The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-11-01
TARIFF AND FARM.

The United States is a farmer country.
The farmers produce more than other in
duStries, give us the mass of our export
articles and form the basis of the political
institutions of the country. Already old
Aristoteles said, justly, that freedom could
contiue in farmer communities, but that
danger arose in large cities; our own ex
| perience shows the same, The American
people is so much of farmer people that
even its larger cities to a great extent
look like the country compared with cities
in other lands, each man for himself in
his own home, broad streets planted with
trees, and no taste for congregations city
| life like in most other countries.
The Americans are the most successful
farmers of the world. All other countries
| tremble at present for fear of their COM
petition This is not only because they
| have richer virginia. soil. more space and
more sun than the countries with which
| they compete. 1t is also on account OF
their ability. The American farmer can
learn much from abroad; he does not know
much of farming as a science; his soil and
his work can still produce many times
more than they now produce. But he
has already more power over nature than
the farming populations of old Europe.
He understands better than they how to
use machines and other mechanical ap-
plances He is not, as they are, bound
to the SOIL staying life and plants tovege-
tate and die at the same spot where they
were born; he moves as no other people
of the present time, goes where he can
| do best and adopts his work to Circum-
stances. He complains of the railways,
| but his whole existence, just IN the most
| fertile part of the States, would be inn
possible without this remarkable means
of communication; they need control, but
their thriving and success can not be
separated from that of American agricul-
ture 1t is true that the farmer interest
is immense in this country, specially in
| the great American West; nearly all
other interests are inseparately connected
with it. the industries that thrive best
are those which Immediately supply the
farmers or work the raw-products of the
SOIL factories for ploughs, wagons, thresh-
| machines, mowers, etc, the milling in
| dustry, distilleries, breweries, packing
| houses, tannereS, etc. SO vast is the
| farming interest that we hardly know
what will not in the long run prosper to-
gether with it.
There can not be any doubt about the
immense burden the protective tariff lays
on the farmers. Let it be four bushels
out of every ten he produces. four steers
of every ten he sells which the tariff takes
away from him; let it be less or more; he
| is at all events the man who pays the
| 4 ,hat ba &c a,h,nCaI
price, his house, his fence. his spade his
! plough, his bed, his clothes, his books,
his sugar, salt and rice. What he sells
is not raised in price because it is export
| ed and the price, therefore, follows that
of the worlds market 1t is irrelevant
whether there is any import duty on these
articles when they are not imported. or
| anyhow when it is their regular export
which determines their value. Wool is
| raised in price, but the wool growers DO
not make more money than other farmers.
| The rule is that the farmers do not get
any money in their pockets by the tariff;
they have only to pay out
The American farmer is patriotic; he
has the power in the land, but he does
not use it. he leaves the leadership in the
lldllOlldl pOliIS W lIlC CdSlClI states NllClC
other interests than his are supreme; he
| follows them because he believes they act
to the benefit of the people. 1t is also
told him that what is taken from him
through the protective tariff, is given back
again through the common progress and
as better home market for his own pro-
ducts.
That less import, other circumstances
unaltered, at last is Identical with less ex-
port is proven, as soon as we follow up
the course in the international trade. 1t
is, according to the logic of the exchange,
as certain as that two and two make four
and not five. The export is for this coun-
try specially hindered and made less pro-
fitable because the ships which are to
carry our exports, by the protective tariff
are compelled to go empty over here and
consequently to charge more for. the
transport of our export articles 1t has
| been often enough shown to what extent
the protection has hurt our own shipping.
| The necessities of the country and the
special genius of the nation have created
the first railway system in the world
| Still, this, to, is burdened by the tariff;
without the tariff our railways would de-
velope still more, to the benefit of the
farmers and of everybody else.
1t is certainly in the interest of the
farmer to have home market All pro-
gress tends to its development. But the
question is what it costs us. 1t is Of no
use to obtain one dollar when it costs us
two TO get it. 1t is certain that the farmer
and with him the whole people pay for
protection, and it is certain that they pay
more than they themselves reckon it
/ worth. If not, it was no. necessary to
i. use compulsion. The existence of the
tariff, according to its nature. means that
we will rather buy something else; that
other trades pay better. and that we, not
withstanding our own salvation, by the
law are compelled to the disadvantageous
course. We got more otherwise, also
better sale for what we have to offer;
the act of congress forbids it and binds US
to the losing business. Exactly the same
argument speaks against railways and
other means of communication. We
: ought Just as well forbid railways or in
crease their rates to hinder people in send
ing US their merchandise and in buying
ours for the alleged purpose that the home
market could be better developed. We
want the railways when it pays to ust
I'll ExartIr- xx-rth he