OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2625, 6 October 1909, Page 2

OUR YORKSHIRE LETTER.

r AMERICAN DUTIES ON WOOL. 3 ? (From Our Special Qorrespondent-.) BRADFORD, August 20. Various opinions will be held by individuals respecting the duties placed on English, colonial, and other foreign wool tiiat is imported into the United States, but all the same I think there can only be one view taken by growers namely, the duty imposed of old per lb., on merinos and crossbreds is, to say the least, extravagant. lam as. positive that the intelligence of the average citizen of the United States will ultimately see the farce of swell an imposition and that the duties will bo lowered, as that the sun will rise o tomorrow morning. For one little section of the trade to fatten and abound in wealth at the expense of at least TO millions of people- is an insult to their intelligence, and the evidence brought before the committee at the recent tai"--riff revision—which - leaves the woos schedule untouched- —has opened tho eyes of the entire world to the iniquities and absurdities of" taxing a necessity , to the extent of 11 cents per lb. on ' greasy wool. It may not be commonly known, but wools going into the United States are scheduled under three heads, namely:— Class 1, Class 2, and Class - 3, and I have often wondered if the average reader has a clear knowledge of what is meant by these. Quoting from tlie official tarriff schedule of the American Government, the following is a brief description of the classes:-^—

Class 1, that is to say, merino, inestizt. metz, or metis wools, or other wools of light character with any of tlio preceding, including Bagdad wool, China lambs’ wool, Castel Branco, Adri.anople skin wool or butchers” wool, and /.such as have been heretofore usually imported into the! United States from Buenos Ayres, New Zealand, Australia, Cape of Good Hope, Russia. Great Britain, Canada, Egypt, Morocco, and elsewhere, and all wools not hereinafter included in classes two and three. Class 2.—that is to say Leicester. Cotswold, Lincolnshire, Down combing wool, Canada long wools, or other like coming wools of English blood and usually known by tho terms herein used, and also hair of the cameL Angora: goat, alpaca, and other like animals.

Class 3.—that is to say, Dons'koi, native South American, Cordova, Valparaiso, native Smyrna, Russiaiv camel's hair, and -all other such wools - of like character as have been heretofore usually imported into the United States from Turkey. Greece, Syria, and elsewhere, excepting improved wools hereinafter provided for.

It will be seen from the above that -generally; speaking Class 1 comprisesmerinos; Class 2, crossbreds; and Class '3, low carpet wools which are mostly a mixture of wool and kemps, or dead hairs. Very large quantities of the twolatter descriptions are grown in the Kingdom and shipped across the Atlantic, all our different breeds of -crossbreds being more or less sent, while Scotch blackface which goes under thehead of carpet wools, is also exported in large- weights. Just at present there is) a great struggle going on between Bradford, Glasgow, and Americanhouses to buy blackfaced descriptions under Sd per lb. in order to get the wool in at what is known as lowduty rates. That means to say that if a decent quality of Blackfaced woof can be bought at. say, s|d per Hi. then it goes into the United States at 4 cents or 2d per lb. duty, whereas, if" it costs in the first instance 6}d per lb., then the duty charged is 7 cents or 3ld' per lb., while if it contains not over 8 per cent of dirt the duty is 6d per lb.

WILL AMERICA WANT MORE WOOL? America’s competition in both English,. Australian, and Buenos Ayres wool markets during the past nine months lias been a very valuable factor, so much that it has made a pretty Sot pace for all other competitors. When the statistical year terminates in the United States, its imports of woof will be the largest in its history, thus proving the fallacy of the contentions of the National Association of Woolgrowers that given an adequate tax on imported wool, and the United States could grow all' the wool its manufacturers require, America can no more grow what its own user's require than can the merino be farmed in Iceland, and tariff or no tariff, United States manufacturers will buy larger quantities of foreigngrown wool in the future than they have done in the past, of course, not reckoning natural crises. The fact of the matter is that America cannot do without Australian merinos, New Zealand and South American crossbreds, for United States w;ools are not generally equal in style or condition to those grown in the countries named. American manufacturers have long ago got beyond the experimental stage in using Australian merinos and crossbreds, and they know* full well that if they want tip top fabrics they must resort to Colonial fleeces. As time goes on American operations in the principal producing countries of the world will even assume larger proportions, and in my opinion the da- is nearer a lowering of the tariff barrier than the majority seem to think.

We rather incline to think that the country’s trade with the United States has. to a large extent, undergone for good .a radical change, at least so long as the present high duties prevail, and eighty millions of people across the Atlantic are having to pay dearlv for the production of those engaged in manufacturing woollen and worsted fabrics. For instance, Bradford does with America the largest and most important trade of any centre in the West Riding, and the nature of its exports have completely changed during the last ten years. ’ Seldom docs a month pass hut what wool heads the list of shipments, and during July, out of an aggregate total of £463,419, wool valued at £248,205 was shipped. That is the largest monthly export of wool sif oe July 1897, but that really is nothing to go by, simply because shipments of raw material were rushed across the Atlantic in anticipation of the Dingley tariff which came into operation on the 24th of that month. There has been a big

expansion in the trade of . the West Riding, with America in raw materials, and this is bound to continue. In the British Bogrd of Trade returns published last week there is wonderful evidence of this as wll be seen from the following table which shows our exports of Home and colonial wool to the United States during the first seven months of the' last three years:— 1907 8,852,3001b5. 1908 7,946, lOOlbs. 1909 20,367,4001b5.

The above is. - tery satisfactory evidence of business prosperity across the Atlantic in manufacturing circles, and! there is proof that American manufacturers cannot yet beat Bradford producers of stuff goods and cotton linings, for the shipments from Bradford last month of nmol dres&’ goods and linings arc up by £41,478, -and cotton dress goods and cotton linings also show an increase of £‘30,083. , It ha's always been a mystery wliSjC America;-—-the home - of cotton production—could not better manipulate the raw material, for, during the last ten yearS cotton - fin frags l have been - purchased from Bradford in ■(increasing quantities, due to bettor - dy-e----'in'g-: and finishing of the gSods.