WOOL INDUSTRY. 195 



immense. There are savings of transportation, facilities for selec- 

 tion and pnrchasiDg-, and conveniencies, both to the manufacturer 

 and wool-grower, in the direct exchange of cloth for wool. We 

 have before us the individual returns of each one of the mills 

 above enumerated. The mills are most of them small, from one 

 to two sets in capacity. The remarks attached to so many of the 

 returns, such as " sell our own goods at the mill," " goods made 

 for home consumption," etc., show how they directly supply the 

 necessities of their immediate neighborhoods, and what a saving 

 is effected in transportation and dispensing with the middlemen. 

 While the judges in the group of woollens at the Centennial were 

 making their examination of exhibits for awards, their attention 

 was directed to cloths, principally fancy cassimeres, exhibited by 

 a mill of Oregon, of twelve sets, and therefore of very consider- 

 able magnitude. The styles, designs and fabrication were 

 excellent, as well as the quality of the wool. The significant fact 

 about these goods was the inconceivably low prices at which they 

 were marked, making them the cheapest, for their quality, of any 

 in the Exposition. The explanation of this phenomenon was that 

 the cost of wool to the Oregon manufacturer produced from flocks 

 . grown immediately around his mill was about half that paid by 

 the Eastern manufacturer. There was a saving of middlemen's 

 profits and the transportation across the continent. The official 

 award made by the judges expressly recognizes these facts. 



The consumption of domestic wool is not confined to the West- 

 ern manufacturer. All our manufacturers prefer American wools, 

 at the Same price, to foreign wools even nearly resembling them 

 in quality. In view of the widely and erroneously asserted state- 

 ment of the importance of extending our importation of foreign 

 wools, we cannot too often repeat the results of the census statis- 

 tics of 18V0, relative to wool consumption in our woollen mills 

 proper, — those producing cloths, blankets, flannels, &c. 



Domestic wool used 154,767,095 



Foreign ]7,ail,8'M 



Cotton 17,571,929 



Shoddy 19,392,062 



Total material 209,022,910 lbs. 



Thus the foreign wool consumed in our cloth mills is onl3' ten 

 per cent, of the whole wool used, and is of less importance than 

 the cotton and shoddy which enter into their production. These 

 figures are sufficient to show that the very foundation of our cloth 

 manufacture is the domestic production of wool. 



