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Letters From The People

Letters From The People image
Parent Issue
Day
15
Month
December
Year
1886
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Ed. Corana.- -Aa some of our policlans are bound wc shall have tree wool. Will you please print the within rom the Huddenflsld Emnimr, u ngUtb nuwspaper. I think by this we arméis eau see what free wool means to 8. That we shall take f rom one-third to alf less per pound than we now do uñar our present tariff. In my hunible pinion it will be a cokl day for any poitlcal party tbat puts a plank in their platform for free wool unless they also ncludu free goods that are made f rom wool, or part wool. Farmers, please ead and talk it up in your club meetings his winter. Geo. A. Put kus. Si i o, December 9, 1866. In order to ascertain with some exactiude the relative positions of Eugltah and American w ooien manufacturera, so tur as the cost of the; wools used by tlicin goes, some interesting oomparioni have been made by Mr. J. L. Bowes, of the tirm of Messrs. J. L. Bowes and Brother, of Liverpool. Samples of America wools were oblained f mm the United States by Mr. Sclioenhof, the American Consul at Tunstail, and were by liiin forwarded to Mr. Bowes to be compared with samples of similar cliaracter and quallty of wool used by English manufacturera. Eacb sample consisted of about two ounces. The prices given are tUose whicli ruled in both countries, and were therefore below the June and inore recent ad vances. The samples of American wool were: No. 1. Olilo XX. wastaed. No. 2. 'lve Year itrowtli, Texas. No. .1. Autumii sliearlng, Texus. No. 4. Autumu shearlng. Colorado medium. No. 5. Hprlng sbearlng, Callfornlan. No. 6. Autuinn aheariug, Colorado coarse. To compare with these Mr. Bowes selected, as wools grown elsewliere tlian in the states, and regularly imported into botli Kngl.ind and the United States, and therefore competinjr with the American home-grown wools the followin;: A. Superior unwíished New Zealand neece, agalust No. 1. B. Average uuwoshed New Zealand fleece. agalnst No. 2. C. Ordlnary uowashed New Zealaud fleece, agal uat No. '. D.VOrdlnary uuwashed Cape of Uood Hope, agal nst No. 4. E. TJnwashed Munte Video wool, as againnt No. 5 F. Unwas'd Ueorglaa autumu against No. U Nos. (i and F ure carpet wools. The whole of the twelvw samples o equal weight were sent to Yorkshire to be scoured by tut expert. The loss tbroagb ecouring was: American wools. Other woola 1... .61.11 . . . A....8807 S... .61.71 . . . B....M 7 X ...8 . . . Ü....44Q5 4... .58 U 57.31 5. ...09.70 . . . E....47.M B....-7.81 . . . K....17.4 The wrice8 of tliu various kinds of woo in the grease iu Kngland and AiDflliea with the duty end expenses added in the foreign wool to show the prtoe at whicl they will bell in New York, are given in the following tuble. Am'can Wools, Other Wools. Price p'r po'nd Price per lb. Prleeperlb in greaae in nrrasiin mcasr ín New York. in Englaml In New York No. Cents. Cents. Cents. 1 .... 33 A 22 :!1 -' .... 28 15 27 3 ïl U 13 86 1 .... 20 D 10 -2 , 5 .... 21(4 E. 1 V4 .... UV4 F lij 10 Mr. Schoenhof was of the opinión tlia the samples B, C and D weie, II an thlng, fiuer, and of longer staple, thai the corresponding samples of Ameiïcai home growth. These figures show tliat, taklog the prlcea of the twelve samples, the average price of the Ainerican-gruw u gntM roo is 09 per cent. higher in New York Uian that of similar quality foreign-growi wool is in England, and Ihat the s;ime foreign-grown grease wool is 7ü per cent dearer in New York than it is in Eng land. The genuine test of the valué o wool is, however, to be obtained by com paring the quantity and price after it bas been scoured. Some wools contain more waste than others, and consequently, al though lower in price per pouml in thei uncleansed condition, mayhe really deare when scoured. These American wooll :i the ligures given above show, lo? more weight In scouring than did tli other wools of corresponding charade and quality. Working out th prices o the wools after tliey had b.en sco.ired, w get the followlng result. The prices ar given in the order of the correspondiiife quantltiM: Price in Price in Price in America of England of America of scoured scoured scoured American elgu Wool elgn Wool Wool. No. Cents. Cents. Cents, land A.... 35. 55 67.5 SandB.... 83 H.4 61.4 3andC... 23.4 45 8B.1) 4andD... ÍW.5 50.3 4S.8 5 and E.... 21.7 4Ü.5 70.T (land F.... 14 15.7 a. From this it will be soen that, in the case of live out of the six sample qiialities, American home-grown wool, when it has been scoured, costs the American manufacturer for the raw material alone - not liicludlng the cost of cleansing - from 80 to 182 per ceut. more tlian wool of equal quality, also scoured costs the English manufacturar. For Initance, No. 3 Atitumn Sheariug (Texas) wool when cleansed costs in the States at the rate of 65.6 cents per pound, while in this country a corresponding quality - ordinary New Zealantl fleece - when it bas been cleansed, costs In England at the rute of 23.4 cents per pound. In the States this same New Zcaland fleece when scoured costs at the rate of 45 cents per pound, owing to the duty and other charges. This very serious difference illustrates very forcibly the extent to wliich American manufacturers are handicapped by their import duty on wool, and explains how it is that in spite of the proteetive duty on manufactured wooleu goods they experience so much difflculty in cmnpcting on their own ground with Knsjlish manufacturers. It is found to be advantageous to import wool in grease, because it is consldered that the grease preserves the wool, and keeps it soft and pl'uble, scoured wools are apt to deteriórate in quality when stored. Further, home scouring is more satisfactory in other ways. The awkward part of tliis phase of the matter for the American niiuiuficturer is that he has to pay the duty of 10 cents per pound on the wool with all the grease and dirt in it, which he immediately proceeds to scour out. The result is that for every pound of actually useable scoured wool that he gete, the duty amounts to from 20 to SS cents a pound, which is in many cases alone as rnucli as the price of the wool without the duty. With such a condition of things as this it is not surprlslng that there is an agitation acro8 the Atlantic for the repeal of the import duty on raw wool. The farmer, has however lometblBK to say abont tliat. At present, as the particular above show, his wools sell for more than half as much agaln in the States as wools of correpoinliiii.' qualities sell for in England; and he Rees clearlv enough that Immedlately the duty was removed he would have to face the unrestrioted competition of those wools, and a great fa 11 In the price of his growth would ensue. N:iturally, therefore, he ohjeets to the repeal of the duty; and his case is a strong we when he is able to poinl to the tact tliat the duties wliich are Impowd In all direotions to protect American m uuiftcturers from the unchecked competitiou of outsiders compel him to puy much highoï prices for many things tliat lie buys ÜUU1 he would have to do were he at liberty to go into any market and purebase, as tlie woolen manufaclurers want todo, without haring a duty levied on the bargaln. To retain the (lut:eson what he bnys and repeal the duty on what be Bella, a p pean to him to be too palpably a c ise t "ticadl you win, tails I lose.'1

Article

Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News