Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1886-10-20
The Tariff Burden-How 1t Bears
on the Farmers of the
Westarn States

who live in the far Western State
carry. There fire wood is exceedingl,
scarce and of poor quality. TIL
coal lies deep buried and is n cost,
fuel, almost n luxury. In those dis
tant agricultural fields that lie to tn
arid zone there is no established manu-
featuring industry. There is no orc
no coal mines, no large tracts Of for
rest. The only industry is the wealth
creating one of agriculture. Rail
roads have penetrated the region
Towns spring into quiet life along
the transportation lines and grow
slowly. This growth of non-produc
tive communities is spoken of n
highly desirable. The West is sait
to prosper. Is the growth Of these
communities in strictly agricultural
land desirable? And is the West
prospering?
Suppose county containing 5000
farms of 100 acres each, which is
about the average size Of agricultural
counties lying west Of the Missouri
River. These farms would carry
about 10000 people. There are nc
towns in this supposititious county.
The railroad stations are shipping
points only. Under the supposed
case the expenses of the rural COM
munity are the direct taxes levied to
meet the cost of government, of
school and for public improvements,
then the cost of living, and then for
agricultural tools and iron and lum-
Der. The income of the farmers is
derived from the sale of grain and
live stock. The only manufacturing
industry in the county is that of
grinding wheat into flour. After II
few years town springs into existence
along the railroad, and it grows
rapidly until it contains 5000 inhabi-
tants. In 4 western town of that
size there will be twenty stores, two
or three agricultural implement
houses where goods are sold on large
commissions, three usurious corpora
tions called banks, six or seven loan
and mortgage agencies-ovcr the
doors of which three golden balls
should swing, as they are shops where
men, landed proprietors, pledge their
lands and lose them, and so become
tenants-half dozen blacksmith shops,
a couple of weekly papers, four lum-
Der yards, and maybe tiny foundry
and one or two large merchant mills,
where wheat is ground into flour for
export. The growth of the town to
the limit of about 5000 people has
been rapid (; there it stops, and things
are at a standstill. The majority of
the people who came to the town
brought money with them to build
houses, to buy clothing, to buy suffici-
ent food to keep them until they
could earn more. But the groceries,
the clothing, the furniture, the fuel,
the shoes, the lumber, the lime, the
iron, these townmen brought were not
produced in the county; they were
forced to spend their capital in other
communities. The town is built, and
the farmers who till the lands, and
raise the produce that brings the only
money that is not raised on mortgage
into the county, are not one cent the
richer. Nothing has been bought of
them excepting small portion of
their surplus produce, and for that
they had'a market before the town
was built The building of the town
has not increased the price of corn,
or pork, or wheat, or beef. The
money the townspeople brought with
them to the now town was exhausted
in building, in living, and in buying
stocks of goods to trade to the farmers.
The banks have money to loan. So
have the loan agents. The wheat
grinding companies have sufficient to
buy wheat. The same is true of the
elevator men, provided the banks dis
count their paper freely. The town
is heavily mortgaged. The farms are
mortgaged. The rate of discount is
from per cent. to q per cent. per
month. Taxes are high. Farm pro-
ducts sell little above, now little
below the cost of production.
Who supports the 5000 people who
live in the town? Are they of any
benefit to the wealth, creators who till
the soil or are they suckers who
sponge their living out of the agricul-
turists? l hear shopkeeper say he
is no sucker, that he pays taxe', that
he is necessary to the welfare of the
community. He is mistaken. He
pays no taxes. He distributes the
amount of his taxation among his
goods, making them a little higher in
price, and the farmers who buy his
goods really pay his taxes. SO it is
with the lumber dealer. He generally
sells ON commission. In effect, he
levies tax on every house, barn,
IL ..1 .l.oI-or ,oow