St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-16

command, combinations are easy, and
it does not suffer its interests to be
ignored. With the agriculturists and
unprotected classes of workingmen the
case is different. They are isolated;
combination between them is difficult,
and continued concert of action is con-
trary to their habits and disposition.
They are the first to feel change in
affairs, a depression in the markets.
Suffering from impositions, from legal
restraints, carrying heavy burdens, the
farmers are compelled to sell their prod
ucts at prices fixed abroad, and to pur-
chase their supplies at prices made in
the large seaport cities. They do not
clearly see the remedy for their mis-
fortunes, and when seen they find 1t
difficult to apply it.
One thing. however, is clear to them
and to all intelligent men: the tariff is
tax on agriculture for the benefit of the
manufacturing interests. Labor is high
because the naturalrewardso of the farmer
are better here than anywhere else;
and in order to counterfeit this, in order
to reduce the advantages which of right
they should enjoy, and thus keep men
in the cities and away from the farms.
the tariff is imposed. The benefit
is not for the agricuIturistS. 1t is not
the object of the tariff to give them bet
ter returns for their labor; lift were so,
there would be still greater induce
ment to abandon mill and factory for
the farm. The whole object is to
a. h. ond arbitrary
means the drift of labor to the farm; and
to do this effectively, it is necessary to
reduce the net returns Of capital and
labor engaged in agriculture. The
manufacturers know they have to bid
for labor, not against English man
ufacturers, but the American farmer.
Labor in the mills of this country is bet
ter paid than in Europe, not because
American mill owners fear their hands
will leave them and return to Europe,
but because they know that If good
wages are not paid the men will go
West or South and settle on cheap
lands. They must be protected, there
fore, against American farmers, and the
most effective way to do this is to tax
the farmer to pay the manufacturer his
subsidies. The tariff, so far as the
farmer is concerned, is a two edged
sword, diminishing his income and in
creasing his expenditures.
We owe our national wealth to the
farmer, but we never recognize the fact
in legislation. The losses of the war
have been made good by the farmer.
Tho horI tiDnnc Of 1879 innipa rod a.
terial exhaustion. We had been en-
plOyed for years in works of destruction.
The national debt of three or four bill
ions only represented portion Of the
loss. There were large state debts,
large areas of desolatiOn, houses,
bridges and roads destroyed, fences
burned, farms laid waste, represented
by no bonds or evidences of debt. 1t
was fearful penalty to pay for political
blindness, but it was paid. We called
the debt blessing: we pretended that
paper was as good as gold; we specu-
lated and called it enterprise. Then
came prOstratiOn; we had to pass
through period of recuperatiOn. We
had TO work in order to make good our
lOSSCSs l. Ills NOlh wa NOllNs ilON ny biiS
manufacturer, but by the farmer. Our
mills were idle, our factories silent, our
mines closed. 1t was the farmer who
worked in season and out of season;
who sowed his seed and gathered the
harvests. 1t was the farmer who paid
our foreign debts with his exports. II
was the farmer who drew money to Amer
lea and gathered into the treasury gold
with which to resume specie payments.
The crops OF corn, wheat and cattle are
what paid our debts, and there is no
tariff to protect these things. They had
to compete with the products of pauper
labor in India, Russia and Hungary.
No protection was asked for them.
None was given them. But from the
prolific soil the farmer drew his wealth
III spite of tariffs and compe titiOn. Here,
then, is the secret of which Gen. HAIR
RlsON is in search. There is better
chance for prosperity for the working
men in this country than in Europe be-
cause our soil is cheaper and more pro-
life. and its products vitalize the world
of trade and labor. But that is no
reason it should be taxed to build up
huge fortunes for the manufacturer,
and to create milliOnaireS.