The National tribune., 1888-03-22
A TRANSPARENT FRAUD.

The brazen effrontery with which the tariff
thinkers have counted upon the blindness of
the farmers Of the country presents one of
those strange cases where by cool assump-
ton a. popular fallacy is bolstered up and
given the garb of fact As usual, the battle
is half won by promulgating lie with the
premise that its truth is automatic and in
controvertible Upon this plan the tariff
reformers" have started with the declaration
that the tariff has been fostered for the ben
eft of manufacturers simply, and that the
farmers have been left out Of consideration,
and in fact taxed for the profit Of the so
called favored classes.
So long has this been reiterated, so often
have the changes been rung upon this falla-
cious assumption, that the thinkers profess
to believe that the great agricultural States
of the Northwest are coming around to their
views.
The fact is, that leaving out of the ques-
ton the indirect advantages of the market
made for the farmer by encouraging large
class Of consumers who would otherwise be
competitors, the agriculturalist is himself
directly protected more than any other
American producer, and he needs it.
Without abiding to the wheat tariff of
20 cents per bushel, which is all that pre-
vents the city OF New York from being fed
with grain grown in the valley of the Nile,
let us take up the items of fax, hemp, jute,
etc, which it is proposed to put on the free
list.
The cultivation Of flax has become a very
important factor in Minnesota, Dakota and
the Spring wheat sections generally, owing
to the necessity for a diversity of crops. At
the same time it is a most wasteful feature
of farming as generally followed in the
northwest, because it is simply raised for
the seed, the straw being lost. Only very
recently in Minnesota are tow mills being
built to utilize the fiber, while thousands
Of tons farther west still rot or are burned
every season.
Strange to say, in the face of this waste
we imported last year 81 ,880,121 worth Of
raw jute, fax, hemp, etc, and $21, 927, 162
worth Of the manufactured products of these
fbers.
Why should not these 80, 100000 Ameri
can dollars have gone into American peck.
cts instead Of to India, Central America
and to the hemp and linen manufacturers O
Europe?
We cannot for the life of as see how the
Minnesota farmer, who is just beginning t
utilize the straw of his fax crop, in add
ton to the seed is to be benefited by al
open competition with the naked Hindoo
, who now draws millions year from thi
/ country in the face of a tariff of S. TOT
| imposed on fax straw
! Yet Mr.. Mills proposes to put it upon tn
2 free list
Iowa, Minnesota and Dakota could fur
0 nish ali the material for the manufacture q
our gunny sacks, bagging, burlaps, uphol
s STEERING, etc, for which this Asiatic hemp
$ jute butts, and kindred products is i'm
ported.
4 Tow Of fax or hemp is now taxed $40
e ton.
e We invite the Northwestern farmer t
e note the fact that the Mills bill has thi
: item also added to the free list
Hemp, etc, pays $25 ton duty. TIL
e Western farmer will find this, which con
petes with his fax fiber, also on Mr. Mills
d free list.
G Jute and jute butts, used for coarse bag
e ging, paper-making, ETC., for which til