The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-01-06
TREASURE STATE FARM AND LIVESTOCK
DESPERATE PLIGHT OF WOOL INDUSTRY AND
SHEEP MEM is SHOWN BY SENATOR WARREN

Further light on the plight of the
wool industry was thrown by Sena-
tor Warren of Wyoming in a speech
made in the senate a few days ago,
in which he substantiated the state
ments previously made by Senator
Smoot and others. For the purpose
of showing the necessity for prompt
relief for the wool industry, either
through an embargo or by other
means, Senator Warren said:
wishing to ascertain something
of the condition of the market, 1
wired yesterday to one of the large
sheep-growing concerns in the west
for their latest returns on mutton
shipped to Kansas City, and / have
in my hand a telegram in reply stat
ing that he net per head, ewes, was
$1.22A.' That was the Kansas City
market upon good sheep. The sheep
growing concern referred to, which
has been many years in the business
and which shipped these sheep, has
been at an expense of from 81 to
$12 a head in raising animals of that
kind during the past few years.
while speaking of the market on
mutton, l might as we'll mention the
market, or rather lack of market, for
wool. This same western concern
received for it's wool clip of 1919 a
net return of $4,000 over and
above all shipping and selling ex-
penses. The clip from that same cor
poration is now lying in Boston,
equally good, possibly better, and
would not bring in the gross, from
all the indications that / am able
to secure, 100000, and from this
will have to be deducted something
over $3.50 for transportation of
the clip more than 1900 miles, the
commission percentages, storage,
grading and so forth. In other words,
it would not bring at the present time
more than about one-third of what
it brought a year ago, even if it could
be sold at all; and, of course, the
expenses of raising the present years
clip have been higher than they ever
were before.
81 have a great many letters and
kilograms respecting the extreme
distress that prevails in the wool
growing industry. OF course there
g some distress in the agricultural
inc as to all products, but these par
products-sheep and WOOL
ieem to be the ones which suffer :
most and which will result, unless +
luick relief is afforded, in very many 9
financial failures. The worst of it
S that such failures are not confined +
to the growers, but from =
that I have in hand, and o
many more in my office, bankers in i
hose communities that are under
aking to carry these farmers :
through, as they have done before,
md as is usual in all parts of the !
country, are in deep trouble, and so j.
hey are sending in many of these
editions. I do not propose to bur-
.en the Record" with any particu-
number, but I am going to read
ne or two expressions contained in
ONE of them. l have one letter
rom an individual grower, a very
Conservative man, and from that I
uote:
From a Grower
"'Am writing about the necessity
Or an embargo or temporary relief
n wool at the present session of
1t seems to me that the
overnment owes us something after
king wool prices at less than the
price during the war, and it
GEMS to me that it would be to the
1vantage of the country at large
save this industry from absolute
lin. After having gone through
period of high wages and oper-
ing expenses, increased tremend-
lsly by the drought and hard win
r, we have no market for wool on
of the foreign wool dumped
here with no tariff and the advan-
,ges to the importers of the present
,change rates, giving them a pre-
ium of some 80 per cent
Brought by Government
Foreign wool was brought here
,ry largely by the government of
e United States, which feared that
e wool produced in this country,
though it were all absorbed, as
was absorbed at their own figures,
,uld not carry them through. So
ey imported enough to keep the
anufacturers busy in manufactur-
2 the cloth needed by the govern
and we're f~orehanded enough
that at the time the armistice
me they had on hand some 600,-
5000 pounds of wool, which was
tde up quite largely of wool
ought from foreign countries, and