The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-06-13
TPuckl

Puck.
There are hundreds of thousands of men in
this country who work harder than most Of the
so-called workingmen. They form the great
body of small farmers from Maine TO California.
These people, as a rule, have neither the leisure
nor the money TO buy many papers or to read
extensively, and we doubt II many OF them see
this journal. But to those who do read Puck
we wish TO address ourselves directly.
You will be asked this fall to vote the repub-
lican ticket, because the republican party, by
instituting and maintaining high protective
tariff, has given the country the prosperity
which all her citizens-yOu included-enJoy.
We advise YOU not to give your vote on any
such grounds. Whether yOu are prosperous or
not, you can judge for yourselves. You know
that you live and conduct your business on
dangerously narrow margin You know that
your expenses come unpleasantly close to your
receipts; and you know that those expenses
increase with each year as competition In
creases and the owners of greater farms crowd
YOU in the market. You ought to know that
YOU derive no benefit whatever from the pro-
tective tariff. Taking freight and insurance
into account no European country can com
pete with you, except in times oflocal famine
of failure Of American crops. And when our
crops fail, fail in part, what good can the
highest tariff do you? If you have produce to
sell, under such conditions, you can make your
own price.
IL y
called profitable. Why is this? Ia It not be-
cause your expenses are greater than they
should be? Is It not because you have to pay,
for almost everything that you buy, more than
anv other farmer in civilized countries is
obliged to pay? Make your calculations for
yourself. You pay more for iron, In all its
forms. than any European pays. That means
you pay premium on all agricultural imple-
ments-on ploughs, cultivators, spades, shovels,
rakes, hoes thrashers, corn-cutters, pitch forks,
manure forks, trowels, moving machines,
scythes sickles, axes, hammers, hatchets,
knives nails, tacks-and everything, big or
little, into the composition OF which that metal
enters.
And this is not all. You are paying a pre-
MUM on great many other things-On your
clothing, for instance; on the clothing of your
wife and the clothing of your children. Indi-
rectly, you are paying the tax on the clothing
of your farm hands and the women employed
in your household. In order that American
manufacturers should be encouraged, you are
paying q duty to all American manufacturers.
You are told that a duty is levied on importa-
tons of foreign goods. But you pay this duty,
if you buy the foreign goods. You pay it,
in part If you buy the American goods
of, the same sort; for the American manu-
facturer naturally puts his price as near
as possible 10 the mark fixed by law for the
foreigner If the European manufacturer can
not sell yard of a certain sort of cloth in the
American market for less than 10 cents, why
should the American who manufactures the
same sort of cloth sell IL for less than 8 cents,
To keep the market for himself? Perhaps he
could sell il for cents, and make profit but
why should he? In the scheme of business
morality there is no reason why he should. And
he does not.
A tax is levied upon foreign imports Who
pays it? The foreign manufacturer? No; he