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principal sheep growing States of the Northwest. In 1882 the value of sheep in Wisconsin was $3,518,287. By 1897, under the influence of the Wilson tariff, this value had been reduced to $708,722. In Minnesota the value of sheep fell from $1,447,829 in 1893 to $844,290 in 1896. In North Dakota the value of sheep declined from $1,173,699 in 1893 to $616,701 in 1895, while in South Dakota the fall was equally great. In Michigan sheep values were reduced from $8,512,679 in 1893 to $2,843,189 in 1896, and in Colorado from $4,263,673 in 1892 to $1,984,058 in 1895.

What is true of these States is also true of every wool-growing State in the Union. Influenced by foreign competition of free wool the growing of the staple became so unprofitable that whole herds of sheep were sold at the lowest prices ever recorded. In Ohio, where fine blooded sheep were raised, the value fell from $2 to $3.50 to 40 to 70 cents. Necessarily farmers who devoted their attention to this industry sustained heavy loss. In the fiscal year 1893-94, under the McKinley tariff, the consumption of wool in the United States was 346,654,904 pounds, of which only 55,152,558 pounds, or 15.6 per cent was imported. In the next fiscal year, under the Wilson tariff, consumption was 509,411,416 pounds, of which 39.8 per cent was imported, and in the following fiscal year this percentage of imported wool increased to 45.4 per cent; and, moreover, the imports of wool were, for the first time in nearly thirty years, in excess of the domestic production.

These figures clearly show that foreign importers were, as the framers of the law probably intended they should be, directly benefited by the free-wool provision of the Wilson tariff.

With free wool came depression in American wool manufacturing industries. Manufacturers who had been encouraged by the McKinley tariff to improve the class of goods, so as successfully to compete with foreign manufacturers, were discouraged, mills were closed, operatives lost their employment and distress prevailed. Foreign fabrics flooded the markets of the country to the exclusion of nearly all others, and those manufacturers who had been by voice and influence, seeking to secure cheaper raw material, through free wool, found that they were undersold and that they had greatly miscalculated the extent of European competition.

Manifestly, therefore, Europeans benefited, not only through free raw material, but through the broader market they obtained for foreign-made fabrics.

No sooner did a change in Administration indicate that there would be a speedy revision of the tariff than the European wool interests prepared to flood this country with their product, hoping thereby to continue in the enjoyment of this market at least until the American wool industry should naturally revive under the in

fluence of a protective tariff. The supplies of wool imported during the last half of the fiscal year 1896-97 were enormous. The largest importation was 95,559,933 pounds in April, 1897, nearly one-half of which came from Australia. Warehouses were filled to repletion, repositories for the staple were sought in every principal city, and extraordinary inducements were offered American consumers to purchase in advance foreign made goods.

industry, however,

The American woolen manufacturing promptly revived under the influence of the Dingley tariff, there was a marked increase in the number of mills opened all over the country, and consumption of raw wool was rapid. This consumptive demand has since continued good, as is indicated by the firmness with which prices are maintained. The baneful effects of the Wilson tariff are, happily, now gradually disappearing.

The statistical position of wool in Europe and in this country is such as to make it highly probable that the Dingley tariff will hereafter operate to prevent important foreign competition with the principal grades of wool grown in this country. The American wool industry will, therefore, be stimulated and it is believed that long before the close of this year all traces of the effects of the iniquitous free-wool provision of the Wilson tariff will have been entirely obliterated.

TARIFF AND PRICE OF WOOL.

Under free wool the price dropped to 12 cents per pound. The present price of wool is due to the protection afforded by the Dingley tariff bill. The market has now nearly reached the point at which wool can be imported under the new tariff. When our unwashed wool has reached the price of about 22 cents per pound the full protection afforded by the Dingley tariff will have been reached. Under the McKinley tariff of 1889-90 the price of wool was 22 to 24 cents per pound, which is the highest point it has reached in 12 years. Following this, for a period of two years under Grover Cleveland and no tariff, the price was about 13 cents per pound for unwashed wool.

Owing to the Dingley protective tariff the price to-day for unwashed wool is 20 cents per pound, and with the return of prosperous times and the consumption of the enormous amount of foreign wool brought in under free duty during the first half of the year 1897 we shall have reached the point where the wool will receive the full benefit of the tariff which will advance the price of unwashed wool from 2 to 4 cents above the present price. This will again revive the wool industry in this country and greatly increase the next year's clip.-Meadville (Pa.) Republican.

MONTANA'S SHEEP, WOOL AND CATTLE.

[From the American Economist.]

The extent to which Montana has been benefited by the Dingley tariff is shown in the annual report of the State Commissioner of Labor, Agriculture, and Industry. For the year 1897 there were owned in Montana 3,095,192 sheep, with a wool production of 24,012,498 pounds. The average selling price for the year was 11.58 cents per pound, against 8.01 cents per pound in 1896, and the values of the clips for the two years were, respectively, $2,780,647 and $1,745,402, a gain of more than $1,000,000 in favor of the clip of 1897.

In the abstract of the commissioner's report which has reached us no mention is made of the comparative market value of the sheep for the two years, but it is safe to conclude that Montana is no exception to the general rule of heavy increase in sheep values as the result of the Dingley tariff, and that at the rate of an increase of $1 per head the sheep owners of that State are more than $3,000,000 richer than they were a year ago.

Cattle in Montana have advanced in value $4 a head, and the shipments for 1897 amounted to $7,109,994, against $6,430,512 in 1896. It is, therefore, evident that in the three items of sheep, wool and cattle Montana's gain as the result of six months of protection has been about $5,000,000. This is a goodly sum, but it is only a fraction of the gross sum of the benefits which that State has realized from the reinauguration of the American policy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

The general subjects treated in this volume run in alphabetical order under bold captions, related subjects being indexed under the general headings in smaller type. Considerable matter relating to coinage which does not appear under its appropriate caption should be looked for under "Free Coinage," "Silver," and "Gold and Silver."

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Bryan. New York Journal's relations to

Opposes an effective navy

Vote on English language in the public schools

Is he a Populist?

On increase in circulation

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Test of coined money

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Of gold and silver

Jefferson suspends coinage of silver dollars
Acts of 1853 and 1873

Bland-Allison act

Sherman act

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Effect of free coinage on savings, etc "The crime of "73"

Standard dollar falls to 39.66 cents

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