Gilpin observer., 1913-08-14
WASHINGTON NEWS
By Edward Keating.


l am in receipt of the following let
ter from a we'll known sheep man of
Colorado:
Sorrento, Colo, July 1s, 1913.
Dear SIR
Il have been reading your Wash
ington letter in several of the Eas-
term Colorado newspapers, and see
that you are long on explaining the
things of which you write, SO l wish
in your next letter you would ex-
plain why wool is four to six cents
per pound cheaper than last year. 1
ann sure there is lot of us here that
would like to know. 1t surely can't
be the tariff, for we have been as
sured by professors and lecturers thai
this bill would greatly reduce the
| cost to the conusmer, but would not
cut the price paid the producer. So,
it you can explain how this can be
done, / am sure we would all appre-
ciate lit and will lcok for 1t in your
next letter.
Yours Truly,
CHARLES E.. COLLINS -
The sarcasm of my correspondent
is not lost to me, but l will not re-
tort in kind. This tariff question is
|
people to be flippantly disposed of.
The Democratic party is seeking
to place raw wool on the free list,
and it is also attempting to make a
cut of sc per cent in the duty on
the products of the woolen mills. We
are doing this because we do not
believe it is just to increase the
price of the clothing of all the peo-
Pile in order that very small per-
centage OF our population may be
more prosperous.
Still Under
Protective Tariff.
| We contend, however, that the re.
moval of the tariff on raw wool will
not materially affect the price the
sheep men will receive for his wool.
It is probably true as Mr.. Collins
says, that the price bid by wool buy
ers in his section of Colorado is
lower than it was last year. But Mr..
Collins should also remember that
the country is still operating under
the Payne-Aldrich tariff bill, and that
you cannot import a pound OF raw
wool without paying the exorbitant
tariff provided by that measure.
If protective tariff always oper-
ates to increase the price paid the
sheep man for his wool, why doesn't
it protect" him now? OF course,
sur standpat friends will tell you
that the price OF wool has fallen be-
cause of the threat" of free wool,
but the weight of evidence is against
them.
The truth is, that the wooden trust,
a combination of the owners of the
big woolen mills, controls the wool
buyers of the country. These agents
of the trust, assisted by the calamity
bowling standpat senaotrs and news
papers, have SCARED the wool grow
ers of Colorado and other states in
to selling their clips at less than the
worlds prices.
Republican
Testimony.
Let me submit a little testimony
On that point. Hon. William Lindsay
is one of the leading wool growers
of Montana. He is a prominent Re-
publican, being United States Mar
shall for the District of Montana, ap-
pointed by President Taft. In an in
terview recently printed in all the
Montana papers, Mr.. Lindsay said:
Wool prices have been ON a free
wool basis for the last three years,
even though we have had a tariff,
and. for this reason / do not believe
thSi. prices are going to drop when
the tariff is removed.
THE condition of the trade, the
condition of the wool clip. and the
decreased number of sheep in the
country all make me believe we will
not have any cheaper wool than we
have had for three years past The
wool lefts in the East are empty, the
mills are pretty we'll employed, and
there is absolutely no reason why
prices should drop, even with free
wool.
"The average price of wool in Mon
tana this year, was from 16 TO II
cents, four cents less than the av-
erage for last year. The buyers were
enabled to hammer the price that
much by exaggerating the effects of
free wool, but those prices are be-
low free wool basis, in my judg-
ment, and expect to see the wool
consigned East bring from Is to 20
cents
BE caring" the
Wool Market.
Volumes of evidence might be sub
mi. cd in support of MIR. Lindsay's
statement that "wool prices have
been on free wool basis for three
years, even though we have had a
tn 'lff," but space will not permit.
1t * difficult to make comparisons
of wool prices on the American and
the FL elish, or free trade, markets,
because Of the differences in classtfi-
cations. have 1T on the authority
OF the leading western wool growers,
how ,veI, that the English market is
frequently higher than the American.
These gentlemen agree that the wool
en- combine, through its control of
the buying agencies. Is enabled to
bear" the wool market and practic-
ally dictate the price 1t will pay the
sheep men. That the wool growers
are catching on" to the tactics of