The Bozeman weekly chronicle., 1888-05-30
THE HOME MARKET.
Speaker Oarlisle's Recent Speech in Reply
to Maine Statesman.

speech delivered bv Speaker Carlisle in
favor of free trade, IN reply to a speech
made BY Mr.. Reed, of Maine, who iavors
protection. We trust that every farmer
in this valley will read it.
The gentleman from Maine talks alb ,ut
the home market We all know, he
says, that this protective system is b,n.
fetal to the farmer, because, first, it pro.
tects his products against competition
from the agricultural products of other
countries, and second, the gentleman
says, because 1t diversifies industry, and
by increasing the number of people
engaged in other than agricultural pur
slits, increases the market for his pro-
duct. 1t is scarcely necessary for me to
make an argument to show that. as to all
those agricultural products which far
mers OF this country are compelled to
send abroad to sell ut foreign prices, the
duty cannot be of any possible benefit.
The american farmer understands This
80 surely, and the ialIacy Of this argu-
ment has been so often exposed, that it
would be waste of time to dwell upon
it. 1t is barely possible that at some
particular time, and at some particular
point along the northern border, duty
upon barley and hay and potatoes and
eggs, and, perhaps, few other articles,
may enable the producers of those ar
ticles at that particular time and place to
realize higher price than he would If
the duty were removed. But even this
occasional and uncertain benefit is OF but
very little advantage to him, and when
you come to remember that he is at that
time subjected to the burden which a
high tariff imposes upon the articles he
has to buy, and undertake to set off his
advantages against his disadvantages,
you will find a large balance on the
wrong side. OF course, the home mar
ket is improving, and will continue to
improve under any system Of taxation,
along with the increase Of population, OF
wealth, the improved fscIlities for pro-
duction and distribution in this country.
But how long are our farmers to sit
down and wait for the coming of that
home market, which the gentlemen on
the other side have been promising
them for SO many In. years? Take the
average production Of wheat in this
country during the past few wears and
assume that there shall be no increase
whatever in the production, and that
the consumption per capita shall remain
always precisely as it is, and it is capable
of demonstration that there can be no
home market for all the wheat of the
American farmer, until our population
shall reach nearly l000O00O0. Are the
farmers of the North and the planters of
the South to abandon their great wheat
and cotton fields and undertake the cul.
tivation of crops not suited to their soil.
in order that these gentlemen may ex-
pertinent whethera home market can be
made by legislation No, sir. These
great agricultural interests must go on
and the American farmer must sell his
surplus products in any market he can,
and for any price he can.
The great controlling element is the
worlds supply and the worlds demtnd.
The American producers of wheat, for
instance, do not compete among them
selves alone in the great wheat markets
of Europe. The lately emancipated
slaves of Russia, the laborer of India,
who lives all summer on rice and milk,
and requires only a coarse cotton shirt
and sleeps on the floor of bamboo hut,
all pour their products into the markets
Of Europe, to meet the wheat from Min
nesota and Dakota, and no tariff we can
put on, and no system of taxation here
can prevent this.
The same argument applies to all our
agricultural products, and the American
farmer understands. And he under
stands that as long as he is COM
PEELED to export and sell in foreign
market any part Of this product, the
foreign mark ,t is worth as much to him
as the home market, because he re-
ceives there just what he would receive
here, after deducting the cost Of trans.
portation. Therefore, In place of re.
stricting his market. he wants it enlarged
so that his products which cannot be
consumed here can find market among
the people elsewhere. What the Amer
lean farmer wants is a home market in
which he can purchase his supplies al
his competitors. When he cannot ge
this, then he asks that there may IN
such system as will enable him to pur
chase elsewhere and import them with
out being unreasonbly fined for carryin,
on this harmless business. That is wha
the American farmer wants. We wan
not only the home markets. but tn
markets for all the world for the variet
of products of this great country. W
want to sell our manufactured product
to India, and the hungry manufacturin
places of Europe, and the agriculture
places of Mexico, South America, an
Asia. We want to remove, as far as W
can, the barriers which annoy our il
dustries, 80 that this country may tax
its place with the great commerce,
countries of the world, and become ric
and powerful as no other country HI
before.
: Breezes from Butte.