Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-06
oMAHA's wool MARKET.

Early In october a committee ap-
pointed by the National Wool Grow
ers' association at its recent convention
will visit Omaha for the purpose OF as
certaining what this city has to offer
and what the business men of Omaha
are prepared to do to induce the asso-
citation to make Omaha the central
point for the storage and sale Of west
ern wool. The purpose of the growers
is to find a central point at which the
wool clip may be stored and held for
a favorable market, instead of being
sold, as at present, at prices deter
mined upon By eastern buyers. st.
Joseph, Minneapolis, st. Paul, Chi
cago, Denver and st. Louis are also
seeking the location of the warehouse.
The Commercial club and the bank
ers of Omaha have already made their
showing to the wool growers, assuring
financial and business support equal to
that offered by any other city. With
that important question settled, there
remains the point of d~esirability of To-
cation, to best accommodate the wool
growers of the great western section
of the country. Omaha offers advan-
tages that cannot be equaled by any
other western city. The question is
almost entirely one of railroad facili-
ties and accessibility. That essential
eliminates st. Louis, Salt Lake, st.
Joseph, Denver, Minneapolis and St.
Paul without argument. Shipment to
either of those cities would be the di-
verting OF the wool from the regular
route to the markets in the mill dis
tricts of the Atlantic coast and would
entail an increase in freight rates that
would more than Offset any advance
in price that might accrue from storage
at a convenient point. This objection
cannot be urged against Omaha. The
city is practically the center of the
wool-producing section of the west and
1t a natural storage and reshipping
point. The force of this geographical
advantage is we'll illustrated by statis-
tics, taken from the report of the fed
eral Department of Agriculture.
On January l, 1908, there were
54,631,000 sheep on the American
farms, of which 81, 800, 900 in round
numbers were located west of the Mis-
sissippi river, not counting the Texas
and Oklahoma holdings. The bulk OF
the other sheep were found in New
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan,
Wisconsin and the New England states,
and do lot figure at all in the plans
for the western warehouse. The wool
clip from far more than half Of the
sheep of the nation comes from states
that have direct and prompt railway
connections with the Omaha market.
The states of Wyoming, Montana, Col
orado, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washing
ton, California and Nevada alone have
2S,000,000 sheep, or more than hall
the nations supply, and every railroad
operating In those states has direct
connection and traffic arrangements
"ANh hAoho II LOIul WOOl- zip VI
1907 was S,OO0,O 600 pounds, Of
which 23S, 900, 900, or more than half
came from the nine states above named
as directly tributary to Omaha.
A wool storage warehouse with a
large capacity has already been estab.
lished in Omaha and those interested
in the development of the market
stand prepared to furnish guaranty
that warehouse facilities will be sup.
piled in this city for every pound o.
wool produced in the great west coun
try. Omaha is the natural and logica
place for the location of the proposed
warehouse by the National Wool Grow
ers' association, as even casual investi
cation should convince the committed
charged with the duty of selecting tn,
location.