Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 123, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1920 — BOSTON REPORTS SLUMP IN WOOL [ARTICLE]

BOSTON REPORTS SLUMP IN WOOL

Boston, May 20.— price of wool slumped today, a break of from 10 to 20 per cent occurring at the auction sales conducted here under the auspices of the British government. Only seven mills took part in the bidding', and but thirty per cent of the wool offered for sale was disposed of. Buyers were agreed that the peak of high prices for wools had passed. According to the Commercial Bulletin, an authoritative organ of the wool industry in this country, the drop in prices reflected cancellations of orders for goods, delays in transportation and declines in the Liverpool and London markets for raw wool. Manufacturers’ representatives at the sale told of the return of goods to the mills in many cases, principally woolens of cancellations of other orders now in the looms and of consequent curtailments already under way. Some plants have discontinued overtime work, others have suspended night operations, and a few have reduced work to four or five days a week. It was stated, however, that a radical curtailment or shutdown of plants was not considered imminent