Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1910-01-26
THE TARIFF ON WOOL.

The following article, concerning
the private Importation Of suit Of
undertaking from England, by a
man who evidently thinks that any
thing from abroad is better than
what is produced at home, recently
appeared IN the MOndOvi Herald
and was later copied in many other
Wisconsin papers, a number OF
which claim to be republican papers.
There is nothing remarkable about
the story except. the anglomania
therein exhibited by man who
could probably have gone to one of
his own home dealers and bought
as good a suit, made of wool from
the back of a Wisconsin sheep and
manufactured in a American mill
by we'll paid American labor for
considerably less money than the
English goods finally cost him.
However, here's the story:
AN EDITORS TARIFF STORY.
We have just made an interesting
tariff experiment. We wrote to a
relative in England to send us a suit
of underclothing which was TO be
guaranteed as all wool with the stipu-
lation chat the value OF 1t at wholesale
price was to be accurately declared.
Here is the result. The suit in Eng
land cost 81 80, or to be strictly accur-
ate 81 AZ. The 81 80 was what the Gus
toms authorities took as the basis of
calculation of duty on it. 1t cost 36
- -nr,I II nv v,oranlr rOCr from
England TO this country. AT the Gus
toms house it was examined The rate
on wool wearing apparel is Al cents
per pound and go per cent ad valorem.
The suit weighed l pound 2 ounces.
The customs house authorities took no
notice OF the extra two ounces and
charged A cents for the weight of the
suit. The ad valOrem duty of 60 per
cent involved another 80 Genus. The
total duty, then, Came to 81 81 After
that the postoffice authorities charged
a fee of cents in addition to the post
age already incurred. In all then,
what we could get in England for Sl.44
cost us S3.I9: When we come TO Mon
dow we shall ask our good friend,
Frank Schaettle, what he could get "a
similar suit for at wholesale. But
the facts speak for themselves. Even
the president admits that the wool
schedule is Ubiquitous and Gates a
monopoly which puts consumers at
the mercy of a trust. And yet in face
of this plain, unvarnished statement
of facts there will be those who will
gravely declare that this Sl34 duty
represents just the difference in cost
of production between the United
States and England.
OF course the purpose of the story
was to take a Whack at the prOtec-
tive tariff system, which it must be
admitted has some inequitable fea-
lures, but which has been the means
of building up thousands of manu-
featuring institutions III this cOun-
try giving employ mepr 10 hundreds
of thousan DIS OF operatives, ana has
made the raising OF sheep Il great
and profitable business for the
American farmer.
Wisconsin farmers very distinctly
remember that with the election of
President Cleveland IL 1892 and the
removal of the tariff on wool, which
opened our markets to the free I'M
pOrta1op of Australian and other
foreign wool many factories were
closed and the price of sheep and
wool fell so low that there was no
profit IN growing them. You could
buy a good sheep IN those days for
about $3.50, and thousands upon
thousands of them went upon the
b,,%ohorcf I,lcoIy Iaoo nc. - 5id,1f nov
to feed them, while wool sold at
about 10 and II cents a pound.
Whereas in 1892, under the prOtec-
ton of a tariff duty, the total value
of sheep raised in the United States
was about 1925, goo, OCO, the value
had decreased in 1895, under free
trade to sos, 100000.
After the election Of President
Mckinley, followed by the restora-
ton of tariff on wool the sheep
industry again revived. In 1898
the value of sheep in the United
States had grown to $1O7, 900, 600;
in 1900 it was $178, 600, 900 and in
1907 it was S211 900, 600.
Sheep are now selling in Grant
county for from $500 to 5000 per
head and wool the past season
brought 26 and 81 cents a pound.
Draw your own conclusions as to
whether or not a tariff on wool is a
good thing for the people Of this
country.
r1 ~OxYrDnyOD - .oYC,ucN,