normally about 60 per cent from the British empire, and the rest mostly from South America.

The war came at an opportune time for the woolen manufacturers. The Underwood-Simmons tariff law had placed raw wool on the free list on December 1, 1913, and there were large importations of foreign wool up to the time that the war began. From December 1, 1913, to August 1, 1914, we received 35,000,000 pounds more of raw wool than in the same period of the preceding year. At the opening of the war there was a considerable supply of wool afloat for this country or contracted to be delivered here, so until the end of October the wool receipts continued in large volume.

But with the opening of the wool auction sales in London, early in October, Great Britain announced an embargo on wool exports from the United Kingdom. The wool trade was not alarmed, assuming that the imports from Australia and New Zealand would not be affected. Anxiety began to be felt, however, when despatches from Washington early in November announced that Australia and New Zealand had imposed embargoes on wool exports; and it was asserted that England had forbidden British vessels to carry South American wool to the United States. As a result of these factors, our receipts of wool declined in November and fell to a very low level in December. They did not reach their normal volume again until March, after the February agreement of our importers with the British Government. That we were allowed to get as much wool as we did

in those winter months was due partly to the clamor of the Australians at being deprived of their customary American market. Some shipments of Australian merino wool moved forward under temporary licenses granted American firms; but nobody knew how long the system would last, or what there might be in the future.

The difficulty in the negotiations between the American woolen manufacturers and the British Government arose from the nature of the required guaranty, namely, that the wool would not reach Germany in any way or form. Americans considered it impracticable and unfair to be asked to put up a bond supporting such a guarantee, because of the numerous stages and the many hands through which the wool must pass in its progress to the ultimate user. Meantime, the woolen manufacturers complained that the Allies were overwhelming them with war orders and were not letting enough wool supplies come forward to make the filling of those orders possible.

The Textile Alliance comprises the four leading textile associations in America and was originally formed to correct certain abuses connected with the purchase of mill supplies. It was through this organization that the plan was eventually worked out which allowed wool to come forward.

Under this plan a license to receive wool in America could be had by an American only after approval of the purchaser by the Textile Alliance, acting through its president, A. M. Patterson. Theoreti

cally, it was possible to apply to London direct for a license, but the British Government let it be understood with quite sufficient distinctness that it would grant no license not approved by the Alliance.

The plan required that a separate application must be made for each shipment. The application was to be forwarded by Mr. Patterson to the British authorities. If the wool was to be shipped to an American, he must sign a non-export guarantee before delivery could be had. All imported wool, it was provided, must be consigned to Mr. Patterson or to one of a group of banks approved by the British Government. The banks, however, could release the wool only upon written word from Mr. Patterson.

The Textile Alliance, in explaining the plan to the wool trade, stated that it had assumed strong moral obligations towards the British Board of Trade, to discourage by every lawful means the export of wool, tops or yarns from the United States. If such exportation occurred it would be considered by England as prima facie evidence that the United States was supplied with more than enough wool for its own use, and the imports would be restricted by the British Government. Therefore all wool users and dealers were urged to refrain from such action. That is, even wool raised in Montana might not be exported without bringing upon this country a British embargo on wool from Australasia, and possibly other measures that would shut us off from supplies from South America in British ships.

In addition to the measures already reviewed, the

export of wool products to Germany was prevented, and export to adjacent neutrals hindered by Great Britain's August 4 contraband lists, and the treatment which the August 20 Order in Council prescribed for conditional contraband. Blankets were listed as absolute contraband in the August 4 lists; woolen clothing was absolute when of obviously military nature, and otherwise conditional. This policy reached its full effectiveness on March 11, when raw wool, wool tops and noils and woolen and worsted yarns were suddenly made absolute contraband. Again, in the making of raw wool contraband, the situation arose of Britain forbidding us to trade with Germany in innocent American products, necessary for the German civilian population. Wool was on the free list of the Declaration of London.

The measures taken regarding wool and rubber were paralleled by those regarding tin. Tin comes from England and the Straits Settlements. All of it now comes through London. After a period of complete embargo, we were allowed to import the metal under license, with a guarantee that tin and its products would be sold only to our own country and the Allies.

CHAPTER XIII

THE IMPORT SITUATION (CONTINUED)

Passing from commodities imported largely from British possessions, it is of interest to consider the effect of the war as to articles for which our great source of supply is Germany, notably potash and dyestuffs.

One of the most important and necessary of our imports is potash, in which Germany has a monopoly of the world's supply. Potash is an essential ingredient of commercial fertilizer, which becomes increasingly necessary for soils that have been worked long and have had extracted from them, by the growing crops, important chemical properties. Our use of fertilizer is naturally most extended in the older parts of the country, especially in the southeastern cotton states where the land has been tilled without interruption for a century.

Commercial fertilizer is compounded of phosphoric acid, lime, nitrogen and potash. All the necessary elements are present and readily available in this country, except potash. We import from Germany 1,000,000 tons annually of salts with various percentages of potash, containing about 240,000 tons of the pure chemical. In normal times this material is used principally in making fertilizer, though