The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1873-05-16

the farmers throughout the great West and
Northwest are organizing, throughthe instru
mentality of societies called Oranges, the
object of which is to bring the power of COM
bination and cooperation to bear against the
evils of the protective SYSTEM" which it ap-
pears they have discovered, DIETER late than
never, to be the true cause of the depressed
condition of those whose dependence for q
livelihood is upon the fruits of agriculture.
1t would seem as if the farmers of the West
had determined to be no longer the dupes of
the political hucksters in our National and
State Legislatures, who are the paid agents
of Northern capitalists.
Recently Ex-Governor Donnelly, of Min
nesota took occasion in addressing a Farmers
Grange at Hastings, TO impress upon his hear
ers the fact that the burdens of the protective
system were bearing down upon them more
than railroad discrimination or extortion
His speech has been widely circulated and is
opening the eyes of many who have hereto
fore been blind their own interests. Gov
emor Donnelly submitted facts and figures
that show how this law by which few are
authorized to plumber the many operates:
He told them truths which ought to be
known and understood of all men who are
going daily lower on the downhill-side of
prosperity, as the victims of laws made to en-
rich and "protect" pirates and piracy. He
read paper signed by the principal mer-
chants in Hastings, in which they state that
''the amount ofpurchase made by farmers has
fallen off during the last five years one-third
to one-half that is to say the farmers are
evidently economizing in every way, making
smaller bills, and buying only the necessaries
of life" This, of course, is one of the proofs
and consequence OF steadily declining pros
perity. What is the cause of it ? The speak
or said, with no less truth than force, unjust
country to the wall, and diminished their
means of existence one-third or half
This of course signifies shrinkage of the en-
tire business Of the country to the same eX-
tent. The laws of the country and the mo-
nopoly power they create and protect" have
been bent TO impoverish the people, and now
they begin to feel that they have "killed the
goose that laid the golden eggs"
When will our farmers begin to consider
the operation of these new slave laws Here
are few significant facts:
A sewing machine costs for work and
material $12. We pay $40 for it. The same
machines are exported TO Europe and sold for
$32, after paying freight over the Atlantic
found in the Belfast Neaos of Dec. 4, 1872,
the advertisement of the "Singer" sewing
machine for f6 los, about $685. of our
money. We pay the difference ofnearly $40,
under our patent for being the most patient
and gullible fools that ever pretended to n
capacy for selfgovemment.
Mccormick gave evidence in law suit
recently that his reapers cost $50 to manufac.
ture. We pay nearly 5000 for them.
The threshing machines for which we pay
800, could, / am informed, be built for 500.
And so of all other implements.
In part, this is the effect of our unjust pat
ent laws in Wefh The a feGt Of ~ she p%r
81 those law, upon venal Congress men and
in part, it is the effect of that robber-dcvice
called a protective tariff. The Englshman
has free trade; he, therefore, can buy an
American made sewing machine for $32 for
which the American, living next door to the
protected" manufacturer, must pay more
than double that sum. What is to hinder the
American from ordering his American made
sewing machine from Belfast, and after pay
ing freight on it twice across the Atlantic
ocean, getting it for one-half the price which
,aewould be compelled to pay his neighbor the
manufacturer Why should American laws
thus place American citizens at disadvan.
tage to Her Maiestys subjects in an Ameri-
can market? Who can say there is justice in
such laws to enslave Americans in their own
country?
So, too, Of reaping machines. An Illinois
farmer could send to England, buy McCor-
mick reaper, and have it shipped across tho
A Ia md bnl 81,
his farm, for half the money which he must
pay to boss Mccormick for the same machine
but for what Why but for the blessed
fact that our Great Father at Washington
deems it necessary to 'protect" poor, strug-
Cling, poverty-stricken Boss Mccormick
Such are the artificial profits which the
protected" monopolist enjoys under the
paternal care of our Great Father. Where
are the farmers artificial products His pro-
duce is as low as before the war, while every
thing he buys and every expense that he must
meet are at war prices, thanks to the blessed
protective system" All this is the natural
fruit of that system ofspolations and robbery
which idiots and rascals style 'protcction to
home industry A system which forcibly
excludes us from the market of the world
fences us in, binds us in savish chains to a
greedy master, who sinks us to the very bone.
"Such protection vultures give to lambs
Covering n nd deyouring thcmi'
THE men of 1776 rose up against England
rather than lenger remain the wretched vic
Tins Of navigation laws" whose sole object
in twenty-five separate acts. was to monopo-
lie the trade and commerce of the colonies.
We suffer tenfold greater than the colonies
ever endured from precisely similar system
of monopoly; we have the remedy, by peace
able revolutions at the ballot box, in our
hands, but we seem to lack both the intell-
gcnce and the courage to use it,"
The MOdOc War.