Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-09-28

president did not consider that IL the one
million farmers who now grow wool were
to b. deprived OF that industry, that their
felds would Immediately he used to grow
other farm prOl cts that would go to COM
pete with what the other 81 million farm
ers have for sale, ami hence reduce he
pr. ce OF their products ly reason of great
er production and less demand?
WOOL INDUSTRY CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT
PROTECTION.
IL IL we'll demonstrated that the wool
indus ry cannot live without protection.
In 1888 there was slight reduction OF
tariff on wool. Up to that time for many
years prior there had been annually an
Increase I'm the number o. sheep In the
United States, AMI a corresponding in
crease In the amount of WOO grown.
In 1854 there were in the Uni ed states
80. q g, 626 sheep. and a production Of 30s,-
600, 00) pounds of wO i. The decreased
prices fro II that time TO now, consequent
upon the reduction OF the tari'. has less
ened our s. eep 10 A., 759, 3iI, and our pro.
duction OF wool to 265. 0JO, OOJ pc mas in
1857.
If the slight reduction IN the tariff in
1888 had such effect what must be the
inevitable result of removing the entire
tariff?
Up to 1883 our fOcks had been ncreas-
ing and our reduction OF wool CROWN.
In 1850 we produced but coo 0.000
pounds per year In 1884, :0S, 900, 00)
pounds, and all this under protect We tariff.
Com arlng he twoye4rs just before the
reduction of the tariff and the last two
years, the importatiOns of foreign woods
have been as follows.
1851 Observation-Disclosures. 60, 4l6, 90 Lbs.
1857. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. C3,0l6,196 -
Total, . years $50, 433. 136 -
1880. Observation-Disclosures. ,549 -
1887. ll4.4W, Ia "
Total, years. ........... .2292 ,3li, 723 "
Not only does this show that our farm
ers have been defrauded of that which
a orded them fair return for their labor
and invested capital but that also the ma
much as it has been Obliged to buy abroad
instead of growing at hom".
Another reason why this industry should
not be cancelled from the farm Is the
plea which comes nom he soil itself. The
farmer we'll knows that no stock he keeps
on his land so enrches it as do the sheep.
This Is Truth that goes without saying,
and Is one which cannot be overlooked.
The sheep grower to-day may be without
his flocks tomorrow. And the man with
out sheep to-day who for profit or impov-
erished soil, which he desires to enrich,
or To- clear his fields and fallOws from foul
vegetation, or for other good works in
which the sheep can serve him well, may
desire flock tomorrow, rovided he can
make IL pay to keep them. And hence,
not alone the man who now owns a flock
of sheep is the one at who u the blow is
aimed, but rather every farmer in the
land. There is n cOmpensating O er
made to him to take its pla e. Not BEN
eft is he to derive fro u any source. But
to reduce the supplies five millions of dol
lars per year, a million farmer, are asked
to open the ca es and drive out from their
fields 4 ;, 00J, 600 of sheep to the slaughter.
DEMOCRATIC POLITICAL = LFlsHNE g.
The farmer turns to the free trader and
the demo ratio president and asks why
not inste d remove the tariff from sugar,
and thus save the people more than sixty
millions of dollars annually, reducing the
surplus more than fifty millions, and not
in ure the aling of more han thous-
md per ons in the nited States.
The president and the free trader do not
say that it is because they ar afraid that
down in Louis ana, where tley grow a
little sugar and vote good deal of democ-
racy, they won { like it; but II is a act.
They try TO satisfy the almost universal
northern sentiment for free sugar by re-
ducing the tariff twenty per cent, reduc-
ton so slight that it will no. vary the
price Of gar in the slightest degree 10
the c1nsumers. The first free trade blow
is straigh a. the farmer, and every one
will hit him, whether directed oward him
or not