Published by 
The Rural Publishing Co. 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York 
1 
rhe Rural New-Yorker 
The Business Farmer’s Paper 
Weekly, One Dollar Per Year 
Postpaid 
Single Copies, Five Cents 
VoL. LXXVII. 
XEW YORK. MAY 4. 1018. Xo. 4480. 
the insistent onII for millions of new suits for the 
army, our AVar Hoard told us a few mdiiths past 
that there was “no wool shortai'e.” 
AX rXRELIAHT.E MARKET.—If with but a half 
pound of the kind of wool we .i^row, cleansetl for each 
weai-er, under the strenuous times these years for 
clothing, there is no shortage, you can see liow sub¬ 
stitutes take the place of virgin wool, and how the 
bottom must drop out of the sheep industry when 
Me reach level. The market has been unreliable 
ever since the village M'oolen mills M’ove our cloth ' 
and our mothers’ songs blended Avith the hum of the 
spinning wheels, and Avhat Mill it be Avith expert 
maniinilation of shodd.v under normal conditions? 
I Avant to emphasize the thought that it is our duty 
tp produce everything needful under the present 
distress. AVhile there is apparently enough just noAv, 
it is our imperative duty and privilege to increase 
every useful production of earth, because they 
all may be needed, but M’hile Ave do that, 
it is also our duty to figure for the 
protection of ourseh'es and the 
Avhole human race to the end 
of time. 
D I S TI O X E S T 
S II O I> I> Y.— 
The subject 
RllDFIT IX POOR GOODS.—You uom' know our 
side, so take a look at the side of the Avearers of 
Avoolens. They Avould better “sit up.” AVhat is the 
use of the clothing man selling a buyer a good suit 
that Avill last for years Avhen he can sell him several 
and make profits on him repeatedly? There is money 
in that coming and going. AVhen a suit Avears out it 
can be used to make another for him, or .some one 
else, giving quick returns to manufacturer and sales¬ 
man. T Avrite this evening, after passing the day 
Avith the shearers of our good fleeces, dressed in a 
suit I AA'ore tAVo years for di-ess, and noAV tAvo for 
scuff. Avhich Avould look pretty decent, except for 
the darns after bai-b Avire. If it had been shoddy, 
one year AA’ould have been the limit at the AA'ork 
I do. It Avas tailor-made, costing $25, but the 
same kind uoaa’ is pi’iced at $50 “because aa'ooI is up.” 
It Avould not take a Avhole fleece of my m’OoI to 
Shoddy and the Future of the Sheep 
Industry 
We Must Fight for Pure Wool 
A UXIA'ERSAL XEED.—The object of the sheep- 
raiser is to groAV all the good meat he can, 
to produce avooI and have all the people dressed in 
substantial, serviceable clothing made from it. 
Readers Avill agree that these aims are just, and 
this .statement is the preface to an ansAver to numer¬ 
ous inquiries for my opinion on the permanence of 
prices, and the future financial safety of investments 
in sheep. There has been a universal promotion of 
the sheep interests, and an insistent demand for more 
Avool, both of Avhich Avill fall flat Avheu times become 
normal, unless pre.sent conditions are changed in 
regal'd to the class of Avoolens on the market, and 
their methods of sale. Perhaps that jars you, but 
read on. There is no use locking the door 
after the horse is stolen, or looking for 
reasons Avhy a meritorious endeavor 
like Avool-groAving is languishing 
after it arriA'e.s, The time 
for study is noAv. Sheep 
have increased some 
in the past year, 
and are due 
for a 20 per 
cent increase 
this year, :ind no one 
Avill rejoice to see the 
p.'istures clothed Avith flocks 
more than the Avrlter, nor be sor¬ 
rier to see neglected sheep, diseased, 
lame, qnd dying in thousands of fields 
.‘IS they Avill be after this old turbulent AA'orld 
settles. 
THE ItEAA'ORKED FIP>ER.—Some of us have 
fixed our pa.stures and building.s, and studied the 
groAving of avooI and mutton as a life M'ork. That 
is the object of the Avriter Avith stock of 50 years’ 
.selection. Many farms should be devoted to .sheep, 
and many others have some of them for reasons dis¬ 
cussed in these columns, and Ave Avant the indus¬ 
try on a solid basis, Avhich it can never be Avhen 
about 70 per cent of M'oolen clothing is compo.sed 
of “reAvorked” avooI. AA'hile the cost of a substitute 
for our good, pure, virgin avooI is the pittance of 
the ragpicker Avith his hoojv,- the junkman and the 
cle.ansing and shredding of rags, together Avith a feAV 
clippings from clothing manufacturers, “Avhat's the 
use” of any more avooI than Avill give the long fibers 
to carry shoddy? AATiat manufacturer Avill buy more 
Avool than aaTII carry this substitute to the Avearer 
of Avoolens? When it is so cheap, Avhat Avill influ¬ 
ence a fair price for our avooI? Can you see M’hat 
the sheep man is up against? 
Prize Merino Ram 
make it. and it is iq) some—less than tAvo dollars. 
THE WORI.D’.S SITTT.Y.—It looks rough to pre¬ 
dict rcA-erse M hen everyone is on the top round of 
the ladder calling for more sheep, but Avhen I reply 
to questions for publication, I must thll the truth, 
and Ave all should knoAv it to prepare for it. There 
is little more than 1,000,000,000 pounds of scoured 
Avool produced annually in the Avorld, and an em¬ 
bargo on any from another planet. You knoM' the 
number of the population of the Avorld, so knock 
off about one-third that do not need Avoolens, and 
notice that there is only about one pound of pure 
Avool for each Avearer. Noav see that carpets, rugs. 
A'ehicle upholstery, etc., Avill use one-half of the 
meager supply, and you have about half a pound 
for clothing, enough for a vest and perhaps a light 
mitten. With our civilian demands, and the enor¬ 
mous amount of clothing destroyed in the Avar, and 
of j) u r e 
clothes is one on 
Avhich buyers have 
had no light, and not a 
popnl.'ir one for the Avriter, 
but I am working for the future 
of my own ticlds, for my friends in 
the sheep industry, and for the Avelfare 
of the useful, gentle animals, while incident¬ 
ally shoAving the bu.A'er of Avoolens some reasons for 
the short life of his clothing. There can be no 
objections against the use of shoddy in the manu¬ 
facture of cloth, nor in the sale of it, but there is 
a serious one against selling a substitute for an 
article of intrinsic merit. There is no argument for 
its use except the small amount of avooI groAvn in 
the Avorld, but that does not Avarrant the use of base 
material Avith genuine, and its sale to ignorant per- 
.sons, often at prices higher than the genuine should 
be. Every individual, from patriotism, business and 
common sense should not only object to the unre- 
.stricted use of it, but to the prices charged for it. 
What shoAv is there for our avooI, or for substantial 
clothes Avhile it has no hindrance? 
IXDUSTRIAE DAMAGE. — Grasping salesmen 
have succeeded in fixing the blame of short AA-ear, 
and the cost on us until many of the public blame 
us for their troubles. Avhile they Avear very little of 
our kind, and Ave want them to understand that Ave 
have a mutual interest, and Ave Avant them to have 
