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west, as to condition and manner of putting up fleeces, and deeming it important that uni 
form rules, so far as practicable, be adopted by the buyers and manufacturers of the west; 
it 18 
Resolved, That the members of this association will be inevitably [invariably ?] governed 
by the following rules in the purchases of fleece wool made by them, and respectfully invite 
all western dealers to conform to them, viz: 
1. Merchantable wool shall be the standard for price, and shall be well washed, free from 
fee ane all filth, and tied with only what twine is sufficient to hold the fleece compactly 
ogetner. 
3. On all unwashed fleeces, fleeces stuffed with tags, murrain wool, or any other foreign 
substance, black fleeces, and all washed buck fleeces, a deduction of one-third shall be made 
3. On unwashed buck fleeces a deduction of one-half shall be required. 
April 19, 1867, a convention of wool-buyers, held at Rochester, New York, 
adopted almost identical rules. The Ohio State buyers’ association passed simi- 
lar resolutions last year, and have recently reaffirmed that action. 
June 2, 1868, a convention of wool-buyers at Detroit adopted the following 
resolutions : 
1. A deduction of one-half on greasy and gummy unwashed buck fleeces. 
2. A deduction of one-third on heavy washed buck fleeces. 
3. A deduction of one-third on all other unwashed or partially washed fleeces, and on cot- 
ted wool, and on unconditioned fleeces made unmerchantable by stuffing with tags and dead 
wool, or by an excessive use of twine, and on fleeces that have been divided for the purpose 
of deceiving the buyer. 
4. In purchasing wool thus prepared for market, to pay a price proportionate to its relative 
worth as to texture, strength, and other desirable qualities. 
To the first rule of the Woollen Manufacturers’ Association, so far as it hon- 
estly opposes the practice of including excessive filth, dirt, and tags in fleeces, 
there is no objection. All attempts at cheating in putting up wool are highly 
reprehensible, and should be frowned upon by all henest men. There is a vast 
improvement, however, in this respect within a few years past, and few com- 
plaints of dishonest practices have reached the department. 
Of the remaining rules it can only be said, no more palpable cover for fraud could 
be framed; no more direct invitation to swindling could be addressed to the dis- 
honesty of the buyer. It is not pretended, after such deductions, that a uniform 
price shall be paid for all classes of wool; discriminations in price may also be 
added ad libitum to such deductions. It is proper that quality and condition 
should modify price in wool, as in beef, butter, or other product ; but a deduc- 
tion of one quarter of beef because it is grass-fed rather than corn-fed, or one- 
third of the weight of butter because it contains too much salt or too much 
buttermilk, would be arbitrary and inadmissible. 
All unwashed fleeces of Merino rams of pure blood may be claimed to be 
“greasy,” and so subject to one-half deduction, whether the oil or yolk shall 
weigh one pound or five; and all similar washed fleeces may be held to be 
“heavy,” and, therefore, relentlessly reduced one-third, whether the loss in 
scouring shall be 30 per cent. or 60; an ounce too much of twine in a fleece of 
six pounds must be punished by confiscating two pounds; any fleece not abso- 
lutely clean may be declared “ partially washed,’”’ and placed in the same cate- 
gory with the dirtiest unwashed ; and the presence of 5 per cent. of cotted 
wool must be atoned for by the absence of 33 per cent. of net returns. 
These rules apply‘as well to an unwashed Cotswold fleece, that shrinks in 
cleansing but 30 per cent., as to a Merino, that loses 70 per cent., so that the 
same deduction is required upon two fleeces, weighing each 14 pounds, 
unwashed, one of which loses 9.8 pounds, and leaves 4.2 pounds of cleansed 
fibre, while the other loses but 4.2 pounds, and leaves of cleansed wool 9.8 
pounds. And similar if not equal disproportion exists among grade Merinoes. 
And yet such rules are assumed by interested parties to be “for the interest of 
both grower and manufacturer of wool,” and “a protection to the honest 
grower ;” and such arbitrary and fraudulent regulations constitute the ‘‘ uniform 
standard” to be adopted throughout the country. 
