ASSOCIATION OF BREEDERS OF LIVE STOCK. 685 



We hail with delight the hopeful future of sheep, the wealth-winning 

 animal of Michigan and the Union. We desire to hasten the glad day 

 when the bars shall again be laid up that were recklessly laid down to 

 let all the cattle of the earth in to eat up the pasture that our own sheep 

 needed. With broad charity for all. the time has come when self-preser- 

 vation is the first law of life. Unsound policy is not statesmanship; 

 class legislation is not patriotism. The right tariff, the right spirit and 

 right methods, will again give the United States sheep and wool industry 

 its proper position at home and abroad. 



The American people have spoken with no uncertain sound. The day 

 the incoming administration was elected every sheep of all breeds ad- 

 vanced in value one dollar per head in Michigan, and they are still ad- 

 vancing. This has added a great stimulus to our sheep business, and 

 wealth to all the lucky owners of sheep. Sheep of pure Merino blood, 

 both Kambouillet and American, and the Lincoln also, are selling at 

 fabulous prices in Australia, Argentine and the Cape, and within two 

 years I predict that select rams of both the former breeds will sell for 

 $500 to f 1,000 here in Michigan. 



Our grain is needed abroad, and gold is coming here after it, which 

 combined with rapidly increasing confidence in all business centers, 

 sound legislation, the principle of reciprocity, administered by men who 

 love their homes and their country above partisanship, the balance of 

 trade will continue in our favor, and every industry will prosper. 



Capital is already seeking investment, cotton is advancing, wool values 

 are stronger, and sheep are changing hands by tens of thousands at con- 

 stantly advancing prices. Men who sacrificed their flocks during the 

 past depression, are tumbling over each other in haste to replace them 

 before prices are advanced beyond their reach, and sad to say, hundreds 

 of good sheep raisers have gone to the wall, or have been so crippled as 

 to be laid by, or completely discouraged. Millions of sheep have been 

 sacrificed in this country; drouth has done in Australia what free wool 

 has done here. Argentine is short, while the Cape and Natal have suf- 

 fered more, and now with the rinder pest added, will sweep a few mil- 

 lions more into oblivion before it can be eradicated. Men who can see 

 into the future with keen eyes, know there is a safe investment in sheep 

 and are acting accordingly; wheat, wool and cotton are all advancing, 

 and of all these, the golden fleece presents the brightest outlook. The 

 fine combing wool of the Kambouillet. the delaine of the American Mer- 

 ino, coarse wools of both varieties will soon be of the remunerative kind, 

 and the wool grower of every breed will prosper. 



I feel it is important to refer to the present discussion of a tariff on 

 wool for revenue and protection, and the benefits resulting therefrom to 

 the wool growers of Michigan. Every wool grower of note has felt the 

 shrinkage on his pocketbook, caused by free wool. All parties agree that 

 we have had experience enough by this disastrous experiment. 



Under the McKinley law, we had fair protection, if we except some 

 radical defects. The so-called Dingley bill, now before the senate, prac- 

 tically gives the manufacturer protection and the wool-growers none. 

 It calls for specific duties on everything else and ad valorem for wool. 

 This bill operates for the manufacturer only. It gives the wool-growers 

 of Ohio, New York and Michigan less than three cents per pound protec- 



