Sheep Breeders' Association. 353 



It has practically been due to necessity, for instance, that the 

 cotton and tobacco growers are selling their own goods and ma- 

 nipulating their own finances, while the wool producer must sell 

 to a speculator without competition or place his clip in the hands 

 of an eastern commission merchant who manages his finances for 

 him and receives compensation for numerous forms of services 

 which are not necessary, and have a depreciating effect upon the 

 profits of the business. 



The financing of pork, corn, wheat, cotton, and all staple and 

 kindred commodities of the United States, excepting wool, is per- 

 formed through loans in which these products are freely accepted 

 as collateral, but wool, for no founded reason, is regarded with 

 distrust to such an extent that it has been discredited as collateral, 

 so that many banking institutions have said that they would prefer 

 the unsecured notes of a merchant to a note secured by wool as 

 collateral. 



The continuance of this unjust impression of wool credits is 

 created, first, because it is taken for granted that the loan is ex- 

 pressly intended for the benefit of the speculator; and second, be- 

 cause many of the banking institutions are laboring under the false 

 impression that no clip of wool can be described with sufficient 

 exactness to make it a desirable security for a collateral loan. 



It must be conceded by all well informed wool men, that the 

 character and quality of wool are so changed by climatic condi- 

 tions and potent influences, that even when uniformity of grade 

 and staple are secured, actual value may be either enhanced or 

 diminished by shrinkage. 



The objectionable features are overcome by our storage house 

 movement. When a clip of wool arrives, should a grower so elect, 

 it will be graded by an expert grader, and resacked, and when the 

 certificate is offered for collateral, it will bear evidence of the 

 exact number of pounds, grade and condition represented in the 

 clip. By consulting daily quotations, the banker can readily as- 

 certain the value of the wool. 



The growers of live stock and grain can secure immediate 

 cash and value for their product by taking it to the nearest ship- 

 ping point, but the wool grower is not even able to ascertain the 

 value of the product within a reasonable distance from his ship- 

 ping point, because the few buyers and solicitors who are present 

 are not always inclined to play fair, and base their offers on the 

 dormant and ill-regulated condition of the market. 



A— 23 



