Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-06-15
PROTECTION OF HOME INDUSTRY.
Plain Facts for Farmers.

The past history or our country has
clearly demonstrated that no eommu-
nifty can prosper which is exclusively
engaged in one branch of industry
and thai without protection our man
ufacturing interests, which are already
established, would languish and fail
entirely. Suppose for illustration that
our furnaces, and rolling mills, and
cotton and wooden manufactures were
closed up, is argument necessary to
[ prove that our agricultural interests
would not also be destroyed. If proof
is required let us refer to prices cur
rent in 1922, before protective tariffs
"ruined the country" as free traders
talk about. We quote from the Co
lumbus (OhiO) Journal The follow
ing were the prices current there at
that time:
Wheat twenty-five cents per bushel.
Corn two and One-half cents per
bushel.
Oats fourteen cents per bushel.
Potatoes 1rish) eighteen and three
fourth cents per bushel.
Potatoes (sweet) seventy-five cents
per bushel.
Apples thirty anu one-half
cents per bushel.
Peaches twelve and One-half cents
per bushel.
Dried peaches 81 per bushel.
Pork two cents per pound.
Beef three cents per pound.
Butter six cents per pound.
Honey eight cents per pound.
Lard six cents per pound.
Wool fifty cents per pound.
Flax ten cents per pound.
Maple sugar ten cents per pound.
Feathers thirty-One and one-fourth
cents per pound.
Eggs four cents per dozen.
Chickens five cents each.
Salt one dollar per bushel.
Tea one dollar and twenty-five cents
per pound.
Coffee thirty-seven and one-half
cents per pound.
Loaf sugar thirty-seven and one
fourth cents per pound.
Pepper, ginger and alspiee fifty
cents per pound each.
How do farmers like these prices? I?
Then they were not hampered by the
swindling import duties, as the Dem
Ocratic press generally denominates
our protective tariff rates, but they
were at full liberty to buy where
they could buy the cheapest and sell
where they could sell the dearest -
Then our iron products and wooden
and cotton goods were generally i'm
ported, and our surplus agricultural
products either sought a foreign mar
ket or were thrown away. Under
that great principle of " free trade"
no naTlaOnraf5a l.
demand, farmers could at that date
purchase one pound of coffee with 10
pounds of pork; one pound OF loaf
sugar with % chickens; one barrel Of
salt with u bushels of wheat; one
pound of pepper with 10 bushels of
oats. and other articles in proportion.
That farmers can now get greatly
increased prices for their produce is
chiefly due to the great increase of
home demand for these products, ere
ated by the large manufacturing in
terests fOstered by protection to home
industry, whereby we manufacture
our iron products and cotton and
wOOlen goods instead of importing
them from Europe.
The friends of a protective tariff
seek by protection to shorten the dis
tance which separates farmers from
manufacturers, and thereby diminish
the too heavy cost of exchanging their
respective products. If a thousand
farmers growing grain in the West,
aud q thousand manufacturers max
ing wares and fabrics in England, ex-
change their products across four thou
sand miles of land and water, the
western farmer must accept for his
grain as much less per bushel as the
cost of transportation for 1000 miles
deducted from the price of grain in
England. But bring the manufacture
ers and farmers face to face; instead
of sending wool, grain and meat 1000
miles, and bringing back fabrics in
return, bring the laborer, increase the
number of manufacturers and thereby
the number of agricultural products,
and both farmer and manufacturer
are benefited and each insured a
fuller reward for his labor. Protec-
ton seeks to build up our country by |
drawing hither the better portion Of
the population of Europe through the |
proffer of high wages, position in
society and the increase of home COM
forts. The farmers of our country re-
alize the benefits arising from a high
protective tariff on the artiele-of iron
alone, and we urge them to mark the
party in Congress that votes to inau- !
gurate the principles Of Free Trade.
%.S0s-s@
from the American Agrieulturist.l