124 



NEW ENGLAND FAIIjVIER. 



March 



tbey are still among the largest sheep-producers 

 of the world. 



But whatever may be done with the duties on 

 woollens, there are a few articles made from wool 

 abroad which are not manufactured here, and con- 

 sequently do not compete witti our own manufac- 

 tures. Lastings, serge, and plush, however, which 

 are not made here, are used extensively in the 

 manufacture ot ladies' and children's boots and 

 shoes ; and the single city of Lynn pays more than 

 two millions j'early for these materials, which are 

 now subject to a duty of eighty-five per cent. 

 The shoe-manufacture has in the last decade been 

 raised from a trade to an art. The lapstone and 

 the leather apron have been discarded. The steam 

 engine and the sewing-machine have superseded 

 the hammer and the awl. Mechanism, in its vari- 

 ous forms, prepares and fashions the slipper and 

 the gaiter-boot, and relieves the artisan from the 

 fatigue and monotony of a wearisome life. Should 

 we hamper such a progressive branch of industry 

 with duties of eighty-tive per cent, on the material 

 it is compelled to import ? 



The foregoing Is all that the writer says of 

 wool. Other articles of production and trade 

 are, however, discussed in the same spirit. 

 As it has been doubted by some wool-growers 

 whether the present duties on foreign wool 

 have in fact materially checked importation, 

 the statement of this writer, expressing as he 

 undoubtedly does the views of commercial 

 men, is entitled to special attention. As a re- 

 sult of these duties, he says, "Our importa- 

 tion of wool falls from eighty-eight millions 

 of pounds in 1864, to twenty-three millions 

 in 1868, — a decline almost unprecedented in 

 the annals of commerce." This fact, so en- 

 couraging to farmers, is the gist of the argu- 

 ment of this writer against the continuance of 

 these duties. The glowing picture which he 

 draws of the prosperity of the Lynn shoe 

 manufacturers, who have succeeded in re- 

 lieving "the artizan from the fatigue and 

 monotony of a wearisome life," when placed 

 in contrast with the well known depressed 

 condition of the laborious "trade" of the 

 wool-grower, will hardly be accepted by most 

 farmers as a sufficient reason for the free ad- 

 mission of foreign wools and woollens. 



But it is not our purpose to answer his ar- 

 guments against the "delusive theory" on 

 which the present duties on foreign wool are 

 based. Our object is simply to bring before 

 wool growers a specimen of the counsels and 

 reasonings which will influence the action of 

 Congress unless they are met and counter- 

 acted by tho&e of the owners of the 30,000,000 

 sheep which the farmers of this country are 

 now wintering in the hope that a better day is 

 dawning for this important branch of the agri- 

 cultural industry of our country. 



Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, in reply to a far- 

 mer who complained to him on his return 

 home, that his tariff did not sufficiently pro- 

 tect the wool-grower, replied, "Well, sir, 

 blame yourselves for it. Why didn't you get 

 your statistics and come to Washington and 

 show them to us ? The manufacturers were 

 there in their strength. They showed us these 

 things, and they had their influence there; 

 and you wool-growers ought to have been 

 there, too." 



The owners of the ships, alluded to in the 

 above extract, that have lost their freights of 

 foreign wool ; the merchants who have lost 

 their traffic ; the Lynn shoemakers who don't 

 like to pay duty ; the manufacturers and con- 

 sumers of cloth generally, who wish to use 

 Mestiza wool at fourteen cents per pound, will 

 be present at Washington during the proposed 

 revision of the present tariff, with arguments 

 and statistics of which our quotation from the 

 American Review is a fair specimen ; but we 

 are afraid that the wool-growers, scattered as 

 they are over our whole country, will remain 

 at home attending to their respective flocks 

 of fifty or one hundred sheep, and allow pub- 

 lic business to be managed by other people. 

 Is this a good time for Wool-growers' Asso- 

 ciations to go to sleep ? 



Vermont Agricultural College. — The 

 Hon. John Gregory, of Northfield, in his val- 

 edictory address as President of the Vermont 

 State Agricultural Society, delivered at the 

 recent meeting at Bellows Falls, read the fol- 

 lowing letter from President Angell of the 

 University of Vermont, with which the agri- 

 cultural college is connected. It was written 

 in reply to a request for information as to the 

 present state of the agricultural branch of that 

 institution. 



Two years ago last September, we organized 

 courses of study in accordance with the Act of 

 Congress, requiring instruction to be given in the 

 application of science to agriculture and the me- 

 chanic arts. AVe provided courses for young men 

 looking to either of the following pursuits — farm- 

 ing, practical chemistry, mining and civil engi- 

 neering. We also provided military instruction 

 last year. Our plans and methods have been 

 widely made known through our catalogues, our 

 annual reports to the General Assembly, circulars 

 and the newspaper press. The number of young 

 men who have thus far availed themselves of the 

 opportunities afforded by us, has been .'mall, and 

 nearly all of them have desired the course of civU 

 engineering. Of course we earnestly desire the 

 interest and cooperation of those citizens who 

 believe that science has any service to render to 



