The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1888-10-17

when every honest and useful industry
was SO heavily burdened with them
This is brief history Of the low tariff of
1916, now let us look at the picture of
the
WAR TARIFF PEET D.
The favorite Practice of Protectionis,s
to say that the country has never added
to its wealth and population faster than
since the tariff has been increased, and ii
public prosperity is to be gauged by vast
accessions to bank accounts. railioad
stocks, interest-bearing bonds, costly
mansions of men who were poor ten
years ago, then indeed we are prosper
ous. But we claim that this is not an
indication of the nations prosperity,
there are too many farms ald other real
estate. on the other llanl. that are
heavily mortgaged too many tramps,
too many strikes, too much suffering
among the poor in the large cities. The
wealth is in the hands ofa few, willie
crime, vice, poverty and suffering are
everywhere. The advance of our coun-
try we admit, .has been great; but it is
not due to protective tariff. The war
gave the people of the north new courage
and stimulated them to renewed activity,
the liberation ofover four million slaves,
who were doing nothing toward the de-
velopement of the country, inventions
and discoveries continued to increase,
the homestead law of 1862 helped to
add to the material wealth of the coun
try, the discovery and utilization of
petroleum was of untold benefit in giving
employment to thousands of men and
cheapening our illuminating processes,
the rich silver and gold mines of the ter
ritories were mainly discovered since
the war and swelled the general pros
perity but does the tariff of 1862 deserve
the credit for all of this !?
Added to the above causes that con
tribute to our prosperity take the adop-
ton of the greenback and national bank
currency, which has made our banking
system stable, inspired confidence by
safe currency absolutely equal to gold
and silver in every state and territory.
Having thus enumerated the leading
sources Of eur prosperity since 1862. who
is there that will say that any country of
this age would not have advanced as
fast7 Who will say that high protec-
tive tariff like the present one has been
a necessary condition of success?
THE DECAY OF OUR SHIPPING.
There is yet another subject which we
desire to touch unon in this connection
and that IS the decay of our shipping,
The tonnage OF cur merchant marine in
1861 was about one.third of that of the
world, lacking but little of being equal
to that of Great Britain-a merchant
marine which carried in 1886 752 per
cent. of our exports and imports. What
does it carry now? l7.4 per cent! The
chief cause of this decay has been the
tariff laws.
Having thus briefly outlined the above
subjects let us now turn to the condition
of the farmers and see how they are be.
ing abused by this rank injustice known
as protective tariff. 1t has been said
by history that an
AGRICULTURAL PEOPLE
are easily conquered slavery and serfdon
and rank tyranny can only be p.r:etrat
ed upon tillers of the soil, because they
are scattered widely apart, In rural dis
tricts, there is little association and NJ
combination and consequently there cal
be no exchange of intelligence and sym
pathy, which are the foundations of ef
iective resistance. In Minnesota th'
farmers have an organization, but else
where none to speak off,
In the GaIlatin vaiiev the condition q
, the farmer is not similar to that of hi
brothers in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska an
others of the western states, but the tim
is fast coming when it will be. If wer
not for the government lands of the ia
. west, where man can locate = farm ant
home for nominal sum, what would b
:. the condition of things in the states W
q have named? The pauper labor c
: Europe would be working on the larg
= holdings OF rich landlords at the sam
, price they now work in the wheat field
. of Europe for,-$lS per year. Agricu
4 tural interests are going down, and ye
= everything else is prospering and goin
!, up in value. The agricultural areas {
the great west are plastered over wit
= mortgages, the land comes into the hand
of rich corporations and trusts and
farmed in large tracts. Whena man talk
y. about the prosperity of this country, Ii
!; means that Carnegie, Vanderbilt, an
Jay Gould are the prosperous ones, ce
- tainly not the farmers, the bone an
sinew Of this great country. Under tt
= pretense of levying tax to support Il
;. government, such men as we have me-
:, toned have levied a tax for their privS
- - pockets and this is the way the farm
% q pays it to them: If he builds hou
y. for $500, the protective tariff would &C
him just $500 of that amount and earn
- gle is so much better able to keep up
~ - palace and tally no. He pays s14 Il
- necessary tax on forty dollar set
Nv harness for his team. On three plov
:, he pays $12. On a binder he pays fiji
~ dollars, to say nothing of the seventy-fi
- which goes to the profit of the maxi
49, 49, This is only beginning. Everythi
~ the farmer buys he pays a toll to t
y, protectionists. No wonder these prote
eu tionists see the beauties ofthe system
90 Briefly told everything the farmer p
he duces is sold at price governed by t
,w European product while everything
,w buys has the price of protection added
rn it. He has been humbueged by t
"a home market idea, and has been ask
i'd to encourage and build up manufacture
ea establishments. which was to bring h
higher prices. And yet the surplus
farm products for export are grow
trv larger every year and the price just
10. same as it is in India. The farmers hi
his aided the infant industries, and the +
o5 prietors of those sell same industl
The have grown immensely rich. The ho
,ce market idea is humbug and fra