The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-04-28

Is mot great WHILE" of course; 1t might
be 800 years.
g. But where Is this home market
The farms are In the west; the fsctOries In
the east, After % years Of protection they
are still 2,0C0 miles apart; and In cost of
transportation Liverpool on the 18th of
April was 1000 miles nearer the western
farms than was Boston! For the last three
months freight rates Chicago TO Boston
have been SC per hundred higher than
from Chicago to New York On Feb'y Is,
the freight rate to Liverpool on grain was
only 10 4c, from New York, March lst
~ "a &c; and on April 18th, the day Sen.
ator Morrill, told the farmers what bless.
Ing tariff was to them, grain rates to
Liverpool were entirely free In New York
quotations. For the first three months of
this year the rates to Liverpool have been
less than the through rate from Chicago to
Boston So that the American farmer has
had In 1888 better market In Liverpool
1000 miles away than In the highly pro-
tected Boston.
g. But In the good old days" Of 1850
1860 he did find market-a better marke,
than he had from 1877 70 1886 or since
During the first period dow or revenue
tariff era) the loves. price for corn for the
10 years averaged 445c; the highest was
9l.63c, In New York In the latter period
'-lS76 lSS6-the average Of lowest and
highest prices in the same market were
Acc and $3.50. The average Osoest price In
1850. go was therefore within less than -
a cent Of highest average price he re-
ceived In II years of extreme protection
As matter of fact, the farmer received as
a maximum, in II years Of low tariff, 573c
per bushel more for his grain than he did
In II years of "home market" and high
tariff, In spite of the fact that in 1860 there
were only 30635 miles of railroad to carry
his corn, while In 1856 there we're 1887
miles. Statistics show that for his wheat,
corn and oats he got mere money from
$4,000 than during lS76-1SS6 or since. So
that the "home market" has no blessing
to him yet-"not for long time now"
The price he has received for his ''one-
tenth sold abroad has been the price he
received for his nine.tenths sold at home
and the whole he has sold at loss of
(average) of 5O5c per bushel for corn and
ACC bushel for wheat. comparing the
highest average price for the II years
1850 to 1860 (Sl.SD with the same In 1876
to 1886 (Sl35) In New York. At this rate,
by the time the protectionist has made for
the western farmer "home market for
all his surplus grain, the farmer will have
to pay the highly protected manufacturer
good round bonus to take his grain off
his hands for "home" consumption.
But, says the Manufacturer:
If the FREE TRADER had published the
editorial entire its readers would among
other things, have learned for the first
time, no doubt, that under Protection the
number of metel, wood, wooden, pottery
and chemical workers increased from 26l-
900 in 1860 to 925 900 in lSS0-an increase
of 254 per Cent-whereas the population
increased but 81 per cent. The great in
crease in the number of workers named,
and others, has given the farmer immense
relief. II has lessened the number of his
natifprS onH innraacal tho nh bar nf
consumers, sud has lifted him from the
condition of one of the hardest worked,
poOrest-clad and most illiterate classes of
the county to the condition of one OF the
most prosperous and intelligent classes.
1t would be very strange indeed if the
enormous stimulus the high tariff has
given TO manufacturing, because of the
bonus it gives to the manufacturer, had
not increased the number of workmen;
but the facts do not show that the increase
has given the farmers immense relief"
On the contrary, they do show that while
the manufacturing states are growing rich
In geometricd proportion the farmer is
accommodating only in arithmetical proper
ton; that while from 1850 to 1860 dow
tariff the value of farms and live stock in
creased lC0 per cent, from 1870 to 1850
(high tlriif) the value of farms increased
only $3.50 per cent while the value OF live
stock actually decreased to the extent of %
millions Of dollms.
The immense relief these figures
affords the farmer is more apparent to
the protected manufacturer than it is to
the farmer.