Daily Kennebec journal., 1882-03-25
Dailu Krnnebfr 3uurnaI.
Protection for the Farmer.


Protection for the Farmer.
The eNponentS of free trade. as is Gus
tomary with them. are weeping over the
unfortunate condition of the downtrodden
farmer. With a tragic air, in accents of
sympathy. they bewail his fate. the victim
OF remorseless. pitiles> protection, whose
iron hand has dragged him down into the
slough of poverty. while the manufacturer
and mechanic have been elevated to the
pinnacle of financial success. But where
would the American farmer be TODAY
without protection? What would be his
condition and how would he lareg 4
farmer to prosper must have market at
home. To have Il market he mus, find
buyers who have money to buy with. Now
the buyers who make the markets for the
farmers of Maine. are almost To a man en-
gagged in manufacturing or depending
thereon. Strike out the protective tariff.
and foreign competition steps in, and our
workmen and mechanics are forced TO
compete with the 'pauper laborers" OF
Europe, who work for mere pittance.
Their wages are accordingly reduced. and
they are unable 10 pay the farmer re-
munerative prices for his produce. for
they have not the funds wherewith to pay
high prices. and are obliged to curtal
their expenses 10 the smallest possible
amount. Thus the home markets are
DESTROYED. or AT least badly injured The
nearer a farm is TO market, the more il
is worth TO him. This is practically il
Illustrated in Maine A farm within five
miles of thriving manufacturing town,
is worth double one that is IL or % miles
out. Weaken our markets by shutting up
factories, and our farms will deteriorate
in value at a rapid rate
Again Abolish the tariff for protec-
ton, and English manufactures will
flood the country with their cheap
goods, thereby making our manufacturing
industries Improbable. This being the
case our manufacturers will become dis
heartened, close their factories and work
shops. letting loose IN army of operatives
who, finding no other occupation at hand.
will go to farming. This large addition
to the farming class will create increased
supplies of agricultural products, and as
the surplus rules the market, and the
number of consumers outside of farming
are decreased, it will he seen that prices
of farm commodities would sink very low
The situation of our farmers would then
be little, if any, better than that of the
peasant of the Old World. Under free
trade the most of our cotton and wool. the
raw material, would 90 abroad and return
to us in the shape of manufactured goods.
we paying the cost Of manufacturing INTO
foreign Golfers. Under protection, our
own operatives manipulate the raw mate
rial, the farmer exchanging the products
of his farm for the manufactured articles.
almost at his own door If England can
but DESTROY our manufactures by deluding
people into free trade, she will be salts
fed. Then she could do our manufacture
ing and keep her ships employed, while
Americans till the soil t. furnish her with
the raw material and food for her opera
tives. This is England's little game, but
thanks 10 the wisdom of our statesmen
and the republican party, by whom pro-
lection has been upheld, it has thus far
been trust rated