Arizona republican., 1920-04-18

Salt River valley where large numbers just about finished up and the flocks with their lambs by their side are be- ginning to drift northward. They are now out across the alfilaria flats and foot hills headed for the summer pas lures of the higher lands toward the Grand Canyon.
 The clip has been heavy, the lamb crop unusually good and the prospects for a very satisfactory wool price all go to make the Arizona sheepman feel in very happy frame of mind. Some of the clip has already been sold at a figure well up toward the dollar mark but a majority of the Ari- zona sheepmen prefer to consign their wool to eastern wool commission houses.
 A few years ago an educational cam paign was carried on in Arizona by the Agricultural Extension Service of the University which secured the services of w T. Ritch a noted authority upon sheep and wool from Australia MT. Ritch held that Arizona wools were or very high quality but that the sheep men were not getting what they should for their wool for lack of grading and chasing. This did not result in the establishment of modern shearins sheds where the wool could be classed ready for the buyer at home as had been hoped but it did result in many sheep men paying moro attention to the grades of wool they were producing.
 Western sheepmen are this year more than ever before relying upon selling upon a commission plan instead Of as formerly through the old way of local and travelling buyers and specu- lators.
 Professor c. l. Bray, one of the best posted stockmen in Colorado and who is connected with the Colorado Agri- cultural college. states that in his state from fifteen to twenty-five cents more per pound were received when sold through regular commission merchants
 in 1918.
 The ideal way would be for the sheepmen to sell directly to the wooden mill but under our present plan this IS not possible since the woolen mill only wishes to buy one or two grades whereas the wool of the western sheep men is sent away from the shearin9 corral containing all grades
 For this reason not only wool ware houses are necessary but wool mer- chant between the wool grower and the wooden manufacturer is necessary. All though practically all wool is marketed soon after shearing the wooden manu- facturer usually acquires his supply much later, buying the particular kind of wool he wishes such as "combing' for the worsteds or the grade known as clothing for the woolens, felts. etc.
 In recent letter to the sheep men E. F. Rinehart, field animal husband man. Of the University of Idaho, states that smaller flock owners in his state have done much in working up wool pools. In fourteen counties the asso- ciation assembled the wool and then sold directly to the wool merchant. A total of sos. .000 pounds were pooled and sold in this way at a cost of handling of onYy one half cent per pound.
 MT. Rinehart states that in Idaho last year consigning to a commission firm where the chasing and grading was done was the common plan. Iowa wool growers last year consigned over a million pounds to the National Wool Warehouse and Storage company of Chicago which graded and sold 1t on a commission amounting to about two and one-haIf cents per pound. This cents more per pound than when sold to local buyers. In Ohio the wool growers have taken a step further and pooled their clip and graded and sold their wool over two million pounds. from their own warehouses in Colum- bus, at a cost Of three cents per pound for handling
 The average wool grower has been opposed to consignment though he has become squite accustomed to consign- ing his livestock to reliable livestock commission firms or. eastern markets. Itsis true that part of this opposi tion has been due to the fact that the consigned wool sold only as the orders came from the wooden mill which de- layed payment to the grower on the last of the clip.
 A heavy wool consumption is fndi- cated this year which should promise we'll for good prices. The Bureau Of Markets shows for the month of Jan uary 72,700.000 pounds of virgin wool consumed by the manufacturers as compared with ss,200.000 for the cor responding month in 1919 and 65, 100000 pounds in January, 1918.
 On March first the wool stocks Tn the country were about 500,000. 900 pounds. The amount ofsraw wool re- quired throughout the year in the United States is estimated at about 75o, ,ooo, 900. The manufacturers have to