TWENTIETH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART V 453 



Now, I would like to point out to you the difference between the wool 

 market and the live stock market. Many have the idea that the Boston 

 wool market is an open market where prices are quoted and paid and 

 business deals completed. But such is not the case. In the live stock 

 market one can ship a carload of steers and receive a quotable price, pro- 

 vided the commission men get it. In the wool market it is entirely dif- 

 ferent. Everything is done by private treaty. The holder of the wool 

 and a representative of the mill get together and bargain. There is no 

 public market, and the wool price quotations you see in the papers are 

 simply somebody's opinion of these private sales. 



I would like to call your attention to the benefits of this association to 

 the sheep and wool industry of Iowa. First in getting the government 

 owned wool placed on the market on the installment plan after the sign- 

 ing of the armistice. Next the withdrawal of this same wool from the 

 market during the marketing period for the 1919 clip. Third, a general 

 advance in prices for the 1919 clip, benefiting non-association growers 

 as well as those who were members. This advance was not founded 

 upon the Boston wool market, but was due, we believe, to efforts on the 

 part of wool speculators to discredit the work of the association. 



Third is the educational feature. Heretofore the methods of market- 

 ing wool have not given the producer a chance to learn wherein the manu- 

 facturer is entitled to criticise his product. The good, the bad and the 

 indifferent have all gone at practically the same price. The man who is 

 careless with his sheep and sells clotted, burry wool, received about the 

 same price paid to the man of careful methods, when there is really some- 

 times a difference of 35 cents to 40 cents a pound in the commodity. The 

 grower had no opportunity to learn the actual value of his product. 



So far as Iowa is concerned the wool market is difficult to interpret. 

 The reason is obvious. The government has stated and proven that Iowa 

 wool has been marketed at an annual loss of from two to three cents a 

 pound, due to improper grading and preparation for market, and right 

 here, to my mind, the educational feature was worth thousands and thou- 

 sands of dollars to Iowa wool growers. I am basing my opinion upon the 

 condition in which the wool was presented in Chicago. 



The marketing of 1,250,000 pounds of wool at an average price of 61% 

 cents a pound, Boston price, should prove a great financial gain for the 

 wool growers of the state. Again I might mention the improved reputa- 

 tion gained for Iowa wool, for the state has had an enviable reputation in 

 the matter of wool production. It seems the speculators had drawn a 

 line up around Iowa some place — have forgotten just where — and from 

 that section comes the drab wool, the semi-bright wool, that suffers a re- 

 duction of from 5 to 10 cents a pound. This has been used as a leverage 

 to secure the entire Iowa output of wool at a reduced price. 



One day when the grading of our wool was about one-third completed 

 a Boston wool buyer came in to inspect the clip. He needed 50,000 pounds 

 of quarter-blood combing immediately. He wanted it sacked and shipped 

 the next day in order to keep his mill running on certain contracts. From 

 this you can get an idea of the methods Involved in selling wool, and you 



