The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-11-17

hunt, eolO' creighton, S5ud Board OF Eqnall2at
farm but slowly, And so it ha!
been with the educating influences
of the last campaign asto the
tariff question. The great cities q
the country with the single exception of
some in Pennsylvania, all voted for tariff
reform, if, indeed, they voted for any prin'
ciple; but the country everywhere voted
for protection; yet If any producer can be
benefited by protection it IL the factory
operative Of the cities, while the creates;
benefit of tariff reduction would accrue 70
the farmer. The wOrkingman may, per
haps, at times of extraordinary demand, by
strong unions and combination. be able
with his strikes, to obtain for himself a
part of the tariff benefit which goes To his
boss and when he secures this, though he
must of necessity divide the excess with
all the other protected Industries whose
products he consumes, he still has lett a
fair wage, higher certainly, In figures,
though not perhaps in purchasing power,
than the wage Of any working man in the
world save those of Australia. On the 9th
er hand, while the farmer divides with all
no one divides with him Having always
a supply greater than the country can cons
sumo and surplus TO export he takes
what he can geU--the price is made by the
worl i's supply and demand He cannot
get cent more than his buyer is willing
t. pay, and no strike or objection can ena
BILE him to get more.
The future condition of the American
farmer, however, demands a reduction of
the tariff to the basis of tariff for reve-
nue., with the maximum amount of that
revenue fixed at point as low rs Is consis-
tent with the proper conduct Of the gov.
eminent, Why. Because his bushes has
already become Improbable, and farm
lands for farming purposes are no longer
In demand by Investors except as basis
for loans; and the longer the pro'ec i've
system per sc exists. the Ioorer off the
the farmer will become.
There Is no commercial law more certain
than that foreign trade is an exch nge
of products. The English corn law
agitation established this fact forty
years ago. and every authority on
political economy In the world states
tariff is restriction on trade, and the
higher the tariff the greater the restriction.
A tariff prevents Imports; and as conse-
quence exports, The result Is, the foreigner
being unable to sell here, he refuses to buy
here, and the compensations to both are
lost.
The condition we find today is that the
barriers thrown up by our home tariff are
driving foreign sellers land therefore buy
ing) away from us; and as foreigners buy
where they sell they have undertaken the
work of building up in other lands, selling
as we'll as buying markets. The wheat
lands of India, Egypt, Siberia, South
America, Australia, are being developed,
and the working men there are being sup
piled with improved machinery for works
ing them. When those countries conduct
their agricultural operations as do Ameri.
cans; when the Indian Ryot at cHts a
day, and the Egyptian Fellah at the same
price use riding plows and steam thresh'
ers, where will the American farmer come
In, who even now finds his bushes uDprofi-
table,
The fact is, while the American farmer
keeps right along In his voting for high
protective tariff, that very tariff Is forcing
his foreign customer to find other places
where he can buy the wheat and meat he
ought to get of Americans; this very tariff
is creating In other lands other and rs great
and as reliable sources of food supplies as
America furnishes, which sooner or later
will take away, If 1t has not already,
whatever control the American farmer
has had In foreign food markets. 1t
prevents him from buying cheap; 1t will
eventually prevent him from selling his
surplus at ALL
The republicans now agree to revise
the tariff VIII they reduce It and give
American consumers chance. That re-