The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-01-24

Our Threatened Sheep Industry.

the New zesland wool and 49,
it against the rise in pric. ss,a!
must eventually come a. aiea
American wool growers cam. y
duce wool at 20 cents q pound ~ ~
less sell it for that aac
Sheep Men Quit
What Is the result. ~,
suit is that sheep men ara ~.
out Of the sheep business ths sSlas
are being put in the wav !,
coming dependent upon imn.,sss =
tons for our wool. S
Before the war, the shee, !.
dustry in this country facsS ~, W.
ficulties. Western range areas wa, W..
being cut down by the takinr ~ .s, !.
homesteads for farming ss
wool industry faced a chance !.
was evident that sheep had IL i.
raised on smaller areas Of rs,..
and had to be given more fosdss
In order to make this nav ~.
breeds had to be improved. m,
process was going forward nirel,
before and during the war. Shss.
men who made a little more mosss
than usual were investing h !.
pure blooded rams to improve 49,.
stock. At the government shsss
experiment station at Duboia IA,
no, experiments were being eon
Quoted in the production Of 4 I'm.
OF sheep which should combine !,
far as possible the hardihood Of ths
native stock with the wool produc
ing qualities Of the pure.br,a
sheep. Some success had been A..
tanned along that line, and tbs
more enterprising sheep men
were following the government
lead.
Now all Of this slow and careful
work toward putting the American
wool growing industry on a perm.
anent and scientific basis is bein,
rapidly undone. Sheep men are
sending their sheep, blooded anil
otherwise, to the slaughter house
Most of them do nothing else. Thew
have got to quit raising sheep and
raise something else, or take Jobs
One man recently sold his herd Of
1000 sheep. He had no choice. HI
could not sell his wool. He could
not stay in the sheep business ana
continue to eat. So he sold BIZ
sheep for about $40 a head. wher
all expenses had been paid. he hai
about So cents a head for his sheen
This was not profit. 1t was hi
net return on sheep which il hat
cost him nine or ten dollars a hea
to raise. He was a ruined man.
Sheep Being Slaughtered.
And not only little herds lik
this one, but large herds of 10 an
20 thousand sheep are being wipe,
out of existence. 1t is this fac
which constitutes a crisis in tn
American wool industry. The WOO
grower is the chief sufferer. Blu
the whole country will suffer
such a valuable economic asset a
its wool growing industry is dam
aged as badly as now seems iney
liable.
1t is emphasized that the ques
ton is not primarily a question o
tariff. The wool situation is du
to various abnormal condition
which grew out of the war. II i
due to over production In thi
country, to the inability Of Europ
to buy wool, to an abnormal rat
of exchange. After these abnorma
conditions have passed, it is ad
mitted, there will be no more nee
for high tariff on wool than ther,
was before the war.
The one clear fact is that some
thing ought to be done for the WOO
industry at once. What the WOO
industry faces. as Cleveland said
is a condition and not a theory
The situation seems to call. not TO
a discussion of theories Of fire.
trade and protectionism, but TO
some prompt emergency action Il
keep all the sheep from going +
the slaughter house.