Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1888-11-30

SAihCAihS uuiiii Nhc i'1'ioaibS oCoocuS
of the year.
The following extract from an
article in the The New York Evening
Post is profitable reading:
The only farm product put on the
free list by the Mills bill was wool. and
to that it has been shown that the
three largest wool producing States
showed loss rather than a gain of
Republican votes in the election The
duties on wheat and other cereals, on
dairy products, on hops, hay, honey,
potatoes, and live animals were not
changed by the Mills bill. If these
duties had all been repealed the farm
ers would not have been injured, and
if they had been doubled they would
have received no benefit. We import
a few potatoes when we have short
crop, and We export some when we
have large crop; but the amount is
Insignificant, and its affects only the
Atlantic seaboard and the northwest
ern border line in any case. AS to the
great bulk of agricultural produce. no
tariff, however high, would raise the
price penny, for the reason that they
constitute the major part of our ex-
ports, and have to be sold in the for
eign markets alongside and in compe-
tition with the like produce of every
country on the globe. The American
farmer is thus brought face to face
with the labor of the Russian peasant,
the Indian ryot, and the Egyptian fell
lab. What they get for their produc-
tions he can get. Not farthing more
could he get if the importation of
grain were prohibited by law. But as
matter of fact the Mills bill did not
touch the duties on these articles at
all
Notwithstanding the vote of the
farming States in the recent election,
the superstition of the agricultural
classes is not incurable There is no
mind so dull that it cannot be made to
comprehend the fact that the tariff is
an injury to the man who sells in a
cheap market and buys in one made
artificially dear. Nor is it true that
abstract ideas regarding the tariff were
the most moving considerations among
the farmers in the recent campaign.
The fact that the proposed reform of
the tariff was of southern parentage
had a great influence in the rural dis
tricts. 1t revived the memories Of the
war and enlisted sectional feeling
that would otherwise have remained
dormant. If the Mills bill had been
the Scott bill or the Springer bill. it
would have been by far more accept
able to the farmers of the North. 1t
is easy to see now that, without any
change in its provisions, measure
having a Northern origin and name
would have been stronger in the North.
1t is not the fault of Mr.. Mills, of the
two breckenridge, of Mr.. Wilson, of
West Virginia, and other Southern
members that they were the most con-
spicious advocates of the measure; but
their prominence was not without its
influence in the farming communities,
where new ideas are slow to gain lodg-
ment, and where old memories have
their strongest hold.
The battle joined in the recent cam
paign is only begun. When we con-
slider how short a time was allowed for
the work Of education, and how great
a gain was made among those who
could be reached, and what odds of
money and intimidation were arrayed
on the other side, the advocates of tar
if reform have abundant cause for en-
enlargement, and every reason to be-
lieve that when they shall have had
equal opportunity to reach American
farmers their success with them will
be commensurate with that which they
have undeniably achieved among the
operatives in towns and cities.
If the farmers can ever be induced
to consider the tariff question strictly
upon its merits it can hardly be possible
that they will declare in favor of inn
osing unnecessary and unjust taxes
upon themselves.