Litchfield enquirer., 1881-05-26
Does Protection help Farmers?

Does Protection help Farmers?
 That labor is one of the greatest needs of Agriculture is 50 evident that it ought to re, quire no argument to make the fact manifest to all. If proof were required, we might point to what has been done in farming by those who, from having previously engaged In more profitable business, are enabled to employ men regardless of expense; not being dependent on the profits of thelr farming for a subsistence. We zee that such men can do what many a mere farmer has waited all his life in the vain hope of sometime being able to accomplish. They can improve their farms by thorough cultivation, by clearing of stone, draining, fencing, etc. and by the erection of suitable buildings; all which re qures abundance ot labor.
 The somewhat more than ordinary scarcity of farm help, and the high wages demanded none too high for the. laborer, but far high CT than the farmers Income will sdmit of his paying-naturally suggest that an inquiry into the causes that have led to this condition Of things might be both interesting and profit able.
 First of all it is obvious that the scarcity of farm labor is due to the fact that those who would otherwise have. been employed upon the farms have gone to the cities and villages; and the growth of these places IS plainly attributable to the decline of the coun- try. Men are not often found consistently preferring certain employments unless there IS some reason for their preference. It is not mere caprice that crowds our cities and de- populates our farms
 In New England, at least, it is manufactu res that build up villages and cities and attract men away from farm life. What is the spec ial inducement? Men are apt to go where think they do the best. It can barely be ex- pected when the manufacturer can bid fifty dollars month for labor. and the farmer only twenty five, that the farmer will secure the help he so much needs needs. Thus the high wages secure the workmen; but this is not all. When . factory is established and workmen secured, a nucleus is formed about which men engaged in all other forms of busi-
 
 upon the workmen, like wolves about herd of deer Lawyers come to profit by the crimes and disorders of such communities; and the Doctors to cure the diseases engendered by by village and city life. From boot blacking to banking and insurance, all varieties of vil- lage occupation spring up.
 It may be claimed, and with some truth, that for various reasons, such as the uncer- tainty of steady employment in the shop, and the greater temptations to expense. town en- ployment proves often less remunerative than country employment, where. if there is less earned there is less spent. On the other hand, village life is considered more enjoyable than country life, and experinece shows that men once used to congrexatiug together, seldom learn to enjoy anything like a solitary exist ence. We come back, in short, to our origi nal proposition, that, so long as the manufac- turer can pay higher wages, he will surely get the laborers, and the farmers must go without them
 What then enables the manufacturer to outbid the farmer? He derives one of his chief advantages from the Tariff On that subject The Hartford Courant in the last campaign, in an article probably meant pe- culiarly for city workingmen rather than for farm laborers and farmers, says: ''A Tariff arranged for reasonable encouragement of manufacturers raises soages but tt does not ratse tte Ggricutaral products ttat the h.5orer must bug in the proportion Mat tt raises ,oages"
 It has even been claimed by some who ad- vocate protective tariff, that under a simple tariff for revenue, ''our factories would be closed, " ''that we should become purely agricultural people," In view of the vast and various resources of this country which afford wonderful advantages for manufacture, such talk seems foolish If the tariff only secured . bare subsistence to manufacturers it would be different matter, but it secures them far more than this. It secures them Free Trade would tend to decfease manufac- lures, especially such (and they are many) as are in anyway unnecessary, or abnOrmaly active and if abruptly adopted, might cause depression in business for while; but things would soon adapt themselves to the new con- l ditions, and manufactures would probably become more stable and furnish more certain employment to the reduced numbers employ ed, not subjecting them, as now, to frequent ''shut downs" While an increase in the farming population, thing so greatly to be desired, would consequently follow, for man. ufacturers would then be obliged to stand on their own natural feet, without the power | they now have to exact tribute under the name of protection. Agriculture would then have more equal chance in bidding for the labor which it so much needs.
 Evidently our statesmen could modify the flow of wealth and population so that agri- culture should receive more nearly her pro- portion did they sincerely endeaEor to do SO. But It their current is in any measure turned towards the farmers and working men, it must necessarily in the same measure be turned away from the professional, manufacturing and monopolist classes, and as our congress es are for the most part chosen from these classes, It is rather too much to expect tariff reform of thsm, FARMER,
 Republicans are not responsible for all the Star Route frauds It appears that useless daily route was set up between Coulson, Mon- tana, and Fort Custer. Only one letter was ever carried over it's circular to the post. master at Fort Custer. He let it go back ards and forwards till the postmaster at Coulson got angry and reported the matter to Washington, The Fort Custer postmaster was called on for an explanation. He. wrote the facts to the Department exposing the fraud Then came