Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-05-18
Words OF Wisdom.
To which the Free Traders Would
Do Well 10 Listen.
SOME INTERESTING STATEMENTS
ABOUT THE EFFECT OF A RE-
DUCTION or THE TARIFF
on THE FARMERS OF
TIE COUNTRY AND
THEIR INTER-
ESTS.

efS lldNlu| dNhtl Ahi' !
the Cobden Clubs Chicago Tribune
proceeds to mourn the absence OF
any spokesman for the farmers IN
the discussion Of the tariff qnes-
ton. Let the Dearborn street
cease from his lamenta-
ton. The farmers can speak for
and some very eiiec-
tive facts can they produce. They
can say that when the Tribune was
an American newspaper, advocat-
ine protection to American indus
try, working for the growth OF
American factories and the devel-
opment Of American mines, which
are followed by the growth OF
American towns and cities, and,
therefore, by an increased home
market for American products, 1t
published a weekly edition to
which thousands of farmers sub
scribed; and they can say that
when it became a British news
paper, published in Chicago, and
devoted to the advocacy of policy
which would make farmers depend
ent upon a foreign market for the
sale of their grain and for the
purchase of their clothes, the farm
ers ceased to subscribe for it, and
1t perished for lack of circula-
tion.
They can say that they are not
half as ilI.infOrmed as the Golden
Clubs Tribune thinks them to be;
they can say that they know that,
despite of the ever-incTeasing pro-
ductiOn of grain, meat, and other
farm products the increase OF pop
ulation in trading and manuiactur-
ing centcTs has more than kept
pace with the increase OF their
productions. They can say, too,
that nine.tenths Of all things which
they have to sell
ARE CONSUMED IN THIS COUNTRY.
They can say that they know
that a very few years of free trade
folly would reverse this condition
and make it so that nine-tenths of
what they produce would have to
be consumed abroad. They can
say that they partly know, and
partly can imagine, the fall in
prices that would follow if they
were absolutely dependent on
Liverpool as an arbiter of value.
They can say that they would be
ruined 10y enforced competition
with The pauper ryots who grow
grain in India, and with the cheap
" produced mutton and beef, wool
and hides of Australia and the
Argentine Republic. They can
say that if grain and meat and
wool were reduced in value by
half they would be benefited
by ten per cent. reduction IN the
price of clothing and blankets.
And they can say that a ten per
cent. reduction is the very utmost
that they could expect in cloth and
blankets from a free trade policy
for they can say that they are now
able to buy for S5.25 per pair ex'
actly the same quality of American
made blankets as are sold in Eng
land, and of English make, at Si.45,
wholesale. They can say that
they have sense enough to know
that retailers profit, plus cost of
transportation, plus insurance and
risk, would make the English
blankets reach very near to the
present American price. They
can say that they are now able to
buy as good a suit Of clothing for
$40 or S15 in any American store
as can be bought in any English
one for 1926 or $l4. They can
say that free trade or seven radi-
cal reduction" IN tariff duties
would make common wOolen
goods
VERY LITTLE CHEAPER THAN
THEY NOW ARE,
and would greatly lessen purchas-
ing power.
They can say that they under
stand and thoroughly despise the
motive of the Golden Clubs Tri-
buRe when it asks concerning the
Western Republicans in Congress,
"Do these gentlemen propose to
discuss the tariff question solely
from the standpoint of Eastern
manufacturing Interests?' They
can say that were IL as true as it Is
false that "Eastern manufacturing
interests" are hostile to Western
manufacturing interests, it yet
wonld he well to fix the limit of
the East at the Atlantic coast of
the United States. Manufactures
must be purchased from some
source, and if from an Eastern one,
better from no further east than
Massachusetts, than from as far
east as England. Which suggests
that the free traders are the cham.
pions of"Eastern interests" They
20 far east of our coasts to find
their love, and, it may be, their
lucre. But the farmers can also
say that they are aware that manu-
featuring isterests are no longer
exclusively eastern" Every
State of the West is filing up with
towns and cities, each of which has
its factories, forges, aud foundries.
They can say that they buy their
mowers and reapers and thrashing
-. 1890 oboonIt, than H.,