Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-03
Wool and the DineIey Law.

great favor Dingley did them with his
| tariff on wool. Wool was on the free
| list in the Wilson tariff. In 1896, when
| wool was on the free list there We're
| 276, 1856 sheep in Maine. In 1897 the
| Dingley tariff put a duty on wool
| again. In 1906 after more than eight
years Of the Dingley protection CD on
wool the number of sheep in Maine was
| 1S4, 066. Let the Kennebec Journal tell
| Just what the Dingley tariff on wool
| has done for the Maine farmer. in thus
| reducing the number of his sheep. And
go on from wool to wooden goods
| Lewiston Sun.
The writer had occasion, during the
campaign of 1896 10 make a trip across
a section Of Franklin county which had
prior to the advent Of the second
Cleveland administration been noted
| for it's sheep raising industry. During
the entire trip not one flock of sheep
was seen. Farmers all along the line
told US that they had not only gone out
of the sheep business but had stored
| their wool in the hope that the time
living price for it. Wool, as the Sun
states, had been put on the free list
| by the Wilson tariff law and was then
| bringing in the Boston market, when
it could be sold at all, the munificent
sum Of from to II cents pound,
The United States Agricultural Depart
in, "a riCyrr &c Drn of
A mcrican Sheep Husbandry' published
| in 1900 reports the price of wool in 1896
1T from ) 20 II cents a pound, which
corresponds with the Boston prices Of
| that year. Wool was piled up in the
far West in 1896 begging purchasers
| at six cents a pound, and the same
| the DrIglcy tariff law, at the special
session of Congress in the summer of
1887
The prices we have thus far quoted
| We're for unwashed wool. In the fiscal
year 1891, the importations of wool into
this country had reached the enormous
words, the sheep industry in this coun-
try had been killed off to such an cX-
! tent that VIC were importing 57.S Of all
| orr wool whereas in the fiscal year
| 1904, the last year of the Mckinley
| law, only 1i2 Of the wool used in
! this country was brought from abroad.
Of in
| irrportations Of wool under the Will
son law meant that with wool on
| the free list we we're sending abroad
| in payment for wool millions of dollars
that had formerly gone into the peck
cts Of American farmers.
Report No. &c on "Sheep and Wool"
| issued by the United States Depart
| mcnt Of Agriculture in 1900 says:
| ain 1894 was enacted a law making
wool absolutely free, as well as all
forms Of shpddy used i'll it's adultera-
ton. The effect was instantaneous.
Prices of wool and of sheep declined,
resulting in destruction of 1locks, and
Indifference AMI neglect in their care.
THE law of 1891 followed. restoring
customs dutie On wool. The effect Of
| this act has been to restore confidence
in the future of wool growing and a
larger dcglcc Of prosperity. though the
enormous accumulation Of foreign
wool has retarded manufacture and sale
until quite recently. For two years
| the mill stocks and the wool markets
| were weighted down with foreign wool.
| Estimates of the trade authorities made
the supply in January, 1900, go, 600
Hounds less than in the preceding
| January. Consumption has been un-
prcccdentcd. and manufacture extreme
ly active. The value of sheep is near
| ly doubled
IN the first year Of the Dinglcy tariff
law wool importations fell to 49,, 79j ,201
pounds 80 that instead Of buying 57.S Of
the wool We used abroad as we did dur
ing the last year of the Wilson tariff
| law. we were importing only 32.S per
cont Of it. 1t must not be supposed
however, that this increased use of
American raised wool represented q
corresponding increase in the number
| of American sheep. 1t was in large
part wool that had been stored by
| American farmers during the time
the Wilson bill was in ! force. be
cause ut the prices that prevailed un-
der that free trade measure they could
not get back the cost Of raising it.
| With the better prices that prevailed
under the Dinglcy law this wool was
put upon the market. The Wilson
law dealt the sheep industry of this
country blow from which it has not
yet fully recovered.
The reports of the United States Ag-
ricultural Department give the total
number of sheep in this country in 1899
as 47,212, 553. In 1897 under the whitening
effects Of the free wool provision of the
| Wilson law the number had fallen to
| 60. S1S6i3. which is the smallest num-
/ l,,,e, l,,1 G,