El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-11-30
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN

HORTLY after congress convenes
~, next week the tariff board Gre
~ ated for the purpose Of studying
matters relating to the enforcement OF
the maximum and minimum clause OF
the Payne tariff law and for the turtneT
purpose of gathering information upon
which congress and the president can
I ac+ in king the tariff laws, VIII mar
IT, reDOrf ia the president and through
him TO congress, on the results OF IL
Investigations With reference 70 W
wooden and cotton industries OF UltS
TTnffed States The work OF lnNeSllsdt-
~ these industries began year ago
With reference to the WooIen nous tIyi
If has been the purpose Of tracing the
costs of production from the PACK q
the sheep to the PACK r .. liie man
The first task which confronted the
tariff board was to devise set OF
schedules which would enable tae WOOl
grower and the wooden manufacture
80 m segregate all the various items
of his work that the tariff board WoulU
be able to ascertain the exact STATUS y
every feat ure of the industry. IN mar
ing IN the schedule on wool II en-
Moved the services of an expert from
the department of agriculture ohe -
the forest service, and professors "a
sheep husbandry from seYeral STATE
ricultural COLLEGES 1t was asSlSteu II
this work by expert accountants ana
tbo members Of he board believe that
the resulting schedules have been sue
cessful in calculating the INFORMATION
desired by the tariff authOrlueS-
With this schedule in hand, drawn
somewhat differently for the eastern
states than for the western states ID
order to meet the varying conoltlons OF
sheep husbandry in the two secLOus'
agents Of the tariff board visited some
1900 ranches and farms in various parts
of the country. One set Of agents Stuu-
led eastern conditions and announcer So
western conditions Those lnVeSLlSaL-
ing the western situation began with
the shearing season in Texas ana Iol-
lowed il north through the great sneep
country Of the Rocky mountain c tiS,i-
other agents were sent to Argentina
the United Kingdom. Germany, france,
Australia and New Zealand here they
studied the foreign wool growing IN
dustry at close range and endeaVored
to secure the satle kind Of information
that was sought from the American
Consular Officers Visited.
a member of the board went abroad
and visited many consular officers IN
countries where special agents were not
sent for the purpose OF ascerta!nlns
what information the consular officials
gathered their information along the
same lines as those who were the spe-
cial agents Of the tariff board
In the United States the western
ScneGule contained EAe-lL Rd5E1 "a A4-AGe-
lions, while that used in the east con-
tained a little more than four pages.
These embraced interrOgat tories as u
the amount of land in each ranch or
farm. and the character of the grow
ing (Whether mainly for lambs or Tor
wool, OF for both)- Other questions
related to the value Of the land ana
equipment and the proportion Of Il
ehargeable to the growing Of sheep
There were also questions intended TO
disclose fully the operating expenses
Of the ranch. the output OF the various
items during the year, the cost Of mar
ketlng wool, the number Of sheep lost
the number sold and the number on
hand. There were also questions with
reference to the possibility OF bringing
sheep Buns under cultivation and Of in
creasing the output Of the industry IN
the neigAborhOOd Of the ranch.
A supplementary schedule was sent
out to be used IN showing what proper
ton Of the activities Of a ranch or farm
engaged only partially in sheep rails
ing were devoted to that industry, so as
to divide both expenses and income be-
tween the various kinds Of stock raised
and marketed.
Wool Data Gathered.
The work Of gathering the data con-
corning wool growing has been practis
caly completed. While It is admittedly
a very difficult thing 10 ascertain the
exact cost of a pound Of raw wool in
the United States and abroad. the tariff
board feels that the information II has
secured along these lines is the most
accurate in existence. 1t believes that
its inquiries have brought out facts
which never before were available for
the informa ton of tariff makers. Its
officials declare that they have found
everywhere a readiness to meet their
desires in the way Of information, and
that while many farmers could only
give approximate costs, their figures are
substantially representative Of the in
dustry.
When the tariff board came to inves-
tigate the question Of costs in the pro-
ductiOn of WOOlens, il first went into
the market and bought at retail sam
pies Of every principal kind OF cloth
sold in the United States. These sam
pies were selected by experts in such a
way as to give an accurate line upon
the retail prices Of every important
kind OF goods sold in this country
These samples were cut up into small