The Wanganui Chronicle "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1913. THE AMERICAN TARIFF

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 12881, 2 May 1913, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." FRIDAY, MAY 2, 1913. THE AMERICAN TARIFF

It is .not surprising to in " Dalg^iy"* Review'1 for April an optimistic ajlusion to the. pruspoct of wool being placed on the free list in the U.S.A. tariff. The, proposal is fraught with tho greatest possible importance to the Australasian wool industry. The cabled advices came las a surprise to the trad-., and were at first regarded with iscepticism, but eabV?s which report that tliere v every prospect of free wool. Tin.-all-important question for wool-growo1 fe i* -the probable effect of a free wool tariff on the Australain trade. According to " Daigoty's" tho consoneuN of opinion is that it will mean a slack ening of the demand for extra supv.sorts, such as frequently make sens»tional prices on American account, bu*. it very big increase in the demand for aveuge to good wools. In view of tho i probablo reversion to freo wool "Dal- • gety's opportunely supply a summary of events incidental to America's connection with the world's wool trade. II says: A glance at what actually took place during the past free wot/ period in U.S.A. iis .interesting, although the conditions have ,yastly changed, inasmuch as,; despite a lieavv tariff wall, the .States have been unable to provide their own requirements, an I iiow import something like 44 per cent of tho total wool used. During the free wool period between the years m* 1894-7 there was a great expansion > I trade between Bradford and th.fr - U.S.A.' In 1891 the value of shipments wns and in 1895 it sprang to £5,697,145. In 1596 it fell to £2,809,987, but in 1897 wool was'rushed "in in ; anticipation of tho Dinpricy tariff ",and the value of the trade w.n? again up to £5,025,4G6. " In 1898 it fV! ! again to ,a little over a million sterling, and sineo then it has varied considoiably. Tlio average value' of Bradford irade.with the U.S.A. during the past threp years lias .been just under three millions sterling-par annum. It must •be remembered also that 1894-5 was n yuar of'bumper production, and Ih<* wool imports into -Europe and America i during 1895-reached 2,001,000 bales of Australasian wool. Tho two following years the imports were 1,800,000 bales. It wasnot tiji 12 'years after. 1895 thai, th-a two million balp limit was again reached. The free -wool period in America followed the McKinley tarli'!,.1 which /was inippsed in' IS9O and exten U ' ed to 1594. The. tarjff ,was a high one-, and wool prices wer& at, that time y**ry.. .low. '."The .fre-c-'iVool'regime'was undo"1 v Vha-'t was .known.'asC'tho -Wilson Bill, Tho result "of freo woolV^as only a sligbi' increase* in:, -carpet wools (which haf 1 uover. been grown • much, in Amei'ici).-•rO*-"tHb combing'^oijlsj mostly English, three or four times asmveh was imported, and of' tho" cloihing wools—tho wools which competed most with tbo donkistic clip—the imports tos© io 140,000,000 Ib. for the three years of free wool. The U.S.A. .woolgrowers cli\ manded tnat the duty should be remifosed. An impartial authority. Pro fessor Clapham, of Cambridge,, in sum rn.arisi.ng the free- wool period result*', says: " The flocks had fallen heavily in tho country as a whole during the.throtyears, but they had actually grown in the JRocky Mountain States. ' Whi?. Ihe free wool system did was to givo practically a'deathblow to all-attempt* tv grow finer wool on a large scale m those parts of America which had not, the special conditions of the Rocky Mountains." Tho Dingley tariff of 3897 reimposed the old .rates on combing and clothing wools, and they wero retained in the Payne-Aldrich tariff of 1909. Tiie Sydney shipments of -wool tt> U.S A. showed a big expansion during the free wool period. Th?y epram? from 6'Jsi bales in 1594-5 to 17;62^ bales in 1895-6, 14,232 bales 189^-", and 11,149 bales in 1397-8. In 180S- 01 they fell \6 2562 bales. For the fus' lialf-doze^n years after the restoration of the duties our shipments nangrj from 1883 to 6617 bales, but during the past eight years':they have fluctuate! from 6000 to 27,000 bales- .During thp first year of the Wilson tariff 117$ million pounds of class 1., or colonial wo..>!, wore imported, an appreciable portion of f which' was scoured. The nearest ap- , proach since was 112 pounds, an lamount greatly in -'excess'of the 1 average. The import of class 11. (luscrj or English wools, including mohair nu : l alpaca) was; 12^ million pounds, and this has been greatly exceeded sines', due to fashion changes and. the rise of mohair manufacture in America. Class ill. (carpet or, coarse wools) -were iirportod to the extent of- 108 millijn pounds in 1896, wherean 110 milliou pounds went in in 1910. .There has been a huge growth in the consumptive power of the American mills since t'irfree *vool era, so that the totals given are at best but a rough guide to the present possibilities under free woo. One effect will be that wools now beyond reach, such as scoured and skin wools, will be included in America.'.»

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