Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-12
FARMER AND TARIFF.
Protection a Detriment to the Agricu
tural Glasses.

Geatleuen Of the State Board Of 4Agricul-
tltre Of Massachusetts: As delegate from
the Barnstable Agricultural society L
thank YOU for the honor you have done
me in appointing me to address you on
the value Of a protective tarln 10 the
farmer l approach the subject with
some difidence as 10 my own power OF
treating the subject TO the best advan-
tage. but not with the least doubt as TO the
soundness of the negative position shall
take and ! ask your indulgent attention.
do not propose TO detain you with an
elaborate ESSAY. l shall only submit 10
YOU a few facts and considerations tnat
the busiest may have time TO think about,
and those the least familiar with the sub
Iect can understand. We all know that
all articles raised by the farmer, or COM
inc from the soil. have a ready sale for
cash. and that the producer can at once
realize the results of his labor. There
are manifold uncertainties in his busl-
ness. but after all the vicissitudeS, beyond
those of any other worker in any branch
Of business in these United States, such
as the changes of weather, wet or dry,
cold or hot, wind or storm, and worm or
blight. the tiller of the soil knows that
what he secures will bring him its value
in money. His profits. however, even in
the best of seasons, and with the largest
of crops are not so great, ithat it is not de-
sirable that what he receive may avail
him to the utmost. The effect OF taxa
ton upOn him, therefore. is important:
First. as it may affect the cost OF what
he has raised: and. second. in making the
proceeds 90 as far as possible IN supply
ing his wants or in adding to his small
savings and capital. As things are at
present, the fact is, that though ne sells
for cash. he has to rebate to somebody, at
least thirty. if not forty or fifty per
cent of what he receives. l Will
now proceed to give you few
figures from pamphlet issued by the Ma
tional Bureau of Statistics. From this it
appears that the value of imports OF for
eign goods last year, at their cost abroad,
amounted to S716.O00.000, of which the
value of $211. 600, 600 was of free goods
such as tea, coffee, hides, chemicals, etc,
leaving a value of sos. 000,0 600 on which
duties were paid to the amount of S2l6,-
OO0 600 an average of 1875 per cent.
Think of adding this amount to the for
eign cost. besides freight and other
charges!
The exports Of merchandise during this
period were valued at $133, 100000, OF
which the value of $j52, 900, 600 were the
products of agriculture, or seyenty-fye
per cent. of the whole.
Of the whole amount of exports, only
a little over One-eighth, or SlO3,OOO,OOO
worth We're manufactures, or less than
two per cent. OF the total manufacturing
product of the country for 1880. And to
make up this sum, manufactures OF wood
meaning lumber TO the value OF $l9,0OO,-
COO of tobacco. spirits. spirits of turpen-
tine. sugar and mOlasses, and many such
articles have to be included. Now, if the
duties on the total $4,000, 600 of imports,
free and duriable, are $216,O 600, or an
average of thirty per cent. On,all, dutiable
or free. does not the country have to pay
those S216, OO0, 900 into the public treasury,
in addition to the SI33,OOO,ON
value of merchandise sent away to buy
them. and does not this vast sum come
out of the pockets of the consumers. by
the increased price of everything they
have to buy: And does not the chief bur-
den fall upon agriculture, the most I'M
pOrtant interest of the nation, and upon
agriculturists, who are the largest class,
whose products and labor have furnished
the bulk of those exports!
In the old DAYS Of notification, when
there was much strife and much intelli-
gent discussion upon the effect OF foreign
impOsts. when laid for protection. Mr..
McDuffie. of South Carolina, maintained
the theory, the duties at that time being
on the aYera re forty per cent. upon goods
imported from England, that II he sent
100 bales of cotton there to be sold, order
ing the return in goods, when they arrived
he had to give the United States Gov
eminent forty bales more to pay the duty
on the clothing. hats. shoes and blankets in
which he had ordered the proceeds OF the
100 bales to be invested, thus making the
100 bales worth of goods cost him 40
bales of cotton. And this was no tallacy.
1t was true then, and it is true to-day. If
| send 100 barrels of cranberries from my
Cape Cod place, or you 100 barrels Of APP
IL fr,1o md n
and bring back dutiable goods in eX-
change, we must have the proceeds of 43
barrels more in our pockets to pay the
government for the duties on the goods.
Even if we ordered the amount in trees.
or plants, or seeds of any kind, paying
duty of 20 per cent, it would be 20 bar
rels on a hundred, and does this pro-
tect US: The total amount of value of
seeds imported last year was 81, 49,, 10 Is,
paving duties S2S1 OBS 81. There is not
only no protection to us in this, but ac-
tuallv a barrier in the way Of introducing
improved seeds and plants into the cOun-
try. only to increase the surplus in the
public treasury at our expense, to be
squandered at Washington. If it be said
that you and ! will bring home gold for
our apples or cranberrieS, we cannot buy
at home what we need without its cost
being increased by the duties the importer
has to pay ON it, be 1t silk or merinO
dresses for our wives and daughters, coats
and hats for ourselves, or steel plOws or
trace and log chains for our farms. You
cannot escape the fact that YOU buy a
great deal less for your money at home
than abroad, and while the price Of what
you raise and sell is fixed by what it is
worth in the foreign market, the price of
all you want to buy here of foreign make,
is fixed here, and the cost is increased by
the duty, averaging nearly forty-three per
cent. That a tax increases the price of
goods is illustrated by the fact that COM
mon whisky, worth % cents a gallon, is
increased by the duty Of 80 cents TO the
market value of 81 10, and the san is the
effect on the price of tobacco. This in
crease of price by the tax, which is here
clear and palpable, will apply, though
less apparently, to all the articles i'm
ported from abroad, be they sugar three
cents a pound or salt, clothing, hats or
blankets, iron or steel, or manufactures
thereof. There is no doubt that the prices
of the same class of goods made at
home are enhanced in equal ratio
with them. If any man tells you
that our protected manufacturer IN kes
goods cheaper than they are made abroad
ask him then. why he does not sell them
at a price at which they can be shipped
to South America, India or China, to
compete with those same foreign goods
sent to those markets from England, Ger
many and France? Why must our ex-
ports be mainly agricultural, if our man.
ufacturers can afford goods cheaper than
the foreigner? In addition to the $216,-
100000 duties collected on foreign inn
ports, there are $155, 900 of internal
revenue taxes collected, of which whisky
and tobacco. the products of agriculture,
pay a large part. OF course
these are luXuries, and we are not
obliged to use them, but it makes in all
total burden of 1856, 10000 to fall upon
sOneBOdg, and it cannot be a good thing.
The principle is wrong to gather up this
vast sum. to distribute it again, who
knows where? 1t may be said that, if
these $350,000,000 to $500, 100000 a year
the latter is Mr.. FOlger's estimate for the
current year are gathered in taxes, the
amount is all spent at home, and that the
country is not the poorer for it.
Suppose this is admitted, does it not
make considerable odds to whom the
money goes, for it does not get back to
those who contribute it? 1t goes from
your pockets, first, to a standing army of
tax gatherers, and what is left. to those
whose Golfers are afEeady full. Do you
know a farmer who has become a Million
aire by farming! You may count
them by dozens among those
whose occupations and business
are protected, but not among the farmers!
The President of the Singer Sewing Ma
chine Company lately died, leaving a
dozen or more millions of dollars made
from a business eminently protected, and
from machines mainly distributed and
sold among the working people of this
country. From the increased cost by
duties on steel, and other causes involved
in protection. these machines are too dear