The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-10-15
THE TARIFF QUESTION AGAIN.

Western farmers in want of a market and
desirous of finding one in foreign countries
across the Atlantic, should remember that
one mandatory at home employing 100
men will support an additional 500 people.
Three hundred families will disburse annu-
ally, on the average, $3.50, or $75, 900 in the
aggregate. This money will be drawn into
consumed, and the interest of these So, 900
at u per cent would be " 800. Three hun
dred families, too, would require houses,
thousands of pounds Of agricultural pro-
duce and thousands of yards of cotton and
wooden goods, thus giving health and i'm
petns.-Indiona Farmer.
Yes; that is all true; and those re-
suits are greatly to be desired. But
suppose they can only be obtained by
paying one hundred per cent. more on
the goods they consume than they are
worth, then the boot is on the other
leg.
Suppose manufacturer of blankets
opens his mill in rural neighborhood,
and sells the people 100000 of
blankets every year; and spends that
100000 in making improvements and
in hiring workmen who buy the farm
crs' productions, his potatoes, meat,
&C.; then it is clearly for the interest
of the farmers that they should encour-
age that mill rather than one 5000
miles away. But suppose the miller
manufactures $4,000 Of blankets every
year, and insists that the farmers shall
pay him 100000 for them: and has
law passed to compel the farmers to
take them at that price or freeze; then
his mill becomes an injury to the peo-
pie.
In other words. the farmers will not
be able to make as much off the ten or
dozen workmen and their families as
they will lose by the extortionate price
of the blankets.
Why not, then, buy their blankets
where they can buy them the cheapest
and sell their wheat where they can
sell it at the highest price; and let
everything else adjust itself by the great
laws of commerce
Why permit yourself to be robbed
this year in the belief that the robber
will prove good customer next year?
If he deals with you next year, will it
not be with the money he stole from
you this year?
If the argument Of the Indiana Far
n,er is correct, the paper is probably
supported by Eastern capital,) why
would it not apply as well to lemons
oranges and bananas, as to wooden
goods and blankets Why buy them
at the West India price plus the trans.
portation Why not exclude all for
eign lemons, oranges and bananas
from our ports, and encourage, by law,
the raising Of them in lighthouses here
in Minnesota /? just think how many
men it would employ to build those
lighthouses; think Of the tens Of thou
sands Of cords Of wood they would fur
nish market for to heat them think
how many gardeners and their families
would have to he fed by the produc-
tions of the farmers? What if the
oranges, bananas, and lemons cost us
five dollars each, would not home in
dustry be protected!
And then suppose the West Indians
refused to buy our wheat, but proceed
ed to raise it by artificial means, SO
that it cost them ten dollars a bushel,
would they not thereby encourage home
industry also And would not both
countries be impoverished in the end,
and ruined, and would not all com.
merce cease between them; and would
not the cause of humanity and the
worlds progress be set back for gen.
Grafton!
Take another Illustration A farmer
lives rear village. Now it is clearly
his interest to help the growth of that
village. II will furnish market for
his ''garden sass" its growth will IN
crease the value Of his farm. But sup.
pose the merchants of that village will
not give him within ten cents per
bushel for his wheat, what he can get
for it at another village twenty miles
away then it is clearly his interest to
haul it to that remote village. For the
loss of ten cents per busfrel is an actual,
certain, loss; the resulting benefits
from the growth Of the village are re-
mote and uncertain; and the loss Of ten
cents per bushel will aggregate more
than all he can make off the growth Of
the village.
But suppose law was passed to make
lin sell his wheat at loss of ten cents
per bushela
! That would be the High Tariff.
THE NOMINEE IN MURRAY
COUNTY.