WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 865 



The foregoing tables, compiled from official State reports, are very 

 valuable as showing the increase or decrease of the sheep industry of 

 the State. 



For the last thirty-two- years the actual number- of sheep in the 

 State has not been less than a million head, and at no time much in 

 excess of a million and a half. The periods when the number of sheep 

 reached the maximum number was during the years from 18C9 to 1874, 

 and 1880 to 1884. At present sheep are of a better class and the total 

 value is greater than ever before in the history of the industry in the 

 State. 



THE ST. LOUIS WOOL MARKET. 



The St. Louis wool market is now considered one of the best in this 

 country for domestic wool. It has grown in favor with the growers from 

 year to year, and to-day ranks second as a market for domestic wools. 



The St. Louis Market Reporter says that the number of dealers, bro- 

 kers, and agents located there is now larger than ever before, many of 

 them in order to be in the acknowledged leading primary market hav- 

 ing established their headquarters in that city in the past year. This, 

 of course, will stimulate the competition for the offerings of wool, and, 

 in turn, secure to the seller a higher price than he could obtain by dis- 

 posing of his clip in any other way or at any other place. This market 

 has several advantages, the greatest being the energy displayed by the 

 commission merchants and dealers who handle the staple to increase 

 the volume of trade and to insure the best possible results to shippers. 

 Consignments are always salable on day of arrival, and returns as a 

 rule are made then and there, while the charges are reduced to a mini- 

 mum. Besides, large stocks are carried the year round, which attract 

 manufacturers and investors from all sections. They can compete suc- 

 cessfully with seaboard markets, for the reason that goods shipped to 

 Eastern manufacturers go direct to their mills, at Boston or New York 

 rates, instead of going to these points and then incurring the expense 

 of reshipinent. 



The Western manufacturing trade is also a large factor. Probably one- 

 fourth of the receipts here is used for home consumption. Besides, the 

 Western manufacturer is reputed to be a more liberal buyer than his 

 brother of the East. St. Louis is now (with but a single exception) the 

 largest market for domestic wools in the United States, and is steadily 

 and surely growing as the distributing point for Western wool. The 

 amount handled here in a season is very large. Utah, Montana, Wyo- 

 ming, Colorado, Xew Mexico, etc., have been heavy shippers to this 

 point of late, and while this is the principal market for the growth of 

 the Western and Southern States, it also receives many clips from the 

 north. 



22990 QQ 



