Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-05-16
A COMING Crisis roR FARnERs.

The farmers have long submitted 10 the
situation the monopolists have made for
them, and allowed high tariffs to make huge
fortunes for people that were not farmers,
but there ia every appearance that crisis
will arise that will compel them to take
measures for their own protection, they who
have 80 good-naturedly acquiesced in protec-
tion for others. The APPEAL recently gave
at come length IN account of the vast in
crease in the production of wheat in the
E ist Indies, and how the increase of canals
for irrigation, and the construction of vast
lines of railroad have put into the hands Of
the ryots, the. Indian peasant farmers
| are called, the means OF indefinitely
increasing their produce and getting ii
cratic candidate for governor of OHIO,
was in India in February, and he
confirms all that other authorities say upon
THE subject, which proves that the American
farmer will soon find his commerce with Eu-
rope endangered BY the rivalry of the East
Indian growers. Mr.. Bookwalter says:
'Nothing, perhaps, will engage the attention
Of an obseryant American travelling in this
country at this time of year more than the
vast area of wheat that stretches away on all
hands in an interminable sea of golden grain.
One might imagine that he was in the great
wheat.growing regions of Minnesota and
Iowa. Indeed, 1 do not remember having
seen larger fields in those States than have
met with in the rich valleys of the Ganges
and Godsvery. That this country
is especially adapted 10 the growth
of wheat, both In point OF climate and
soil, is certain" As it is the policy of the
monopolists to get high prices by taxes upon
goods of the same description as they sell,
but to have no tax upon what they have to
buy, the farmer ia given no protection. He
has to fed market for his wheat in Eu.
gland and in France mainly, but at the rate
that the East India is coming into the mar
ket, his power to sell there is in danger Of
being limited. Here, says the Ohio writer,
"we come face to face with that singular
anomaly of our industrial system that, while
for the great agricultural classes of our
country the price of that which they con.
sumo and do not produce is fixed by the lat
of legislation, the price Of that which they
sell ia fixed by the fve-cent ryot of the
Pupjaub and the Berars" That is, as the
world will buy its wheat where it can buy it
cheapest, the price will ultimately not be
fixed by the American, but by the ryot, who
gets all the labor he wants at six cents
day. The miner and the man.
uiacturer must be protected sgainst the beef
eating English laborer, but the farmer can
be exposed unprotected TO the relocating
East Indian ryot. With India colony of
England and free taker of England's wares,
how are we TO compete who refuse to take
England's products? We think il smart"
thing to tax what England sends here, and
TO sell our prod ucts to Esgland without her
putting any tax upon Them. But England is
becoming disguised with this one-sided
business. The Liberal party have been losing
ground there lately, aud il the Tories get
into power there again they will get it by
promising the Euglish farmer to put duty
upon American wheat, 80 as to let the Amer
leans know that if they wish to sell to En-
gland they must buy of England, not tax
English goods out of their markets. They
will also crafty the English working people |
by promising TO buy cheap wheat from India |
that buys from them, to the confusion of the
United States that does not. There is mat
ter here for our American farmers to
think over. 1t is time they should look
closer than they have done into the motives
of the managing pr0tectionist who, while