The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-09-22

demanding wool. In the consumption of wool the
United States IS far and away in advance of
either of the other great nations, for although
somewhat behind the United Kingdom in the
quantity required for her factories, all that is
manufactured here is retained for clothing and
other uses of our people, and. in addition, vast
quantities of wooden fabrics are imported from
abroad. A large percentage of the wool con-
sumed in the factories of other countries is man
ufactured for export and sold for use beyond
their borders, giving the United States pre-emi-
hence as a wool-consuming nation.
The Mercado Central de Frutos, located at
Buenos Aires, is the largest wool market in the
world. This port and Bahia Blanca, the great
southern Argentina port, handles practically all
the wool grown in the republic. At shearing sea-
son wool arrives on ships and trains.
In 1873 the worlds sheep population was some
thing like 100000 sheep. whereas today the
number is approximately 63O,OOO,OOO, of which
Argentina has about one-sixth, being exceeded in
numbers only by Australia. which has S3.000.000
TO Argentina's S0,0O0.0OO. The United States has
something like 5~5,OOO,OOO sheep, Asiatic Russia
30,OO0,OOO and Great Britain and Ireland about
100000. South America, all told, has more
than 100000 sheep, of which two-thirds are
in Argentina. There are ten sheep to every man,
woman and child, or an average of 80 sheep per
family.
Western Canada is coming to be a great sheep
country. and here, where millions of acres of
grazing land adapted to sheep raising are found,
exists one of the finest natural sheep-raising sec
tions close to centers Of mutton and wool con-
sumption to be found in the world. The part
Canada will play in answering the worlds de-
mand for woolens Is certain to be important in
the near future, for farmers have caught the in
spiration resulting from steady prices and a
heavy demand for meats and woods.
Our department of agriculture recently gave
out. a statement which reveals the real situation
in facts and figures. This statement was to the
effect that the production of wool in the United
States I'm 1Q15 was OSS 777 000 mounds ne com
pared with 900, 10000 pounds in 1914, and 296-
10000 in 1913. In other words, while we seem
to have lost little in production as against 1899,
we dropped off 100000 pounds In these two
years.
Promotion Of increased production of sheep I'M
d~oubtedly is our great economic problem. One Of
the paramount features regarding the present
shortage in clothing is due to the universal lack
Of proper grading and caring for the wool from
farm TO factory. Although the United States
ranks as one of the leading wool-producing coun-
tries Of the world, thousands of pounds of good
wool annually are permitted TO go to waste be-
cause of the farmers slackness IN grading and
preparing his clip for the market. The present
educational program of the bureau of animal hus-
'bandry tends to remove this loss.
This means that the amount of wool imported
annually by American manufacturers Is equal to
more than One-half of the homegrown clip. For
eign wool growers, Australians in particular,
maintain n uniformly high-grade standard in the
handling of their woods. This care in preparation
for market has served to give that country a wool
backed by a reputation that readily insures II full
value at the time Of selling to the manufacturer.
Our modern agriculture needs sheep, more
sheep. We need sheep to meet modern practical
conditions. Farmers can positively do nothing
better than enter sheep breeding with a strain,
say, like the Shropshire, which have gained the
reputation of being adapted to any sheepraislng
region of the cont'nert, and being the farmers
sheen a rent-DaVinp sheen. n tennnt'g sheen n
money-making sheep, wool-producing, mutton
carrying, Quick-fattening and hardy sheep" This
breed is not only an economical feeder, but, like
other improved breeds, good soil conveyors. They
are adapted to the most intensive system of agri-
culture.