St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-12-01

which advocates an inflexibIe, unalterable,
high protective tariff policy-a paper OF the
| Window Davis school of political economy
has at last become aware of the fact that
for a few years past. while it has been
asleep, the good people of the Northwest
| have become wuefully heterodoX on the tariff
/ question. and" says the paper, their
eyes must be opened" The first eye
opener" is on the subject of tine wheat
tariff. and the great blessing it is to the
farmers of the Northwest. But let us listen
| to this owl. like oracle. that We may get
| taste of its profound wisdom:
As to the wheat situation. it is 10 be remem-
| bered that hard Northern wheat is q distinct
! commodity, of which not enough is raised TO
! satisfy even our American demand, and
! there ore it commands u high premium Ii
the markets OF the United States were freely
! opened TO the wheat growers of Manitoba.
! VINO produce the same valuable varieties OF
grain. and VINO can produce il in aim ost I'M
limited quantities, it stands to reason that the
pr, MUM now received by Minnesota anu
! Dakota farmers would largely disappear. In
, other words, were ii not Tor the tarlu on
! wheat our farmers in this state could not get
practically twice as much for their grain as
the farmers of Kansas get for theirs.
| 1t will be surprising, though gratifying
news to the farmers of the Northwest to
learn that their wheat is a very scarce COM
modify aud therefore commands high
premium" Hard Northern wheat is a
distinct commodity" and hence our farm
erS are waxing wOndrouSly rich selling it at
high premium" Profound logicl
happy farmerSI How miserable would be
your fate if you did not raise wheat that
was scarce" and that commands thigh
premium"
This editorial declaration caused us to
turn to the market reports of the same paper
to see exactly how much this premium"
was. On that day No. l hard was worth in
Minneapolis 72H cents, No. l Northern,
70H.. On the same day No. spring
equivalent to our No. 1 Northern-waS
quoted III Chicago at rs cents. Failing to
see the 'premum" here we went to the
great winter wheat market OF Toledo. u,
for surely there is no scarcity OF that va
riety of wheat, and our high premium"
will be apparent. On the day III question
wheat was selling in Toledo for II cents.
The difference in price between our scarce
No. hard in Duluth and the plenty winter
wheat in Toledo was just about the cost of
lake freights from the former to the latter
place. Still the high premium" was not
apparent.
But we are told by our oracle that the
Kansas farmer was getting but half as much
for his wheat as the farmer of this region.
AL ON account of" the tartf-up to this
time we supposed Kansas was blessed with
a protective tariff, toc-so we would here
find the high premium" We were looking
for. 1t is true we found wheat in Kansas
city about 10 cents buShel less
than it was in Duluth on the same day; but
as wheat afloat in Duluth is worth as much
as it is aAoat in Chicago. and as the Kansas
City wheat was $50 miles by rail from Chi
cago, with vilain0uS railroad charges inter
vening. the difference i'll the price OF wheat
between Kansas City and Duluth looked to
us more Ike a question of geographical pO-
Sition and mOnopolistic railroads than of
the tariff.
The idiotic twaddIe about keeping Mani
toba wheat out of this country and thus III
surfing our farmers a thigh premium"
when the prices for our wheat are made by
the same market which makes the prices
for Manit0ba's wheat. does not deserve no
tice. In fact the treatment of the whole
subject is so stupid that we feel like apollo
giving to our readers for giving 1t so much
space; but it has value as being indicative
of the kind of argument (?) to be used in
Opening the eyes of our misguided farm
erS.