The St. Cloud journal., 1875-05-13
WHEAT EXPORTS AND PROTECTION.:

very great quantity of wheat of late.
From Sept. l, 1874, to April 13,
1875, we shipped $4,000, 900, bushels,
an amount only 100000 bushels
less than the export during the same
months year before. During the
last two years, the price of hreadstufts
in Europe has been low, SO that these
figures are especially encouraging,
inasmuch as they show an ability to
compete with transatlantic grainfelds
in supplying transatlantic consumers.
Russia has been our most formidable
rival, and the recent extension of her
railroad system has been expected to
greatly increase her exports Of food
to England. AS yet, however these
expectations have not been justified
by experience. In 1873, 40 per cent.
Of British imports of wheat came
from this country, and 20 per cent.
from Russia, while, in 1874, we sup
piled 554 per cent, and Russia only
Is. The railroads into the Nlu<co-
vite wheat regions have not been
operated long enough to show what
their real effect will be, but it is not
probable that our farmers will be
materially I'M ured by them, at least
for some time to come. They are
mainly military roads, and their
prime use is to transport troops and
munitions of war towards Asia. The
Government owns them, and is much
more anxious that they should carry
soldiers west than wheat east. Then
the enormous standing army Of Rus
sia greatly diminishes the supply Of
agricultural labor and increases, in a
like ratio, the number of uuproduc-
tive consumers at home. Again, the
wholesale emigration of the Menon-
ties is depriving the Empire of the
Car of no inconsiderable part Of its
grain-growing population. Finally,
the downward tendency of freigh,s
from the Mississippi to the seaboard
is increasing the capabilities of our
farmers for competing with foreign
rivals.
1t is not likely then that our ex-
ports of wheat will soon diminish.
That they are not far, very far, larger,
and that our farmers are not CORES
pondingly much more prosperous, is
due, not to the grain-growers of Eu-
rope, but to the manufacturers and
Congressman Of America. The 49,
100000 bushels of wheat exported |
during the last seven months were
raised and shipped by unprotected
labor. No laws give the farmer, as
they do the manufacturer, the right |
to tax his tellow-citizens for his own
benefit. He must sell his products
for what they are worth, not for what |
they are worth plus a bounty Of so or
70 per cent paid him at the expense
of men engaged in other trades. The
average duty on the articles for which
the farmers exchanged these 33,000,-
900 bushels Of wheat is about 45 per
cent. If this duty, three-tifths Of
which goes into the pockets of the
protected classes and two-fitths to the |
Government, had not been laid, 49,
100000 bushels of wheat would have |
bought more goods than the 33,000,- |
900 paid for, under the present state
of things. Within seven months,
therefore, one class of the 100000
agriculturists Of the United States
have paid tribute of over 100000
900 bushels of wheat to the few thous-
and protected employers Of labor.
And this is but one item in the long
schedule Of what the protection Of a
few favored rich men costs the masses.
Chicago Tribune.
"A correspondent Of the -Nuine
Farmer says :-Cucumbcrs in the
early part Of July are luxury, and !
eaten in moderation are not unwholc-
some. They should always be lirk,~
early in the morning, when the dew
is on them. Gathered later in the
day, under broiling sun, they are
wholly unfit to eat. This is, no
doubt, one reason why they are con-
sidered unwholesome by many per-
sons.