Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-08-16
HOME MARKET CLUB TRACTS.
The Free Trade Plea of Cheapness.

The free trade attorneys claim as the
chief merit of proposed tariff reduction
that it will reduce prices. And in this
they are at least partially correct. The
recent experience of England under the
fiscal policy now advocated for this
country shows that cheaper wheat from
India, cheaper meat from America,
cheaper wool from Australia and South
America, have made Improbable lands
at home; that value of English farms
have fallen off 40 to 70 per cent, while
each year large tracts are withdrawn
from tillage.
If a like result of cheapness is to fol-
low an approach to free trade here, an
alternative is presented which it is well
for large class of our people 90 serious
ly consider before aiding to strike down
the policy under which our country has
hitherto made such advances in wealth
and greatness.
We may well be appalled, in contem-
plating a shrinkage in real estate values
in the United States to one half the ex-
tent experienced in England, and the
losses of farms and homes it would en-
tail upon those industrious toilers who
have incurred debts in securing homes
for themselves and families. Under
decline of one-fourth it's present value,
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ABS puR A.nsnpU! 20 sIG9A AZ pue OOO'eS
IoI euIoq c 4qSnoq ppq QUA uRm sql
owing T,UUO for property worth but
81 500. In the midst OF the 'tcheapness"
with which he had been cajoled, the
payment of this sum would be more
difficult than the original So 900 under
existing conditions of ready sale of pro-
ducts and fair returns for labor. If the
adoption of the English policy by the
United States should be followed by one
half the reduction in real estate values
that England has experienced within the
last few years, mortgaged farms and
homes would revert by thousands to
creditors who, like the landlords of
England. would permit what could not
be rented to go out of tillage.
In no other country than ours does so
large percentage of farmers own the
lands they cultivate. In no other coun-
try is there SO large proportion of
workingmen who own the homes they
occupy. In no other country does the
fiscal policy so decidedly favor the man
who honestly and industriously endeav
ors to better his condition in life. No
where else in the world can the laborer
get 80 many of the necessaries and COM
forts of life for days work as here in
the United States. All this we are asked
to menace by adopting a policy that has
thrice brought disaster to the business
of this country; policy, with but one
aggressive advocate among all the ma
lions of Europe-and that one nation
to-day presenting within her borders
some of the strongest possible arguments
ft,a al oh
upon others. While the Golden Club
and leading British journals are preach
ing the benefits of free trade the British
farmer is depressed, 100000 workmen
are idle, and the police of London are
kept busy suppressing the uprisings Of
men made desperate by hearing their
children cry for bread. Nothing can be
dearer than "cheapness' bought at such
a price; nothing more nAmerican than
policy which makes such a condition
possible