The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-01-12
FARMERS.AND THE TARIFF.

The current number of Harper's Mag
aZine has a lengthy but interesting artl-
Gle by Henry WattersOn, the able adllol
" the Louisville Courier journal. which
,dvocales "a tariff for revenue only
Tho argument is speCinus and mSlead-
ing and has all the tlapdOodle which
the foes to protection are in the habit o
feeding their disciples upon, Mr., Wat
erson either discredits or ignores al
he facts and figures which show how
The country has developed and prosper
ed under the protective system, al
though they are incontestable; and II
fact his whole argument is conclusive
of nothing except tn show that his de
votion to free trade theories outweighF
all consideration of fairness and candol
in dealing with the subject. Senator
Edmunds, who is to reply to Mr.. Wat
Ierson in the February number of Har
per's. has fine opportunity to demolisl
| he Kentucky editors assumptions ano
and fallacies.
One of the most extraordinary state
ments in Mr.. Watterson's article is thai
the tariff affords no protection to farm
ers. The editor of the free trade Chica
go Tribune has also declared recently
that western farmers have no protection
for their products. it speaks well fol
| the courage of these gentlemen tha
they make this statement with all thu
acts and solid argument against them
but it is not creditable to their intelli
yence and candor. We find that tht
tariff on agricultural products embraces
the following duties: Wheat twenty
cents per bushel; corn and oats. ten
cents; rye and barley, fifteen cents;
rice, two and one half cents per pound
utter and cheese, four cents per pound;
potatoes, fifteen cents per bushel; poul-
Try, ten per cent; peas and beans, ten 10
twenty per cent; tobacco, manufactured.
thiTty-five cents per pound, and un-
>iemmed, fifty cents per pound; sugar.
from two to five cents, as to quality; on
horses, cows, bulls, oxen, steers, calves,
sheep, lambs, goats, hogs and pigs.
twenty per cent of their value, excep'
when imported for breeding purposes
J hen th5y are admitted free; beef and
pork, one cent per pound; mutton, ten
per cent; wool, from ten to twelve cent
| cer pound. and from ten to twelve per
cent ud UdlOrem; hay. twenty per cent
of its value; hops, eight cents per pound
calf-skins, twenty per cent, and on
hemp, $25 per ton. 1t is not common
sense view to maintain that the impo-
4ition of these duties is of no benefit to
our farmers.
But this is not all. The true and log.
ical view is that the home market If
more certain and profitable to our farm.
ers than foreign ones. The enormOu'
e xtenson of manufactures in the Uni
ted States under protective tariff ha'
created home demand for all but eight
percent of our farm products. IL is un-
deniable that while tariff has lowered
the cost of what the workingman has u
consume in the aggregate il has raised
the price of that portion of 1t produced
by the farmer. 1t is assumed by free
trade advocates that the average duty
imposed on foreign products imported
into the United Stated, which is put a
forty-six per cent, represents the excess
which consumers are obliged TO pa!
upon all articles so covered. But NJ
one has been able to figure out that III
actual enhancement of the price. to tn
consumer was more than one-tenth o
forty six per cent, because foreign mhp
ufaclurers and exporters assume a goo
part of the burden themselves in orde
to gain market for their goods in thl
country. But for the tariff their good
would come much higher to the buyer
here, Watchman.