The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1911-01-03
WOOL INDUSTRY THREATENED

The wool growers of Utah, now in
session at Armory hall in this city,
cannot be blamed for taking a lively
interest in national politics at the
present time. Wool prices have been
going down for months, grazing has
been restricted and feed is short, three
adverse conditions against which the
industry is struggling.
In addition, it is proposed to revise
the tariff downward, beginning with
schedule X, the greatest menace to
prosperity the country has faced since
the Wilson-G German monstrosity, that
measure Of "perfidy and dishonor,'
to use the words of Grover Cleveland,
went into effect.
Skedule X of the Payne-Aldrich
law is practically the same as the
schedule X of the Dingley act. In
fact, very few changes have been
made since William Mckinney was
chairman of the ways and means com
mittee Of the house and reported the
bill which ushered in the greatest era
Of prosperity ever enjoyed by any
country in the history of the world.
The present schedule X, then, should
be credited to Mckinley, who was
elected to the presidency and re-elect-
ed as a reward for the great work
performed. In connection with the
manner in which the data for schedule
X was secured, it is called to mind
that Chairman Mckinley called a con-
vention of experts to Washington to
give him the benefit of their expert
ence and honest advice, and to assist
him with their technical knowledge.
This convention, in part, was com
posed of wool growers, who showed the
necessity of increased protection (the
Wilson bill put wool on the free list)
to check the destruction of their in
dustry, which was being wiped out.
It was composed in part of both card
ed and worsted wool manufacturers,
all of whom simply pleaded for enough
protection over and above that requir-
ed to maintain the sheep industry, to
v the difference in the cost of pro-
uction between protected wages 200
cent higher in the mills of the
ted States than on the continent
Europe.
THE convention was also in part
composed of importers of wool, whose
interests were in favor of free trade
in wool rather than domestic wool pro-
duction. They all brought a knowl-
edge of the circumstances surrounding
wool production and its manufacture
in other parts of the world, as well as
in the United States.
Free wool had just been tried and
had proved ~ruinous to grower and
manufacturer alike, but it's advocates
were allowed a hearing. With all this
expert assistance, Chairman Mckinley
evolved the present schedule X. Tried
In the furnace Of time, this particular
schedul proves to have been scien-
tiically constructed and admirably
calculated to serve the purpose for
which it was intended.
That is the history of schedule K,
which 10 now being attacked by un-
thinking and unreasoning persons
whose mission in life is to tear down
rather than build up.
1t Is no wonder that the wool grow
ers Of the west, the Utah men includ-
cd, should view the future of their
industry with apprehension and alarm.
Many Of them lost their little all dur
ing the dark days of Democratic as
c~endancy, and now that they have
been enabled to barely get their heads
above water, q new danger is threat
ened as q climax to a series Of unfor-
tunate natural conditions.
1t is no wonder that these men.
members of both state and national
associations, with an accurate knowl-
edge OF the existing condition of the
wool industry, born of experience,
should prepare to battle for their
rights and to aver the impending
calamity if possible.
The wool growers will not be alone
In their misery in case the blow de-
sends. Every man, woman and child
in Utah-and the great west-will suf-
Ter II the wool industry is again para
lyzed by foolish and vicious legisla-
tion. No great industry can be struck
down without throwing thousands of
men out Of work, causing untold suf-
fering to their families, and bringing
disaster to the bankers and merchants
and all others engaged in business
neutrality-suspicious..