Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1888-03-06

little or uOAuAhH
,aanufactured -, goods, hOwsoever
acbeap. ,in the sense of"low priced
free-trade policy might make them
ON the other hand, the manuiac-
turer and his operatives must geV
fair prices for their products or else
tbev viii have little wherewith 20
buy the products of the farm Ine
nrosperity Of the manufacturer must
90 hand in hand with that OF the
farmer.
The free traders say that Liverpool
fixes the price for grain, which Is not
tbe whole truth but grain is only
one of many farm products, ana
nine-tenths of all the farm products
Of this country are nowsaid on good
authority, to be consumed in TINS
country. Were free-trade policy the
rule were the large populations now
engaged in manufactures directed to
agricultural industry, most Of all our
farm products would have to seek
foreign market, and Liverpool
would fix the price Of them to the
same extent that it now fixes the
price of wheat. But the free traders
are prompt to tell us thatsupply ana 10
demand are the sole natural fac
tors of price, and that tariffs are ar
tificial distractions to the operations
of benificent law of nature. The
doctrine contains that mixture OF
truth and falsehood which is COM
mon to all free-trade teachings but,
taking it just as it stands, let the
farmer ask the first free trader that
he meets if an increased export OF
American wheat or other farm pro-
duce would not lower prices in that
Liverpool which, as the Anglo-ma-
Mac delights to assert, is theruler OF
prices? or course 1t would. And If
the increase of manufactures were
not constantly diverting labor from
agriculture there would be lower
ing of prices of farm products by
reason of their increased expectation.
The purchasing power of the farmer
would be lessened low-pIlced cloth
would not be CHEAP" to him when
he had little money to to buy it
with.
There are farm products of which
this country does not raise enough
for its own supply. Millions of bush
els of potatoes have been imported
into this country. They can be, or
have been, bought in Nova Scotia at
rates as low MS sixty cents per bush
ell, "store pay y they could have
been sold In New York at such
prices as would have warranted the
turning of all Novia Scotia into "A po-
tato patch, and consequently exter-
minating potato agriculture in the
United States but for an import duty
of Is cents per bushel. That duty
represented the only contribution to
the revenue of the United States
which the Nova Scotian farmer, bro
ker and skipper, all of whom made |
profits TO themselves, paid to the |
United States, from the earnings of
which their profits were paid. The
tariff on potatoes lessened the need
of home taxes by just the amount
collected from Il. And at the same
time Il protected a home Industry.
AT this point the free trader drops
The farmer and argues to the manu-
Iaeturer that the tariff increased the
,ost of his potatoes. But the trade
II the United States with Nova
Scotia for manufactured goods is
nothing, and ii absence
" tariff had made Nova Scotia our
potato field we should have paid out
much money which would have
yone via Halifax 10 London, or TO
.ome industrial center of Canada, in
payment for manufactured goods
o be used i'm Nova Scotia. The
aritt' system has made nine-tenths
II all the manufactured articles used
~ the American farmer cheaper to
lire than they are In English !
and has made the Ameri-
AN lahorer rich enough TO consume
more and better farm products than
turopean laborers do. IL has work
Il well all round. .-Inter-O Ocean.