Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-08-02
A FARMERS IDEAS.

Ehy One of Iowa's Most Faithful Repub-
| Mcan Farmer Politicians Will Forsake
the G. o. PA Homespun Argument
| of CONSIDERABLE Force.
| / have been waiting for some one
with more ability than / possess to re-
ply to some of the Misrepresentation
which are constantly being published
In reference to our protective tariff,
| and | think in most cases not inten-
tional; and it is with great reluctance,
as well as regret, that am compelled
] to take up my pen and antagonize the
policy of the Republican party, for
know it means well, and | am very
proud of its past record, with this one
exception. But there is possibility
of n party following old ruts too long,
as well as farmer, and think that is
just what the party is doing on the
tariff system. 1t is with me a very
doubtful policy under any circum.
stances or conditions, especially un.
robbing the farmer all the time to en-,
| rich the manufacturer, and why tbs
farmers of this country have sub.
mitted quietly so long to that unjust
system is beyond my comprehension.
| Father Clarkson, of the State Regis.
| ter, says the tariff puts twenty cents
| per bushel on the wheat and ten cents
per bushel on every bushel of corn in
the pockets of the farmer. He knows
better; or else either he or l is per-
| feet ignoramus on this subject. If ii
| did that, then l would have no excuse
for writing this article; and yet he
claims to be working in the interest OF
ever man who was all policy, he is
one; for wrote a reply to his article
| and he would not publish it. Nor will
he publish any thing that reflects
against the policy of the Republican
| party.
Every farmer with ordinary intelli-
gence knows that his produce is worth
in this country just what it is worth in
Liverpool. less freight, commission and
profit for handling, and always will be
| so on every thing that we raise a sur
plus of. For instance, wheat and corn
in New York are worth just so much
to ship to Liverpool. The price in
Chicago is just what it is worth to
ship to New York. We get for it in
Iowa just what it is worth in Chicago.
So you can see that our prices are
fixed in Liverpool, right in free trade
England, where we have to compete
with every other nation on the face of
the earth.
Now this is not the case with the
| manufacturer. His prices are not
fixed over in that free-trade country.
He fixes the price himself, or his COM
bination does, and our tariff system is
responsible for all these monOpolieS and
trusts. They were all born and rocked
in the cradle of protection. 1t seems
to me if it is such a good thing to shut
out competition from foreign countries,
it would be well for one State to shut
out competition from other States, and
also one town against other towns.
We have several Touring mills in this
country that need protection against
the Minnesota and Kansas flour. Let
your city council go to work and pass
an ordinance prohibiting that flour
from being sold in Muscatine unless
it pays a duty of twenty-five cents per
sack or one dollar per barrel. That
would be good thing for half dozen
mill owners in this country, but not a
very good thing for the rest of her
citizens.
Here is another fair illustration of
our tariff system. All town councils
pass an ordinance prohibiting retail
dealers from peddling in towns unless
they take out a license, which, of course,
is intended for the benefit of the mer-
chants, as it enables them to put on a
little more profit, and consequently the
rest of the citizens go down in their
pockets and pay out to those few mer-
chants five or ten times as much as they
receive from that source of revenue.
Now, if that is good financiering, [ am
unable to see it. If it works the greatest
good to the greatest number, [ am I'M
able to see it, and this last principle is
what both parties claim to be working
for and we all know that any thing else
would be very unwise.
l can see no justice under protection,
only by the Government paying
bounty of SO much per pound, so much
per bushel and so much per yard, ETC.,
on every thing that is produced in this
country that is liable to come in COM
petition with the foreign article. The
sugar raiser is no more entitled to a
bounty than the man who grows wheat;
the cloth manufacturer no more than
the man who grows wool; the man who
has tobacco patch no more than the
man who has a potato patch.
But Mr.. Blaine says we must protect
our factories so they can pay our labor
ers higher wages. Do they do it?
Don't many of them sail to Europe to
hunt up cheaper labor when their men
strike for little more wages? If it
were not for the labor organizations of
this country they would not have to
import pauper labor from Europe. We
would have plenty of it right at home.
1t is bad enough as it is. We have
plenty of paupers who can not get work
at any price, and they are fed and
clothed by the aid they get from their
organizations and the charity of the
people, while manufacturer like Mr..
Carnegie is on his European tour and
taking in his five millions profit every
year-more than all the farmers in
any one county in the State of Iowa
over took in a year or will ever take in.
When such state of affairs exists
it proves to me that there is something