The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-02-04

WY uOn I our Tree lTdue granger lTleHuS
complain of the duty of 20 cents per bushel
on wheat and - cents per bushel on potatoes,
imported to this country from foreign
countries ttatC0 Times and SUadry others
In the name of the prophets, r.tsl This
Is tremendous protection, when the farmer
has to ship ont of the country over S1oO,
100000 worth Of his products to find u
market to prevent its rOttng-10O, OO0,0 of
produce year, sold at free trade, Liver
pool prices, for which the protectionists
promised him home markets at "protec
millions paid for by Liverpool at free trade
prices; but all he sold at home were paid
for by protected consumers on the same
free trade basis. No farmer who has a
particle of sense left can be hoodwinked
into believing that the duty of 20 cents a
bushel on wheat and ID cents on potatoes"
affects him the millonth part of a cent one
way or another.
But suppose that he were protected to
we'll as the farmer, that he has been
shabbily treated, that the 20c on wheat and
15c on potatoes (only 10 to 20 per cent? is a
pretty small share of the spoils in cOmpar
ison with the share of the steel rail man
who gets "a 81 per cent? How does it look
along side of the 1894 per cent to the wire
rod man; or the coal kings 23.32, the
thread mans so, or 40 TO 80 on cotton cloth,
40 ON binder Irvine, $40 (average) on glass,
37s9 (average) on iron, 1896 to 1921 on
salt, 1868 (average) on silk, $3.50 on wool
ems, NC, &c? Doesn't 1t strike the Times
man and the farmer, too, that the latter Is
the "under dog" In this scramble that the
manufacturer has gobbled the meat and
allowed the dry bones to fall to the farmer
just to keep him quiet that like Lszsruss
he sits at the masters table watching fol-
crumbs to fall as his share!
The truth is, the farmer is robbed righ
and left by the tariff. Not one thing he
raises or sells is proteCted-even his PRO
tected" wool is not protected; for Il. p
Porter, the paid agent of the protectionist:
of America, admitted only the other day
that wool was higher in price under "fret
trade than 1t has since been under "pro
lection" Yet in spite of all this, the farmer
has not complained. He has seen his profits
disappear, and has signed the mortgage OF
his farm or personal property to make end
meet, waiting and hoping against hope TO
the "home Market" and protection price
the high tariff manufacturer promised him
which came not, comes not, and neve
will cone. He has continued TO sell hi
produce at Liverpool prices in competition
, with all the world, and by his energy ant
self-sacrifice has saved the nation from
bankruptcy and paid millions of our debt
| held by foreigners, from his surplus. VIVA
has he had as return Nothing. Wors'
than nothing, for he has grown relatively
If not actually, poorer every year, his profit
swallowed up In a tax of As per cent on hi
stove, SO on his cooking utensils, IS on hi
crockery, As on his table cutlery; AZ on tn
; sugar and 1913 on the rice he ate; "a pc
; cent on his carpet while the rich man onl
/ paid 6S), As TO IS on his cotton and woolel
clothing, go on his blanket, 40 on his grail
5 bags, so on his wooden pipe, 90 thousan'
Ion his common lumber, IS per cent on hi