US Presidency
1932

We must bear in mind that excepting wheat, 99 percent of our agricultural products in this and neighboring States are consumed within the borders of the United States, and the fate of American agriculture lies in holding the market within the boundaries of the United States. I could give you a few indications in actual effect of the present situation other than those I stated at Des Moines, Indianapolis, Springfield. I would point out that butter, the indicator in dairy products, sells in New York at 21 cents, and yet, except for the tariff wall, it would be sold from New Zealand and Europe for 16 cents. And I would point out another exhibit: Flax is 72 cents north of the Canadian border and $ 1.08 south of that boundary owing to the protective tariff. These prices are depressingly low, but they actually could be lower. If this tariff were taken down, some 4 million acres, built up under the protective tariff, must go into other products, the competition of which will lower prices in every other commodity.