WOOL SUPPLIES IN U.S.

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26363, 6 March 1951, Page 7

WOOL SUPPLIES IN U.S.

Move For Government Control

(Rec. 8.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, March 4. A move for complete Government control of raw wool stocks was gaining ground, the wool trade correspondent of the “New York Times” said to-day. Though not relishing such development, woollen goods suppliers, he said, held it was the only way the industry could retrieve the public confidence which it had been losing with the rising price of its product. The armed services were now paying an average of eight dollars a yard for woollen cloth compared with 344 cents a year ago. If contracts were issued on a basis where wool could be supplied at a fixed price, the net cost, according to the trade, would more than offset the expenditure made by the Government in maintaining and selling wool below what had been paid for it. Textile men admitted that such an arrangement would constitute a subsidy, but it would work not only to the advantage of the Government, but also to the benefit of the industry and the public. The major portion Of the American wool clip of 200,000,0001 b would come into the market in the near future. Speculators had been busy purchasing a large part of the clip on the hoof hoping to make enormous profits. The trade argued that if local clips as well as wool stocks from abroad were impounded, the Government would have complete control of the pricing situation.