion.
The influence of the tariff on wool dur
ing this time is so closely connected with
the ups and downs of the wool industry
iu the United States that the wool ques-
ton has now become of necessity essen
TALLY a political question.
According to the definition in the die
tionary, politics is policy, and unfortu-
nately for those who grow or manufac-
ture wool, the politics of the two leading
political parties of this country are
opposed to each other on the policy of
raising revenue. uaughter.)
One party favors tariff simply for the
revenue it produces, while the other
favors tariff for producing revenue in
a way that to the greatest degree pos
sible will protect American industries.
The present Dingley tariff act is the
most satisfactory and the most emphatic
realization of the application of the prin-
cipal of protection to home industries
ever enacted into American law.
At different periods and in response
to an apparent demand for tariff revision
the Republican party has made reduc-
tions in the duty on WOOL 1t made these
reductions as sort of sop to Cerberus
(who is, as you all know, the three
headed dog that guards the gates of
hell), and, although the reductions were
only slight, the woolen industry has
always suffered contraction as result of
such tariff revisions downward.
FROM THE DEMOCRATIC VIEWPOINT.
On the other hand, the Democratic
party, which since the war has been DOM
mated by southern statesmen. has never
believed in any form of tariff protection
for wool or the manufactures thereof. 1t
asserts that Tariff protection is a crime
and robbery" that the manufacturer
should have free raw material, and it has
been unwilling to concede any more than
such incidental protection as might be
got out of a revenue tariff on manufac-
lures of wool. John Randolph, over one
hundred years ago, then showed the
feeling of the South toward wool when
he said he "would walk mile to kick
sheep" (Laughter.)
But protection that doessnot protect is
I: of course, no protection at all, and the
wool manufacturing industry has always
suffered during such periods of made
quate protection. At those times many
American mills have been closed, for.
eign made goods have supplied larger
share of the home market, the demand
for American woods has been narrowed
and prices have fallen. Under the free
wool Wilson act, Texas wool, such as is
now werth 20 cents, was then worth only
4 cents, and in California in 1896 the fall
clip was worth only cents. 1t was al
that time offered free by the grower to
anyone who would pay for its shearing
Under these distressing conditions the
wool growers sent their sheep in count.
less numbers to the butchers, and focks
diminished or disappeared entirely
When foreign wool has been free of duty
American wool has always been under.
sold by the foreign, because the wool
could be produced abroad at lowe,
cost, and the number Of sheep in the
United States decreased g per cent in
Our focks decreased SO rapidly tina,
the industry in many places that for
merly were great wool producing sec
tions has been wiped out altogether.
SINCE THE RESTORATION OF DUTIES
Since the duties have been restored
the increase has been mostly on the aric
lands that during our Civil war were
occupied by the wild Indian and the
American bison. The blow that was
struck by tariff revision to the farmers
living east of the Mississippi has, how
ever, been fatal in many counties in thi:
section.
If there was any guarantee that the
Dingley tariff would not be disturbed fol
twenty-five years to come many section:
of the country that formerly produced
wool, but which now do not do so woulc
go back. into the business. The southern
states alone, if they would, could pro
duce all the wool that American mill:
can now use, for they are economical,
and physically better adapted for grow
ing sheep than most of the northern
states.
After the Dingley tariff restored thu
Mckinley wool duties, which had beer
taken off by the tariff revision of 1894
the sheep were not restored in every sec
ton, for the reason that the wool growers
who had lost their money through tarif
revision in 1894 discovered that as WOO
had become political football the haz
ards of the business had increased, ant
they were quite unwilling to reinves
their capital in it. They knew full wei
that with the next change from Repub
lican to Democratic congressional con
troll the duties on wool, under the part,
cry of "free raw material" would eithe
be again reduced or removed, and tina
there would be repetition of the dis
aster that befell this industry upon pre-
vious occasions.
Wool is not raw material to a WOO
grower any more than cloth is to tailor
Wool is the growers finished product
Just as cloth is the finished product Q
the mill or yarn the finished product Q
the spinner.
EFFECTS OF THE D1NGLEY LAW.
The Dingley act, which followed tn
free wool Wilson act and as its complet
antithesis, has now been in operation
nearly nine years. Under it the woo
manufacturing business has expanded