The price of mohair has fluctuated with the caprice of fashion. Supply
and demand are the essential factors in its valuation, but demand has
been so influenced by the requirements of fashion in the past that one
finds a wide range in price for the raw material. In a report issued by
the Bradford _Observer_ we find the price ranging from fifty cents a
pound in 1856, to eighty cents in 1866, ninety cents in 1876, and then
down to thirty cents in 1886 and 1896. In 1903 the average price in the
United States was about thirty-five cents a pound, and for 1904 about
thirty cents a pound.
[Illustration: READY FOR THE SHEARERS.]
To-day there is a demand for mohair, regardless of fashion. During the
past two years the price of raw material has been low, but there has
been a margin of profit in the industry, and considering the fact that
fashion's decree has eliminated the manufacture of luster fabrics for
the present, the mohair producer can feel assured that there will be a
steady market for his material. With the occasional good times when
luster goods are in demand, the mohair grower should do well.