WOOL. 



WOOL. 



Pound* of WooU 



An interesting view of the foreign wool trade 

 and the check upon this effected through the 

 protection received from Congress, is exhibited 

 in the following account derived from the co- 

 lumns of the New York Journal of Commerce, 

 (for Sept. 1843.) 



In a communication to the Middlebury Peo- 

 pU'$ Prnt, dated 10th July last, and signed by 

 the Hon. William Slade, late a member of Con- 

 gress from Vermont, some interesting facts are 

 stated as to the operation of the new Tariff 

 upon the importation of wool from foreign 

 countries. By information received from the 

 Register of the Treasury, it appears that dur- 

 ing the 1st half of the present fiscal year, which 

 commenced on the 1st of October last, about a 

 month after the new Tariff went into operation, 

 there was imported into the United States, of 

 wool costing 7 cts. a Ib. or under, only 881,568 

 )f wool costing over 7 cts. a Ib., only 

 175,962 Ibs. Making a total of only 1,037,530 

 Ibs, of all descriptions of wool in 6 months ! 

 is a most extraordinary falling off, com- 

 pared with the importations of previous years 

 *s will be seen from the following schedule : ' 



Tfr. 



MM 



1-16 



MM 



MM 



l-N 



I MO 



mi 



Uoder cfi. 



5^48,098 

 11,013,010 

 MBP.109 



(>.:,:, i. i-jf, 

 T.39MI0 

 9,303.992 



Over 8 t... 



3H8.S30 Ibs. 



806,370 



703,276 



445,478 



527,620 



675,009 



981,281 



351,384 



Making, on an average of 7 years, something 



over 9,000,000 Ibs. per annum, j^ths of which g 



IP p.ace whence imported, cost less than 8 



cts. a Ib. The new Tariff makes the minimum 

 7 cts. per Ib. instead of 8 cents, and levies a 

 duty of 5 per cent, on wool not above that mi 

 nimum, whereas under the old Tariff such woof 

 was duty free. But these changes are so slight, 

 that they are not at all sufficient to account for 

 the immense decrease in the amount imported. 

 Lest such should be the inference of the wool- 

 growers, Mr. Slade tells them that through the 

 efforts of the Vermont delegation in Congress, 

 the word " coarse" was inserted in connection 

 with cheap wool, so that now, in order to be 

 admitted at the low duty of 5 per cent, (which 

 cannot exceed 3 mills per Ib.), wool must not 

 only have been bought at 7 cts. a Ib. or under, 

 but must also be coarse : and he adds, "I have 

 no doubt that with a careful and thorough exe- 

 cution of the coarse wool provision, according 

 to its true intent and meaning, the reduction [in 

 the quantity of wool imported] would have 

 been still greater." To illustrate this point, he 

 spates the following particulars : 



" It appears from the Custom House returns 

 that 1101 sheep, of the aggregate value of 

 $10,565 averaging $9 60 each, and therefore 

 presumed to have been merino bucks were 

 exported from the United States to Buenos 

 Ayres in the years 1837 and 1838. The quan- 

 tity of wool, the product of the crossings of 

 these merino with the native South American 

 sheep, imported into the United States at and 

 below the value of 8 cts., cannot, of course, be 

 ascertained. The importations from that coun- 

 try of wool costing 8 cts. and under, were 

 greatly increased in the succeeding years ; em- 

 bracing, as is well known, much fine wool, and 

 therefore presumed to have been the product 

 of the crossings referred to. That increase 

 will appear by the following statement of the 

 importations of wool costing 8 cts. and under, 

 from Buenos Ayres, during the years 1839,1840, 

 and 1841, compared with the previous 3 years. 



In 1836 2,256,887 pounds. 



1837 2,108582 



1838 2,515,883 



1839 - - - - . 683,535 



1840 566,468 



1841 - - - - . 8,870,799 



"The French blockade of Buenos Ayres in. 

 1839 and 1840 diminished the exports of those 

 years, and consequently swelled those of 1841 

 when the blockade was raised. The annual 

 average of the 3 years was 3,373,600 Ibs. That 

 of the preceding 3 years was 2,293,784 Ibs. ; 

 making an excess of the average of the last 3, 

 over that of the first 3 years, of 1,079,816 Ibs. 

 an increase of about 47 per cent. 



"It was the extraordinary quantity of fine 

 wool thus cheapened in the market of Buenos 

 Ayres, and thrown, in large quantities, upon 

 pur own, that suggested the necessity of the 

 introduction of the word 'coarse' into the 

 clause in question. Its intended effect was, to 

 subject to the higher duty all wool not coarse, 

 though costing less than 7 cts." 



This higher duty, which applies to all wool 

 costing over 7 cts. a Ib., and, according to Mr, 

 Slade's construction, to all wool not coarse, 

 hatever may be its cost, is 3 cts. a Ib. and 30 

 )er cent, ad valorem. Hence the duty on wool 

 costing 10 cts. at the place whence imported, 

 is 6 cts. a Ib. ; and on wool costing 20 cts. Q 



