Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-09-15
A Democratic~ Falsehood Nailed.

Through the columns of the Free
Trade Bulletin, of New York, Frank
Hurd, chief interpreter of the tariff
plank in the Ohio Democratic platform.
declares that; "the agriculturist has no
protection except pretentiously on WOO" !"
Frank Hurd has been a member of Con-
gress, and assumes to exercise the role
of a statesman, but this statement, so
deliberately made, showa that he is
either an ignoramus in public affairs or
otherwise deliberate falsifier. The
Leader chooses to believe that he know
ingly lied in this matter There is not
a man in the country who has given
thought to the tariff question who does
not know that American Agriculturists
are so protected as to give them a home
market without the least, chance of in
reference from foreign nations. 1t is
in this market that they find a demand
for ninety per cent of all they produce,
barring cotton and tobacco. The tariff
excludes. foreign competition with
American agriculturists precisely as it
does with American manufacturers.
There is no fayoritism in its provisions
as between those who till the soil and
those who carry on the other industries
of the country, and this Frank Hurd
knows just as well as he knows that
John Wesley Bookwalter is endeavoring
to pull the wool over the eyes of the
workingmen of Ohio.
The Leader never makes an assertion
That it is not ready to back with the
requisite proof, and proposes now to
make good its declaration that the farm
er is as well protected as the manufac-
turer The tariff fixes duty on all ami
mails, except those for breeding purposes,
of twenty per cent. on wool the duty is
from ten to twelve cents per pound,
with from ten to twelve per cent. ad va
loren added; on wheat the duty is twen-
ty cents per bushel; on corn, ten cents;
on barley, fifteen cents; on oats, ten
cents; on sugar from two to five cents
per pound; on butter and cheese, four
cent sper pound on leaf tobacco, unman-
ufactured tobacco, fifty cents per pound; !;
and so on through the entire category
of agricultural productions, What fol-
ly then is it, in the face of such facts,
for Democratic free trader to assert
that "the agrioulturist has no protection
except pretentiOusly on wool"
The American farmer Is so thorough
ly protected at home that he is enabled
to pursue his calling with energy and
great advantage to himself. He has all
foreign competitors shut out of the
home market, and is enabled to dispose
of any surplus without trouble in for
eigu markets. Under the fostering care
IS~f tn - fIa oil IF in Int
ted States has risen from 80,000,000 lbs.
to 25O,000,O00 pounds within the past
twenty years. Protection has done even
more than this for the farmers of the
country. 1t has so advanced the inter-
ests of agriculture that we have now
SOTO square miles given to the produc-
tion of wheat, s0,61O to corn, $4,000 to
oats, 2,8l0 to barley, 1885 to rye, 2.63a
to potatoes, and 4O,0s0 square miles to
hay. All this has been accomplished
through the demands of home market,
built up and insured to agriculturists
through the benetcence of protection.
! AS our manufacturers increase and ex-
tend their operations to all parts Of the
country, the markets will grow, and the
I area of farming operations increase We
commend these matters TO the attention
of Ohio farmers, as we'll as to those of
other States. 1t is for the agriculturists
of the broad West to determine whether
they will support protection, and keep
absolute control of a market in which
they dispose of ninety per cent of their
products, or will join with free traders
in destroying q market in which they
| find their highest advantage II (Cleve-
land Leader,