WOOL. Our wool product in 1880 was four times as large as in i860. With Australia, the United States is the largest producer of wool on the globe. From our over fifty million sheep, nearly one to every person, we grow three hundred and twenty-five million pounds of wool. Our acres are broad enough to produce fabulous amounts, and they will do so when the power of the Republican party is restored. The annual value of our wool product is nearly $100,000,000; of the mutton product, $50,- 000,000. The Apjtal invested in sheep alone is over $200,000,000, while the capital invested in the land necessary for their subsistence is estimated at not less than $1,000,000,000, giving employment to more than 1,000,000 persons. Notwithstanding the rapid increase in our sheep-growing, the price of wool to-day is higher than it was in i860, while the price of woolen manufactures is from 20 to 30 per cent, cheaper. The question is not alone whether we shall have cheaper clothing, but shall we preserve this industry? Shall we keep English woolen mills running and close our own ? Hon. W. G. Rose, of Ohio, well says: “The United States, with an area larger than all Europe, with a population of only 17 29-100 to the square mile, and with a larger extent of rich pasturage than any other country in the world, should not import a pound of wool or a yard of woolen cloth.” Wliat has made this increase in sheep culture possible? Protec- , tion. Under the Walker tariff, from 1850 to i860, which was virtually Democratic free trade, sheep husbandry increased only a little more than three per cent; from 1870 to 1880 the increase was over fifty-three per cent.! Who are benefited by this wool industry? The four hundred thousand farmers who own the sheep. They receive for the wool, one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) from the manufacturers. Besides these, the people who buy woolen goods, made cheaper by protection, are also greatly benefited. What will be the result if our nearly seven hundred woolen mills at the West, and even more at the East, are closed, as they will be if Democracy wins? An industry which gives employment to nearly two million men, in all its branches, and increases the wealth of the Republic by one hundred and fifty million dollars yearly, will be destroyed. Ohio has had a shameful experience with Democratic promises on wool the past year. That party came into power with the distinct promise that they would restore the wool tariff of 1867. Has the promise
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