Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-01-15
A Free Trade Appeal.
Rurlington HsWkeve.

A short time since Mr.. Augustus Mon
gredien, London gentleman published an
address to the Western Farmer of Ameri-
ca in the interest of the British dogma OF
free trade with this country, and contain
i1g the usual so, histry usually found in
all free trade arguments. We have seen no
better nor more terse reply to that pro-
duction than the following taken from thu
Gardeners Monthly, which we commend to
our readers:
THE WESTERN FARMER OF AMERICA.
A letter to him by Augustus Mongredien,
of London, England: AS the Gardeners
Monthly is horticultural and not farm
ing paper, we fsncied there was q mistake
in sending 1t to US for review, but In note
our Sincere Friend" Mr.. Mongredien,
tells US that the word farmer, is useo TO
Guilty. ton of the SOIL" Well, our friend
commences by reminding US that the
golden rule for successful trading Is to
buy in the oh espest end sell in the dearest
market" No man of any common sense
doubts this. The only questionis. which is
the cheap one and which Is the dear one?
Mr.. Mongredien, the ''sincere friend of
believe that the lowest priced market is
cheapest for the buyer, and that this low
priced market is his market, that is, the
English market of course; for if the Ameri-
can were the cheaper, he would not be our
sincere friend" But every American
buyer knows that low priced things are
not necessari y the cheapest, for there are
cheap things that are likewise nasty and
mean. 1t is not which market IS lowest
and cheapest, but which is the cheapest and
| best.
To decide this we have to two pictu res.
Mr. Mongredien, in his sincere friendship
for the we tern farmer, woult have him
send all his crops to Europe and pay host
of middlemen to bug in Europe and bring
to him what he needs that he cannot raise
himself The western country, as it can
raise corn more cheaply than England.
should be contented with being huge
firm for the English people; and in that
event. as Mr.. Mongredien figures it out,
they would save few dollars in cash per
aunum, in SO far as the mere purchases of
these Immediate necessities of life are con-
'nrned But the western farmer" the
few past years, has leaned a thing or two
wnIcn his sincere friends" over the way
had forgotten to tell him; that there is such
thing as saving at the spigot and wasting
at the bung and while he was saving
lime by going to his English frisnds with
b products, he was losing a dollar else
where. His wi gin soiP' will some day
be esp0used to agriculture. 1t must then
have manurr, and this can always be had
from the towns and cities near him
The tune CONS when he cannot
DO eli the work himself, he must
have cheap labor, either in the shape of
human muscle or machinery, and he wants
these as near as possible to him, that h"
may get them on emergencies. He wants
q IS children to be intelligent and cultured,
and TO have religious associations and re.
fined companionship; and he knows that
these only come from making numerous
prosperous towns and villages over the
ength and bredth of his huge western
farm. Besides all this the western farmer
| &c quite as much interested in the increased
value OF ms land as In the price o. bushel
If corn will bring in London. So long as
| Europe Is his only market his land will be
| f no more valuo than the principal sum
| represented by the profit on his acre of
grain. 1t could never be worth over ten
| dollars an acre. But as soon as a town
| gets near him, he can sell milk, butter,
Eggs, chickens, cabbages, tomatoes, straw
berries and raspberries; Norway spruce
and Norway NAPLES, roses and verbenss.
| or thousands of things that he could never
dispose of in his European market" and
The result is, that from ten dollars his
and goes up to fifty, one hundred, or
| even two hundred dollars or more an
re, because of the facilities with which
| all these little extras can be turned into
| lash. The western farmer has been acting
| n this principle for some years past.
| Towns and villages have sprung up every
where about him. Manufacturers are pros
pering at his elbow. and buy almost every
thing he has to sell Fruits and vege>
aOies and trees and f >wers are in constant
| demand by thee growing communities,
md make profitable livings for thousand :,
Who are IN turn consumers of the farmer L
bread and meat.
| anu n-re is the point of the whole argu.
| nent. Is it wise to break up all these
| hourishing centres, which bring US in hun
| reds Of dollars, because we might save
ems by buying in the cheapest" market
ur Mongredien thinks it uld be. He
| Toes not seem to have heard that 8 man
may be pennv-wise and pound
| We have thus given our mi n of this
york wi bout any reference to party poll
les, which is out of the line of he Gard
2ner's Monthly. If the policy of the demo
rats or the republicans, or of the protec.
Ionl Is or the tree raider, will do the mos
| . make western towns and western indus
lies, z" IN for any Of them but it ia folly
believe that the western farmer or frui
grower has any interest of consequence
hat Is not also the interest of every -four
ing Industry in his own neigh borhood