The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-05-26
VIM. A. SCOTS Tariff Speech.

the session. Mr. Scott, as will be seen by a
few extracts which We print below, does
not trouble himself with theories. His
speech is the talk OF business man, used
to accurate bookkeeping, able to show
where labor and capital stand when the
profits of monopoly are divided. Mr.,
SCOTS analysis of the proportions Of labor
and material used In the business of steel
rail and beam manufacturing, foc Instance,
shows how small Is the reward of labor and
how monstrous the profits grabbed by the
protected capitalists In this business, which
Is protected" in the present tariff from
eighty-five to one hundred and two per
cent. He proves, by close analysis Of
cost, that on steel rails 81 ton is ample
protection, both for the labor and the ma.
terial. But the capitalists, who pocket their
millions every year, have now $l7 per ton,
and are frantic because the Mills bill pro-
poses to reduce this, not to 81, which would
be abundant and just, but to gil. The in
terest of the farmer, the miner, the manu-.
featuring operative and the laborer against
high protection are all dwelt on by Mr..
Scot In his keen and business like analysis,
and he rightly declares that the Mills bill
is "for the defense of American industry"
ave alone" he says, "offer protection.
We seek the independence and aggran.
dizement of domestic labor by liberating
II from unnatural restraints and allowing
1t the undisturbed possession and the CON-
plete enjoyment of its own earnings"
The following extracts are worth reading
and rereading;
THE FARMER UNPROTECTED.
If the products of our farms could have
been sold at home for the one thirty. second
part of one cent more than the export price,
not one pound would have gone abroad.
and every pound consumed at home would
have been exported If 1t had commanded
abroad one.half of one per cent In value
more than the home price, for the home
price Is governed by the price the sur
plus exports will command in the foreign
markets One of the strong arguments
that the protectionist makes to the farmer
is the home market that protection is alleg.
ed to insure for his produce. II Is fall
lacy and fraud, and intelligent farmers
will not be longer deceived byit.
Let us suppose case in my own State.
Let us take, say, the Edgar Thompson Steel
Works, located in Braddock, on the Penn
sylvania Railroad, ten miles east from
Pittsburg and Ats miles from Chicago,
Employing large number of men. Con-
tiguous to these works lives an industrious
farmer with hundred acres OF land. His
products consist of wheat, corn, oats, hay,
hogs and cattle. His proximity to these
extensive works, where his surplus produce
can be delivered In an. hour, and where
thousands of hungry mouths are ready to
consume 1t, surely gives him an advantage
Gus market, according to the protectionist's
theory. But let us see. Let us take one
of the products of the farm as an example
of the others, for they all come under the
same law of supply and demand and price.
The man In the iron works cannot eat
wheat 1t must first be reduced to flour. So
the farmer takes load of 331} bushels of
wheat-just one tonic the miller, who is
also ON the railroad and near the steel
works.
Now, let us see what controls the miller
in making price to the farmer First,
self-interest, to purchase II as cheap as he
can; second, TO buy the farmers wheat at a
price which after being ground into flour
will enable him to sell it to the mill men
in competition with flour sold by the gro
Gerry man at the corner, which has been
at st. Paul or Minneapolis,
MINI leaving him (the Miller margin
of proht for grinding and his labor. Sure
ly the miller cannot pay the farmer any
more for his wheat because 1t was raised
on land adjoining the steel works; he can
only pay what he would pay for the same
quality of wheat in the Chicago market,
plus the cost of transportation to his mill
The miller explains the situation to the
farmer and gets his wheat for that price or
less, because the farmers market
is restricted practically TO the local mill.
But where does Chicago wheat come
from? Where Is it grown and what law of
values determines its selling price? III
comes from the great regions of the North
west is grown upon the rich and fertile
prairies of that section, upon land that can
be had almost for the asking, or at most
at cost of from 50 to SIS per acre, upon
land requiring no barnyard to make crop
and where the straw is burned in the fields |
as the easiest and cheapest way of getting
rid of it. The price in the Chicago mar
ket Is determined day by day, if there is
not corner" in whest, by the price at
Mark Lane, London.
The farmer at Braddock, after selling his
wheat, returns to his home and family.
He had bought his farm at a cost of 500
per acre, made payment of cash upon 1t
from the savings of years of toll and labor,
secured the deferred payments by a mort.
gage, hoping by his industry and labor
upon his farm and Its favorable location he
would make money enough to meet the in
crest and pay off his mortgage at maturity.
He has sold his wheat at ninty cents a
oushel, grown upon land that cost him
300 per acre, sown and harvested this
wheat by labor for which he had to pay
rom $15 to $1S per month and board, and
after the taxes upon the land and his help
S paid, and other debts connected with the
aising of his crop are settled, he finds that
10Th ends will not meet; that the price he
las received for his wheat will not cover
cost of production.
Discouraged, but not disheartend, the
armer arises the next morning before the [