, 1921-11-24
DESTROYING SHEEP
HUSBANDRY
WOOL GROWERS TELL SENATE FINANCE
Committee AT TARIFF HEARING
that SHODDY and CHEAP
FOREIGN WOODS DE-
STR0YlNG INDUSTRY

The number Of sheep in America
has decreased from $500 900 head
in 1910 to less than $4,000 600 head
in192O. according to statements
made before the United States Sen
ate Finance Committee at Tariff
Hearings by representatives of the
National Sheep and Wool Bureau of
America.
J.. F. Walker Of Ohio, member of
the Executive Committee OF the
Bureau, and J. b, Wilson of Wyo-
ming. its vice-president. vigorously
attacked the adj valorem feature of
the Fordney Tariff Bill in their
statements to the Senate Finance
Committee and asked that it be
eliminated.
They presented comprehensive
arguments in favor of basing the
duty on he clean content rather thar
on the grease. and quoted the costs
of growing wool here and in foreign
countries, calculated to show that
33c per pound IN the clean content
basis is the minimum duty that will
afford the sheep industry in the
United States sufficient protection to
prevent its destruction.
The representatives of the Ma
, tional Sheep and Wool Bureau claim
that there is as great an increase to
the wool grower in the cost Of pro-
ducing WOOL in the United States to-
day over the cost of producing it
In 1912 as there is in the increased
cost to the manufacturer Of manu-
featuring fabrics in the United
States today over the cost to the fab
ric manufacturer in 1912.
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wool grower today is as low and in
some instances even lower than in
1912. the prices fabric manufacturers
today get for their fabrics are
double what they got for the same
fabrics in 1912.
The representatives Of the Bureau
said:
ut may be possible that the manu-
f%acturer needs added protection in
order to compete successfully with
foreign manufacturers. and II such
be the case. we as wool growers want
to see him have 1t, but he certainly
should not be allowed to get 1t under
guise of protection to the grower.
which it most certainly is not.
1T has been the history of wool
tariff legislation for the past thirty
years that in every instance the
manufacturer has hidden protection
in his compensatory duties, and as
this schedule now stands. with the
manufacturers compensatory duty
based on a Csc clean content duty
and his actual duty ranging down as
low as sc per pound, he will still en-
joy this hidden protection.
ut is a generally accepted fact
that wool growers have never re-
ceived the entire protection which
wool tariff schedules intended they
should have, and which the consum-
ing public actually believes they re-
ceive, and in the drafting of this
present measure We are only asking
for equal consideration with the
manufacturer.
IF the sheep industry of the
United States is destroyed. and as
this measure TO- stands it can mean
nothing else. what would be our no
sition in the event of another war?
S vital was The necessity for
wool in 1918 that the Government
took over the entire wool supply in
the United States, and quoting Cen
eral Marsh. United States Army,
page II, Wool and Rag Trade Report
Of the Federal Trade Commission.
We u NohlI ldlItttI, anu nave
lone so. all Of the wool of the United
States. and have taken the wool of
The Argentine. We are going to put
the whole civilian population on
shoddy for the next year, 80
THE humiliating spectacle of a
nation like the United States putting
Its civilian population on shoddy
and even using shoddy for its army
requirements the first year Of the
war, should never be repeated"
The representatives of the Bureau
also stated that We annually pro-
duce more shoddy in the United
States thar we produce Virgin Sleeps
Wool. and that in addition to ade-
quate tariff protection, it was ne
cessary to promptly enact the French
Capper Truth in Fabric" bill, which
would put a stop to shoddy's count
erfeiting Virgin Wool. The Truth
In Fabric" bill is of vital Importance
to both the consuming public and the
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