The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1918-11-15
Editorial and Magazine Page of

VUJOOI GROWERS of the southwest, and in
w fac, Of the whole country. have been cH-
hibiting more or less ncasincss as to mar.
kct conditions which will follow the conclusion of
peace. The manufacturers have been responsible
for this TO some extent, for the uncasiucSS of the
latter and their dissatisfaction with the conditions
surrounding virtual government control of the
wool supply, has been voiced in their newspapers
and trade journals TO an extent which has spread
an uneasiness among growers that has not always
been justified by the conditions.
This uneasiness among manufacturers and M
Boston, Philadelphia and the other big trading
centers has centered largely about what the gov
eminent will do after actual fighting ends. This
doubt promises to be relieved Immediately. :. W,
Mcclure, secretary of the National Wool Growers
association. in q dispatch sent from his h%eadquar-
tiers Ut Salt Lake City, Wednesday, expressed the
view that the government would fix the price of
wool within the next few days; and that IN fixing
this price n slight increase over present prices would
be allowed. With wool prices fixed at the present
figure. or a little higher, there need he no uncaSl
ness among growers as to market conditions IN th"
near future, because there is no possible doubt that
the demand will continue to exceed the supply Tor
some time to come.
DR.. Mcclure points ont further. in his dispatch.
that after every war of the past 100 years wool has
always brought higher prices than before hoStilitics
began. There is not a particle OF doubt that tins
VIII bc true of the present attcr-war pcrlou and n
will probably be a more marked strengthening of
prices than has ever been the ease before, because
the wool producing industry has been wholly upset
and disorganized everywhere except in the United
States and in Australia. Even in the latter country
the industry has Jagged under heavy calls for men
who have been recruited very largely from the
ranges and farms.
But the wool growers of the southwest have
more than a temporary disturbed condition in the
industry and an immediate shortage of supply 10
strengthen them in their conviction that they have
enlisted in an industry that is one of the nation
vital producing industries and one that is a sure
fire producer Of profit. Even before the war there
was a wool shortage. There was a mutton shortage.
Sheep had all hut disappeared from the farms in
many states. They have not yet been replaced.
There had been a steady reduction in number Of
range sheep in the grazing states. That reduction
has become more pronounced during the war.
Here in New Mexico our wool producing iu.
dustry has been but half developed. Under the old
conditions of the wide open range, wool growing
was largely a matter of luck. The industry was not
backed by equipment or scientific methods or good
breeding. II was u gamble between "A band ot sheep
aud weather conditions. II the weather and range
held good during a season, fhe grower, made
money. If the weather or the range on both were
bad, the grower lost.
Now all that is going to change Is in fact now
changing rapidly. In place of the old time system
sheep ranches are being equipped with the same
thorOughuess and care as the modern farm. Breed