Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-02-05
WOOLGROWERS
SUFFER FROM
DROP IN PRICE
Sheep Men Sending Stock to
Slaughter House-GOing
Out Of Business.

WASHINGTON, D. C-What threat
ems this country today, as a result of
the low price for wool and few buyers
at any price, is damage to the wool
growing industry in the United States
which it would take many years to re-
pair
This point was brought out by D. A.
Spencer of the Bureau Of Animal Indus
try here, who has charge Of the Govern
ment work in improving breeds Of sheep.
Wool prices have been inordinately
high for several years. Now at last ey
have come down, forcing the price Of
clothing down with them.
"Let them stay down." you are in
clined to say. 1.-THE woolgrowers had
several good years. They should now be
able to weather little adversity.''
The answer to this seems to be that
they are lot able to weather the period
of adversely which they now must face,
without substantial help Of some kind.
The woolgrowers, according to Gov
eminent men, did not make large profits
during the war. In fact, the grower Of
any commodity in this country seldom
makes large profits, unless he is also
a broker or dealer of some kind. 1t is
the nature Of the industrial system that
the largest profits are made by distrib-
utors, not producers.
Thus wool before the war was bring
ing the producer about 80 cents a pound.
During the war it brought him about IS
cents for the same grade. But at the
same time the wages he had to pay to
herders, the price of feeds, and all the
other expenses doubled or more than
doubled. Most Of the growers were fairly
prosperous for two or three years. A
few of the large operators perhaps made
big money. Some growers, by reason
of unfavorable weather conditions, lost
money. But whatever may have hap
pened to fortunate or unfortunate indi-
yiduals, the woolgrowers as a class did
not make more than a fair percentage
on their investments.
Then came the drop in the price Of
wool. Wool is now hard to sell at any
price, and % cents pound is considered
g good price. But the woolgrower can
scarcely produce wool at that figure. All
last winter his expenses Of production
were at a wartime level. In addition co
that, In many sections he faced unfavor-
able weather conditions Now his wool
clip for the year cannot be sold at any
where near what it cost him to produce
it. if it can be sold at all. At the same
time, he has not money enough to stay
out Of the market until conditions Inn
prove.
Especially is this true when you con-
slider how uncertain it is when conditions
will improve. 1t is said that there ID
enough wool in this country now to sup
ply all of our needs for nearly two years.
And. with wool on the free list, more
wool is pouring into the country all the
time In Australia IN the Argentine, in
South Africa, there are enormous guam
titles of wool which seek a market In
this country because Europe has not
money enough to buy 1t. Wool can per-
haps be produced somewhat more cheaply
I'm those countries than in this, but pr1'
marily the flow of foreign wool to this
country is due to conditions created by
the war-to the impoverishment OF Eu-
rome and to the rate Of exchange.
For example. American buyers can now
buy wool in New Zealand for % cents
a pound. But the rate Of exchange Is
such that about 90 cents in American
money will buy a pound Of wool in New
Zealand Hence American buyers are
buying the New Zealand wool and stor-
ing 1t against the riss in price which
must eventually come. And the Ameri-
can wool grower cannot produce wool at
20 cents a pound, much less sell-tt for
that.
What is the result? The result is that
sheep men are going out Of the sheep
business. that We are being put in the
way of becoming dependent upon impor-
tatiOns for our wool.
Before the war, the sheep industry In
this country faced difficulties. Western
range areas were being cut down by ths
taking up C homesteads for farming
The wool industry faced a change. It
was evident that sheep had to be raised
on smaller areas of range, and had to
be given more fodder. In order to make
this pay, the breeds had to be improved,
so that each sheep would produce more
wool, and so pay for his keep This
process was going forward nicely before
and during the war. Sheep men who
made a little more money than usual
were investing it in pure blooded rams to
improve their stock. At the Government
sheep experiment station at Dubois,
Idaho, experiments were being conducted
in the production of a type of sheep which
should combine as far as possible the
hardihood Of the native stock with the
wool producing qualities OF the pure
bred sheep. Some success had been at
tanned along that line, and the more
enterprising sheep men were following
the Government lead
Now all Of this slow and careful work
toward putting the American wool grow
tinc basis is being rapidly undone. Sheen
men are sending their sheep, blooded and
otherwise, to the slaughter house. Most
of them can do nothing else. They have
got to quit raising sheep and raise some
thing else, or take jobs. One man re-
Gently sold his herd of 1000 sheep. He
had no choice. He could not sell his
wool. He could not stay in the sheep
business and continue to eat. So he sold
his sheep for about S2110 a head. Then
all expenses had been paid; he had about
81 cents a head for his sheep This was
not profit. 1t was his net return on
sheep which 1T had cost him 50 or $40 a
head to raise. He was a ruined man.
And not only little herds like this one,
but large herds Of 10000 and 10000 sheen
are being wiped out of existence. 1t is
this fact which constitutes a crisis in
the American wool industry. The wool
grower is the chief sufferer. But the
whole country will suffer If such a val
liable economic asset as its wool grow
ing industry is damaged as badly as now
seems inevitable.
1t is emphasized that the question is
not primarily question of tariff The
wool situation is due to various abnor-
NAL conditions which grew out of the
war. 1t is due to overprOduction in this
country, to the inability of Europe to
buy wool, to an abnormal rate Of ex-
change After these abnormal conditions
have passed, it is admitted, there will be
no more need for a high tariff on wool
than there was before the war.
The one clear fact is that something
ought to be done for the wool industry
at once. What the wool industry faces,
as Cleveland said, is a condition and not
a theory The situation seems to call,