Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1888-05-31
Tariff.


cept wool, is farce, for the reason
that none is bought from foreigners
and never will bein an appreciable
quantity"
l am surprised that Mr.. Lew
ellyn should make such a state
ment--one which the facts do not
warrant. While we import in
round numbers SIC, 900, 900 worth
of wool, we import more than $780,
900, 900 worth of other agricultural
products, all of which pay duty
of 20 to so per cent. To be more
specific, hay pays duty of g per
ton; wheat 20 cents, rye, oats and
barley 10 cents and potatoes Is
cents per bushel other vegetables
10 to so per cent. ad ealoreat; live
animals imported for other than
breeding purposes20 per cent. ;hops,
8 cents per pound; beef and pork
l cent; bacon and lard, 2 cents; but
ter and cheese, 4 cents per pound
hemp, flax, etc., about 20 per cent,
and wool 36 per cent.
The British North American
provinces can and do grow a better
quality of. wheat, rye, oats, barley,
potatoes, peas, ETC., and produce a
larger yield per acre than does Mis-
souri,. Now, if the duty on these
articles is taken off, will not these
products come to our market in
greater quantities than they now
do and thereby increase the CON-
petition in similar domestic pro-
ductiolis?
If the purchasing power of the
products of farm is greater now
under protective tariff policy
than it was under free trade OF
revenue tariff policy, then the in
terest Of the farmer is identified
with protection. If, on the con,
trary, the purchasing power OF
farm products is less under pro-
tective tariff than it was under free
trade tariff, then the farmers in
terest is with free trade.
This proposition will not be
denied as applied to the past and
present-the future is what enc
fellow can find out"
In 1916 the country adopted a
free trade or revenue tariff policy,
and in 1857 the duties were again
lowered, so that by 1860 we had
had fair trial of free trade. What
then was the purchasing power Of
farm product? The answer comes
by comparing the price of what the
farmer sold with that he bought.
I quote prices from a Toledo
Ohio, paper, and Toledo was then
as now, one of the principal lake
parts, with transportation facilities
second to no other town on the
great lakes, SO that her markets
were not controlled by local causes
and therefore indicated the true
state of the trade of the country.
In August, 1860, the market is
quoted as follows Sales, 7U0(
bushels, michigan red wheat, s.
cents; 5000 and 1000 bushels
Wabash red, so cents; 1890 corn
seller August, 40 cents butter.
choice roll, 10 to II cents, common,
s to 10 cents live hogs, corn fed
2 1-2 to 8 cents; swill fed, 2 to
2 1-2 cents ; potatoes, ,25 cents; salt
81. 80 per barrel, car lots. In dry
goods, the best prints are quot
ed at 10 cents; figured and plain
lawns, II IL cents ginghams, 1(
and II cents, etc., etc. At the
present time in the same market
wheat is worth 80 to 95 cents; corn
60 cents; potatoes, rs cents butter
25 to 80 cents; live hogs, 5 1-2 tc
6 cents; salt is go per cent. lower;
cotton and wooden goods 10 to &c
per cent. lower; buggies, wagons:
plows and other farm n1achiner sc
to 100 per cent. lower. In fact,
the price of nearly, if not quite,
everything that the farmer buys is
lower than itwas in 1860, and what
he sells brings more money there.
fore the purchasing power of farm
products is greater now, under
protection, than it was under free
trade of the past. There has been
the same Improvement in the
methods of farming by the use ot
modern machinery that there has
been in the manufacture of goods
With this increased purchasing
power OF farm products, the farmer
has improved his condetion. We
can safely judge of the prosperity Of
the people by their surroundings,
the food they eat, the clothes they
wear, the homes in which they
live and the furnishings therefor,
and the conveyances in which they
ride.
Will any one assert that the
people of Audrain county do not
live better, dress better, than they
did 10 years ago? Our country is
dotted all over with neat cottages,
substantial farm houses and barns
which have been erected within
the past 10 years. Fifteen years
ago not one farmer in ten no, not
one IN twenty, possessed a pleasure
wagon, buggy or carriage, aud to-
day, not one in twenty is without
a spring wagon, carriage or buggy.