The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-30
TO BE JUDGED BY IT'S FRUIT.
An Examination into the Practical
Effect Of Protective Tariff.
How 1t Benefits the Farmer in the Way OfHigh
Prices--A System That Cannot Be Ar
ranged for Any Special Glass.

talked with many Western senators and Pep
sentatiyes and they tell me the Western farmers
are also getting down to work on the tariff ques-
ton, and are likely to arrive at practical con
cusion. Aside from the tariff on wool, the
Western farmer gets little direct beneht from
the tariff and for that reason he is likely to ex-
anime the effect of the system, as whole, upon
the agricultural interests of the country, more
closely than the manufacturer Fortunately, the
American farmer is an intelligent man. He
does not skim, but reads thoughtfully. Some of
the most far-reaching questions asked me
since my return from years tour through in
dustral Europe We're those of Ohio farmers.
Philosophic fustian will not go down with them
Economic dudes who talk of history as the
''tiresome repetition of one story" who have no
time to bother with facts, are unable to con-
vince them. Learned doctors with long array
of letters after their names, who read papers at
a congress or conference, do not appall them.
Mere pamphleteers cannot terrorize them. The
unsettled questions of political economy, to my
mind, at least, still more numerous and impor-
tant than its established maxims, the farmer is
willing to leave to others. The facts and the ques
ton of his own prosperity he will take up for
himself, with hope of solution.
Inc w eStefn 1arlner Will listen 20 q man Ike
Mr.. j. Il. Dodge, who has spent the best part OF
his life in the study Of the statistics of agricul-
ture. He is one of the most painstaking statisti-
clans in the world, and his December report
contains facts that every farmer in this country
should read before voting to demolish even one
brick in the tariff edifice that has increased the
value of his land the value of its annual per
capita product and the wages of the tiller of the
soil.
Let us turn to this report for moment and
of ffaptO of IN gCpIIpI
tUral population an agricultural population,
in other words the value of diversified indus
tries. For this purpose Mr.. Dodge has divided
the States and Territories of the Union into
four classes, the first having less than 30 per
cent engaged in agricultural pursuits; the sec
Ond 30 per cent. and less than so per cent:
the third, so and less than 70 per cent, and the
fourth those having 20 per cent. and over
the ideal free trade States and Territories.
The value of land per acre in the first group is
$}8 IS; in the second $50 %; in the third $l3 3d.
and in the fourth So Is. Here we find that as
the proportion of agricultural to other workers
diminishes the value of land increases but in
much higher rate.
An important fact surely for the farmer
This is not all
The cultvator of the soil obtains an annual
product of higher value. the value of agricultural
products per capita in the first group being $457;
in the second, 1884, in the third, $261, and in the
fourth, $3.50.
With nearly twice as many agricultural pro
uucefS III Gne I0UTGn group as are IOunQ III Gne
first we find the total value of the product $780,.
900, 900 more in the first. In other words, the
labor of 1000, 900 men, in round figures in
States where industries diversified produces
in value of agricultural products $3.50 100000
more than the labor of over 1000 900 men in
States given over entirely to agricultural pur-
suits
Another important fact for the farmer
Does the farm laborer share this advantage?
Mr. Dodge comes armed to the teeth on this
point, with what he rightly regards as trust
worthy returns of the wages of farm labor to the
Department of Agriculture In 1882 the wages of
agricultural labor averaged nearly $25 month
i'll the first and second groups, $3.50 in the
third, and 1920 in the fourth.
An important fact is this, for the farm laborer
especially when he remembers, in conjunction
with it., that the distinguished free trade Senator
Morgan, from Alabama last spring said in the
United States Senate that he did hot want iron
industries established III Alabama, because they
would put up the price of farm labor. What
does the intelligent farm labOrer think of that
Thus we find the Western farmer carefully
studying the influence of manufacturing of min
ing, of productive industries on local prices
whether of farms, farm product, or farm
labor, under the guidance of Mr.. Dodge, who
plainly tells him that the value of farm lands dc
ponds more upon diversifcation of industry than
upon the fertility of the soil, and that the farm
ers income is highest where farmers are fewest
Instead of the prosperity of manufactures sap
ping from the agricultural industry, it encour
ages IL. DuflnR twenty years Oh great mdnuIac-
turing growth and under high tariff the number
Of farms have doubled from ?, 100000 in 1860 to
10000 900 in 1885, their value has increased in that
period from &c. 600 0O0 900 to over $40 900 900 900
The production of cereals has increased from
l.230,0 900 bushels in 1860 to 27O0 900, 900
bushels in 1880-surely a healthy growth.
The farmer will soon see that his interests are
not antagonistic to those of the manufacturer
but that the most prosperous country is the
country IN which manufacturers run along the
line Of agriculture, increasing alike the value of
the land, of the product, and the wages
RAW MATERIAL AND PRODUCTION
Having met the farmer, the next assailant is
the man who wants free raw material 1t would
take an entire letter to trace this cry through
the labyrinth of absurdity and explain what is
and what is not raw material This is Mr.
Hewitts famous hobby, though lead ORE iron ore
and wool make Western men like Morrison
pause and say, mot too raw, or the West may
hesitate to bite it."
Free iron is the cry
Do these gentlemen stop to consider that I'M
der a judicious protection we have increased our
annual home production of iron ore from 900 900
tons in 1860 to g. 000 900 tons in 1888 an increase
of 1000 per cent Theoretical political economists
say we should have left this in its rocky bed and
sent its annual value of $35 000 900 to Spain and
other countries.
The cry for free wool comes from the same
source, but merely as a cover to free iron ore.
While the number of sheep in free trade Eng
land has decreased 5000, 900, the number in the
United States has nearly doubled under the
tariff, and the annual production of wool has in
creased from 60, 900 600 pounds in 1860 to 24O,
100000 pounds in 1880. Wooden goods have de-
clined in price to the consumer until blankets
and the commoner grades of wooden goods of
the same quality are as cheap, or even cheaper,
here to the consumer than in England 1 do not
refer to the undervalued invoice price, nor whole
sale prices, but the cash price, at the retail
stores. Why should we give away two of the
corner-stones of the tariff structure because
selfish motives demand it. If the farmer and
the miner are not entitled to protection the
manufacturer is not. If, on the whole, the sys-
TEN has injured the country let it go, but never
suppose the foundation can be undermined and
the building remain firm and erect.
/ have already shown what diversified indus