The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-01-12

it is worth stating that il is a country that
has every advantage for grain raising that
any section Of this country possesses.
There land is as cheap as anywhere with
US; the climate is, il anything, more favor
able, land laws are the same as with us
and the government affords every facility
for rapid settlement; and above all the
transportation question, which is the i'm
portant one, is much simplified for them
Winnipeg is the Capital, and from there
the government is building a railroad to
Prince Arthur's Landing, point on Lake
Superior, where there is fine harbor, and
from whence grain can be shipped to Liv-
erpool as quickly and cheaply as from
Chicago, and never be for an instant with
in the boundaries of the United States.
Again, there are two rivers which run
through this country navigable for
hundreds of miles and which
as they are now, without a
dollars worth of improvement,
can carry grain to Hudson's Bay and from
thence to Europe, by an all water route,
and cheaper than the Illinois farmer can
land his product in New York. In view
of these facts it is undisputed that the
farmers of that section are to be in the
future our great rivals in the feeding
of the world That country is a
vast one, extending almost to the Pacific
coast, and is now new, but rapidly filling
up as the emigration thither is great be-
yond anything this country has ever seen.
ttBut what do we care for all this?" asks
the Illinois farmer. The answer is simple.
England is the country which consumes
the most of our exported grain; she is our
best customer and if she were to stop buy
ing from us it would be a serious matter,
as we depend for our prosperity upon
our grain exports The announce
ment that we viii have to com
pete with our Canadian cousins for
this trade and that of the other European
countries goes without saying as they, like
US, win raise much more grain than they
can consume. But aside from all natural
conditions and advantages, they have one
acquired and legislative superiority, which
win make such Composition life to them
and death to=us
They have free trade with England, and
in consequence can sell at cheaper rates
than we can. The clothing of the Cana
dian farmer will cost him half as much as
it does one in Illinois. His wagons and
ploughs are much cheaper, and the iron
that goes into his railroads does not cost
him near so much. In short he, in Il coun-
try where he has has perfect free trade
with England, can live and carry on bust
ness for half the money it takes his com
petitor here in Illinois and other Western
States, who is obliged to pay out of his
earnings a fifty per cent tax for the sup
port of Eastern manufacturers.
Again, what is more likely than that
England will do unto US as we have done
% her, and just as soon as she gets his
wheat country opened up, impose heavy
iuty on American wheat? Nothing would
De more natural, for we have been all
along trying to keep her manufactures out
If this country, and as soon as she can
i've without us she viii probably retaliate
y keeping our grain out of her markets
The prospect is one that it will pay
American farmers to reflect upon and to
Wonder whether their comfort has not been
imposed upon enough in the past by pro
ection, without their existence being
threatened in the near future