Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1888-09-22
ATARIrE TALK.
/, Farmer Holds Up His End Of IT,,
hr.V.nCnt.

4
hr%n.aCn,.
rve been reading these books
since sou were over last. aud tind
them immensely instructive.
used to look upon them as aslot OF
figures which meant nothing eN-
cept to the man that made.th
That is what have been trying to
do.
And what have you found-outa
Well, to begin with. that for
number of years l have been hig
ger fool than Thompsoa's colt.
! What did Thompson's colt dol
He swan the river to geta drink.
And sou think you have been
doing the same ching.
Yes, all of us farmers who have
been voting the Republican TICKET
and supporting the high tariff fax
alton have been doing that. We've
been growing lean to make Il few
men, who in turn have got mort
cages on the most of our farms
There is neighbor Nixon over there
who has q mortgage for $4,000 on
! his eighty acres held By old man
SlmpkinS, who is one Of the head
men in the Iron Roofer's Trust,and
I VIII show you before l get thro'
that this tariff scheme bent him
out of the money he had to borrow
from Simpkins.
Tint would be interesting to be
cure.
think can demonstrate it. We
will take two items of agricultural
productS-wheat and corn. Now,
| find by these official records that
from 1916 to 1850, during tue low
tariff period, the average price, in
specie of wheat was sl.59, and corn
RI cents. During the high tariff
period, from 1861 to 1882 the av
erage prices were sl.4S for wheat,
and &C cents for corn. The prices
sverage still lower for 1882.
Then there was a loss of eleven
cents a buShel on wheat and ten
cents bushel on corn during the
high tariff perioh9
More than that.
How will you make it out9
We must take tho rate Of taxa
ton into consideration, for out of
wheat and corn and other products
ut a reduced price, we must pay a
largely increased taX-that is, each
one of us must pay his share.
That is fact.
l find by the statistical reports
from the Treasury Department.,
that in 1S45 (per capita 1 believe
yol, call it,. in the United States,
was Sl.55, and in 1860. S1.G6. In
1867 it was s., in 1875 S3.51, and
in 1886 a3.4oo. During the low tar
iff period l spoke of the average.
tariff tax which each person in the
United States had topay waSS1.73
and during the high tariff period
since, it has been S2.75. We have
not only been compelled to sell our
u oducts cheaper, but have had to
pay more than twice as much tariff
tax as formerly.
Precisely; that does make q wide
difference.
But that is only the beginning Of
our losses.
Go on and give The others. What
are they9
The biggest item of them all is
that we ara deprived of the oppor-
tunity to sell what we might pro
, tluce. We would and could pro
,luce two bushels to one five could
only sell it at fair profit, but, at
ter supplying American consumers
there is but % limited market in
the rest OF the world. Onr best
:eustomers seam 90 have been div
en- away. fn,l, upon inspection,
that the average per capit;. of ag
ricnltural exports has declined i'll
almost exact proportion to the in
crease OF the tariff taxation. In
other words, the higher the tariff
the less the American farmer Can
sell, and tie less he can get for it,
and what he is able to sell abroad
is eaten up by The tariff taxation,
which, we are told, is imposed for
the purpose Of protection.
Give administration.
Take 1916, for instance. when the
low tariff went into operation
Then we had l9,0Oc,0 900 population
and exported S9S, 100000 iii agri
cultural products. The total reve
nues from tariff taxation we're $780,
800, 900. That is to say, for every
dollar Of tariff tax we had to pay
we exported 50 worth of onr pro-
ducts to pay it with, leaving us
two.thirds clear. III 1850 We had
31,5OO,0O0 population, exported
S316,3O0,000 worth of agricultural
precincts. and paid 53,6OO.O0O ill
tariff taxes. That is, for each dol
lar Of taxes we sold $5worlh ofonr
products abroad, giving us four