Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-01-15
WOOL men WANT
Pure FABRIC LAW
Free Listing of Product of the
Western Ranches Criticised
by Growers Body.
YET MAY PROVE BLESSING
President Hagenbar.h Says Producer
May Now Be Awakened to
Greater Activity.

Sa.. Lake City. Jan. 15.-The new
tariff placing wool on the free list was
held up to criticism when the delegates
! of the National Wood Growers asso-
/ citation marked the fftieth year of the
associations existence at their annual
convention here today.
I The address by the president of the
/ organization, Frank J. Hagenbarth.
pointed out that for the third time in
! a century of national progress the
| hockmaster faces free and unlimited
competition in the production of wool
against the whole world that prev
ious experiences had proven the wool
growers ability to withstand the
shock, and that the outcome of the
, present experiment was doubtful.
"The fiockmaster is reduced" he
said, ito the necessity of starving on
unequal terms with the half-clad saw
age of South Africa and Asia, the
peon of South America and the skilled
producer of New Zealand and Aus
/ traIia, whose fiocks are shorn under
tile fostering care of their respective
governments. Like Napoleon, after
the battle of Waterloo, the shepherd
faces the necessity for organizing his
broken battalions for a last stand
against hopeless odds. However. it
is an American characteristic never to
say quit
In analysis of the tarff he declared
that /; was decidedly an alignment of
the east and south against the west"
and asserted that so per cent of the
products of New Jersey would be
,,~l,a hut
nine per cent of the products of Art
IONA and 10 per cent OF the products of
Nevada were so favored.
Producer Is Backbone.
The backbone of the strength of
the nation is the producer" he con-
tinued. THE producer is the farmer
or the miner. He. who takes from the
soil of the cart hand he waters there
of. and who takes from the sky with
its sun and its air, and from these
primary elements brings wealth into
the world. is alone entitled to the
kingly title. Producer The rest of
mankind. either directly or indirectly,
are parasites living off the fruits of
his labor. Yet the underlying principle /
of the present tariff act has been to ]
favor the manufacturer and middleman !
on the theory that the producer is /
able to take care of himself In other /
words. the parasite is more important /
than the body on which it feeds.
"A a further criticism o the tariff I
act of October .. 1913. the stateEent /
can conseryatively be made that. after !
all. il was written hastily and with 1
improper preparation and information.
The labors OF Messrs. Underwood and |
Clark and their associates in the pre-
paration of a consistent tariff act,
which covered a year or more of unre-
hitting toll, were hurriedly dispensed 4
with when Mr.. Bryan and Mr.. Wilson
came into power and wrote free wool.
free sugar and free cattle IL place of
the paragraphs that had been pre-
pared heretofore by Mr.. Underwood.
These changes were arbitrarily made
and without. rhyme or reason as per-
tanning 10 the balance of the bill. I'm
der the new law. the grower of merino
wool will be seriously hurt, and most
likely eliminated from tie ranks of
iucer may be able to survive, but even
his IS predetermined at this time.
More Economical Methods.
After all" he added the toad of
diversity may yet bear a jewel in its
read The misfortune that has come
Ipon us may prove a blessing in dis
;uise by calling our more serious at