Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-09-22

| most bowling free trade blatherskite you
have in your midst and I'll convince you in
a short time that he is protectionist.
The great doctrine of protection is eXem-
plified in every school district. in every
! city and hamlet, on every farm, in every
| herd law county and in every state.
| Now, my free trade friend I'll take you
to your school district. The Democratic
I party, l know is not favorable to free
schools. They think little learning is a
dangerous thing, because ignorance is one
of the bulwarks of that party. Readin',
ritin'. and 'rithmetic is usually too much
| for that party: If it can make its mark,
that is usually the height of IFS ambition,
and its mark is usually black mark that
blots and blurs the page OF history. We
they are not free, They are protected
schools, they are free only to scholars who
live in the district If some one who lives
across the line of your school district
wishes to attend your school, that scholar
must pay so much a day for the privilege.
residents in the district that build the
school house: that pay the teacher; that
| furnish the fires and the school furniture
| If you are free trader why don't you
| let any scholar in the county or in the
state attend school in your district.
citf and wish auction to cone OF to lot your or
shelf-worn goods that purchased in Kan
sas City, why do you charge me SO much
day for the privilege of selling to your
citizens? This is a free country, and if
free trade is right, why should be taxed
for this privilege? If you tax me will
have to lose this much, or sell my goods
for enough more to make it up. The an
swer is plain and easy. am not citizen
OF your city: / own no property; l have not
aided in bGilding up this communicates
home market: pay no taxes; but here Is
large number of people, with merchants
who have helpei build up the city-this
great home market. These merchants
have property here; pay taxes to support
the city government Would it be right
to allow an interloper-a foreigner, to
come in and compete with them without
paying for the privilege? The most OBJ
fuse Democrat would say NO" unless he
was the interioper who wanted to sell the
goods. The interloper would be in favor
of free trade, but every citizen of your city
interested in its welfare and prosperity, in
that instance, at least, would be a protec
zionist.
Why do you have herd law9 1t is to
protect your farms from free trade cattle
and hogs and other stock. The theory
of the protection that the herd
law gives is that it is cheaper
for you to take care of your own stock
than it is to protect yourself and crops
from the rest of the stock in the country.
Instead, therefore, of protectingyo crops
by fence or guard, the law protects them
for you, but 1t requires of you to go to the
expense of herding your stock or keeping
them within an enclosure, where they can
not harm the property Of your neighbors.
The man, therefore who has no crops and
plenty of stock is compelled to pay much
more for this protection than the man who
has all crops and no stock. 1t is natural,
therefore, for the man who has all stock
and no crops to be a free trader. He is
not protected by the herd law because he
has
NO CROPS TO PROTECT.
He has stock that he wants to run at large,
SO they can forage upon the rest of the
country and grow fat upon something that
costs their owner nothing.
Let me illustrate again. Suppose three
farmers in your county own adjoining
farms, composed each of a section of land
Farmer A. plows his section and plants it
in corn wheat and oats Farmer b. does
not pillow his land, but with the grass and
hay raised on it feeds the cattle and mules
which he raises. Farmer c. raises nothing
but sheep, but both Farmer b. and
&. must have corn and oats to
feed their stock in winter, and must
have wheat to make bread for themselves
and families. This corn and wheat they
buy of farmer A, and can afford to pay
him little more than the market price,
because they would have to buy it in town
and haul it out to their farms if they
could not get it from farmer A. After
listening to some CT the free trade oratory
at one of the political meetings farmer a
concludes that he wants protection on
corn, wheat and oats, but will not submit
to it on cattle or mules or sheep or wool.
He meets his neighborS. farmers 3 and G.,
and tells them of his decision. They ask
for his reason "Oh, because protection
increases the price | must pay for beef and
mutton, and as | must also have mules to
pillow my ground and tend my crops, and
clothing and blankets TO keep me warm, |
fear that if mules and sheep and wool are
protected, they will cost me more than [
can stand But" say farmer Il and c,
1--WE buy your corn and and oats to feed
our stock, and we buy your wheat to make
our bread and if protection makes you pay
more for beef and mutton and mules and
WOOL then it makes US pay more for wheat
and oat and corn" That is none OF my
business says farmer A, Il am looking
out for myself. 1t is none of my
business whether you make any
money or not; that is your own
lookout, and if you find you
cannot make money at your business, then
you can quit and farm like / do But,
Farmer A, J." his neighbors reply, eff we
quit our stock raising and raise corn,
wheat and oats as You do then we would
cease to be customers of yours and would
become competitors. If we raised our own
corn and wheat and oats then we would
not have to buy yours, and then, instead
of selling your crop here at home in the
field you would have to haul it 10 the sta
ton TO market it. This would cost you
time and money" Oh, WE'LL" says Farmer
A, Il have plenty of time and I don't
count that any loss" But" says Farm
er b., IF Farmer c. and myself raise
wheat and corn and oats we will have to
haul it TO market and sell in competition
to yours, and as there is more corn, wheat
and oats raised in the country now than is
consumed we would increase the supply
and reduce the demand by just SO much AS
we produced, and this would reduce the
price. and all of U.S. would make less
money" Perhaps you would" says
Farmer A. but | will save my losses by
getting my clothing cheaper. The Demo
cratic orator said the other day that was
being robbed by the tariff on wool, and
the Union Labor speaker said the same
thing and won't stand il any longer. l
won't tax myself to death to keep
up your sheep industry" But,
Farmer A, what is this tariff on wool that
is robblng you and taxing you TO DEATH,
"Oh. don't know, is the reply, but that
orator said the other day it was about 30
per cent, and that is awful Why, those
robber bankers only charged me II per
cent on some money | borrowed at the
bank the other day, but when it comes to
paying 80 per cent TO protect your wool in
dustry. can't stand it and l won't. Just
think of it. | bought suit of clothes the
other day all wool, the clothing man said,
and paid $40. l could have bought one for
less. but | wanted an extra good Sunday
suit and had to pay that enormous price. !
Just think 80 per cent is $40. that L had TO
pay as tax to You to keep up your wool
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