Part 18

Sometimes when you, with your ear alone, think something is absolutely quiet, you can pick up a sea shell and hear sounds in it. But the sea shell will magnify any sound that reaches it.

It would be possible, of course, to take a sea shell to a place where it would be absolutely quiet and then there would be no sounds.

There are such places, but very few of them. A room can be built which is absolutely sound proof.

The Story in a Suit of Clothes

Where Does Wool Come From?

We could not write the story of a suit of clothes without dealing largely with the sheep, for it is only from the wool of the sheep that the best, warmest and most lasting garment can be made. In order that we may properly understand the development of the great wool and clothing industry in America we must supply a brief history of our sheep industry, for the sheep must always come before the clothing.

Who Brought the First Sheep to America?

The sheep is not a native of America, but it came here with the first white men. History records that Columbus on his way to this country stopped at the Canary Islands to take on stores. Among other things he loaded a number of sheep, some of which were later landed on the new continent. What became of this early importation history does not record, but it is probable that most, if not all, of them perished from the attack of wild animals or at the hands of the natives. However, when settlers began pouring into the new world many of them brought along their sheep, so that from the earliest colonial days the sheep constituted our most numerous domestic animals. This, indeed, was necessary, for if the colonist was to survive the rigor of our climate he must have an abundant supply of woolen clothing. In those days clothing materials were limited to wool, flax and the skins of animals, and, as may be supposed, wools were in very great demand. England and most European countries prohibited the exportation of wool, in order to increase the demand for the clothing which she manufactured. However, as our new colonist had ample time and but little money, he desired to make his own clothing rather than send such funds as he had to the mother country. Therefore, the new settler, as a matter of necessity, was forced to increase the domestic supply of wools.

Who Started to Make Clothing from Wool in America?

Early records reveal that shortly after the year 1600 many of the colonies passed laws for the purpose of encouraging the sheep industry. In fact, some of them went so far as to prohibit the transportation of sheep or wool from one colony to another. However, our new sheep industry prospered, and well it should, for it had the backing of every prominent patriot of the early days. Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin all were enthusiastic advocates of sheep husbandry, for they knew that unless a people had a large domestic supply of wool they could not long remain independent or hope to gain independence from foreign countries. In fact, at one time Washington owned as many as one thousand sheep, and if he lived in the present day he would be regarded as a sheep baron. Wool, next to food, is the most vital necessity of a people, for when wars come wool becomes a contraband, and all foreign supplies are shut off. Thus, in stimulating a domestic wool supply the great wisdom of our early patriots was vindicated with the coming of the Revolutionary War. When that great struggle came our foreign wool supply was shut off, but on account of the foresight of these patriots in encouraging home production, our colonists had a supply ample for most of their needs.

We not only had the wool, but the housewife had learned the art of manufacturing wool into clothing by means of the spinning wheel, so that when our soldiers went forth in that great struggle, which was to bring to us independence, they were clad in garments made of American grown wool and manufactured by the good housewife during her hours of leisure.

When affairs became tranquil, following the close of the Revolution, settlement, which had largely been confined to the Atlantic coast, pushed westward farther and farther into the wilderness. Each of these settlers took with him his supply of sheep, for the purpose of furnishing wool for clothing and meat for food. In the early days wool was not grown for the purpose of sale, but to be used entirely by the family of the producer. However, when settlement reached the Mississippi River, conditions changed. Wool manufacturing had then been established in the land, and it became customary to raise wool to sell to these manufacturers, who had located along the Atlantic seaboard.

Why Does the Sheep Precede the Plow in Civilizing a Country?

In all countries the sheep has been the pioneer of civilization. They have settled and developed practically all new lands. In fact, so firmly established has been this rule that it seems almost necessary that the sheep should precede the plow, and thus prepare land for agriculture. The reason for this is that the sheep is a tractable animal and depends on man to guide its every step. It can endure hardships that would destroy other forms of animal life. However, the maintenance of a sheep industry requires an abundance of labor, and in this way settlement always follows the sheep. So has it been in foreign countries, and so was it in this country.

Where Does Most of Our Wool Come From?

Sheep came into our western states early in the seventies, at a time when these states were thinly settled, but following the sheep came the labor incident to its care, and thus the railroads, stores, cities and schoolhouses found their way into the land. Originally all of our sheep industry was east of the Mississippi River. Then for a time it was east of the Missouri River. To-day west of the Missouri River we have about 23,000,000 aged sheep, or more than one-half of the total in the United States. In the pioneer days the western sheep skirmished on the range for most of the food that it obtained. To-day conditions are different, and, while the sheep is on the range for a short time each year, it spends its summer in the National Forest, for which grazing a fee is paid to the Federal Government. Its winters are spent largely around the hay-stack of the farmer, and about fifty to sixty cents’ worth of hay is fed to each sheep in the West each winter. With the coming of spring the western sheep are divided into bands of about 1500, and each two bands are placed in care of three caretakers, who care for and protect the sheep either on the deeded land of the owner or on the land rented from the Federal Government.

How Much Wool Does America Produce Yearly?

So much for the history of our sheep. A few words now about wool. The total wool crop of the United States is approximately 300,000,000 pounds per year. The value of this crop is around $60,000,000 annually.

How Do We Get the Wool Off the Sheep?

With the coming of spring our sheep are driven to large central plants, where they are shorn by the use of machines driven by electricity or steam power. One man shears about one hundred and fifty sheep per day. For this he receives eight cents per head. When the wool is taken off the sheep it is gathered up and carefully tied with string made of paper. The tied fleece is then dropped into an elevator, and is carried up about ten feet, where it is dropped into a large sack about three feet in diameter and seven feet long. In this sack there is always a wool tramper, who keeps tramping the fleeces down, so that about forty fleeces are finally put into each sack, making the weight of the sack approximately three hundred pounds. As these sacks are filled they are carefully stored in a dry shed, and, when shearing is completed, are hauled to the railroad station and shipped to the great wool centers of Boston or Philadelphia. While the bulk of the wool in the United States is produced west of the Missouri River, that territory manufactures very little wool. So the western sheepman, who is thus forced to grow his wool in the western states, pays about two cents a pound freight on it back to the eastern market, where it is sold and later manufactured into cloth. A part of this same clothing is then shipped west, to be sold to the very man, in some instances, who produced the wool out of which it is made.

American wool, taken as a whole, is the best wool grown in the world. It is not as soft as some Australian wool, but all of it possesses a greater strength than foreign wools, and it has long since been determined that clothing made of American wool will give better service than that made of foreign wool. Of the wool used in the United States for the manufacturing of clothing we produce about 70 per cent and import about 30 per cent.

How Much Does the Wool In a Suit of Clothes Cost?

It is customary for the person who buys clothing made of wool to believe that the value of the wool in the cloth is what makes the clothing seem expensive. However, if we take a man’s suit made of medium-weight cloth, such as is worn in November, we find that it requires about nine pounds of average wool to make the suit. For this wool the sheepman receives an average of seventeen cents per pound, so that out of the entire suit the man who produces the material out of which the suit is made receives a total of $1.53. A suit such as is here described would be of all wool and free from shoddy or any wool substitute. It would be a suit that would be sold by the storekeeper at $25.00, and if you had it made by the tailor he would charge you $35.00. Yet the wool-grower furnished all the material out of which the suit was made, and received as his share but $1.53. Thus it will be clear to the person who buys clothing and reads these lines that no longer can the blame for the high cost of clothing be laid at the door of the wool-grower.

While the wool-using population of the world is increasing very rapidly, the number of wool-producing sheep in the world is decreasing. Ordinarily this would mean that a point would be reached where the supply of wool would be totally inadequate to meet the needs of the public. However, this unfortunate possibility is being averted by the energy and thrift of the sheepmen in breeding sheep that produce more and better wool than was the case in the past. The sheep which Columbus brought to this country, and, in fact, all the sheep of the world in that day, produced wool of very coarse, inferior quality, and but very little of it. One hundred years ago our sheep did not average three pounds of wool per head, but by careful breeding and better feeding we have brought the average fleece up to slightly more than seven pounds. Of course, some sheep produce decidedly more wool than this, but the fact that in one hundred years we have more than doubled the amount of wool that a sheep produces and increased its quality very materially speaks well for the ingenuity and determination of our sheep producers. Probably as time goes on the average fleece may be still further increased, so that in the next twenty-five years it is not too much to hope that our sheep will produce on an average of one pound more wool than they now do.

Of course, as wool comes from the sheep, it naturally contains much dirt. The sheep have run on the range or in the open pasture during much of the year, and dust and dirt has settled into the wool. Then, besides producing wool, the sheep excrete into the wool a fatty substance known as wool fat. When the fleece is taken from the sheep and sent to the market the first thing that the manufacturer does with the fleece is to wash out all this foreign matter. The foreign matter is of a considerable quantity, for 60 per cent of wool as it comes from the sheep is dirt and grease, so that only 40 per cent of the sheep’s fleece represents wool fibres.

This wool fibre is a very delicate affair, being made up of thousands of little cells, one laid on top of the other. On the surface of the fibre are a lot of scales arranged something like the scales on a fish. In the process of manufacturing the scales on one fibre lock with scales on another fibre, and in that way the fibres are held together in the piece of cloth.

When wool is received at the factory it is in fleeces, and each fleece contains different kinds of fibres--long and short--coarse and fine, and it is necessary that these should be sorted into different kinds or grades, as may be desired--perhaps six or eight different kinds, according to the particular uses to which the different qualities are to be put.

Copyright American Woolen Company