Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-08-15
HOW THE FARMER rs LNARNINc.
The Way the Logic ofEvents IL Teach
ingIts Lesson TO the TIIler of
the Soil.
tFDp the saH Lake Hsala.l

FARMERS OF TINS country are learning the
true inwardness Of a high tariff than
the recent mass meetings held in near
ly every county Of several Of our great
est agricultural States to den0unce the
action Of the twine trust In raising the
price of binding twine. The Mills bill
put twine and sissil grass, from which
the twine is made, on the free list. The
farmers, however, were told by Repub-
licans that If twine were cheap, their
wheat would be cheap. So the farmers
voted for Harrison.
As 1t became certain that the Mills
bill would not pass, the twine trust ad-
vanced the price of twine up to the
limit allowed by the present tariff, and
will advance it still further If the SEN
ate bill passes. Now the farmers are
indignant at receiving little of the
good thing they voted for. Twine is
dear, but wheat is not; and they are
kicking themselves for believing that
dear twine would make dear wheat.
1t Is the same with iron, which, in q
hundred forms, every farmer uses. The
farmer is gradually learning, to his ser-
row, that high-priced iron does not
make high-priced wheat, but just the
opposite-low priced wheat. Approx
maiely, five days. labor in America
will earn Tor raise) ten bushel of wheat,
but Republicans tell us will earn Tor
make) only half ton of pig-iron. Five
days labor in Scotland will earn only
five bushel of wheat, but will make one
ton of pig iron. ss.....
Therefore if the American farmer
were permitted to exchange his wheat
| for Scotch pig iron, he would get ton
of pig iron for five days. labor; but ifhe
is not allowed to exchange wheat for
iron he must work ten days for each ton
of pig iron he gets, and the Scotchman
must work ten days for five bushel of
wheat. And such is the case. The
government does not permit the farmer
to supply himself with iron in this nat
ural and easy way. The farmer must,
of course, sell his surplus wheat; and
since farmers constitute at least half our
entire population, they still have sur
plus Of wheat. beet, etc., after supplying
the other half the population. What
shall they do with this surplus? They
must either sell it or give it away.
Democrats say farmers have the right
to sell this surplus to foreigners without
being subjected to a fine for doing so.
Republicans say farmers must not re-
ceive pay (mports) from abroad in pay
ment for this surplus wheat, or the gov
eminent will collect a fine from them
| for doing so. Thus a farmer has 1000
bushel of surplus wheat, worth 81 per
bushel, let us say. His neighbors have
all the wheat they need, but would buy
iron from him if he had it, SO he sends
his wheat to Scotland, where pig iron
sells at $40 per ton. He then awaits for
his 100 tons of iron to arrive. When it
arrives, however, he finds he must pay
n 81 ,50On each ton for $3.50 on the 100
tons before he lands the iron, and so he
is obliged to sell forty-five out ofthe 100
tons in order to pay the tariff tax on It.
The result is, he gets only fifty-five tons
of iron for his wheat, instead of the 100
he expected to get. Then he begins to
reflect. and discovers that it took 450 out
of his 900 bushel of wheat to pay his
fine at the custom honse for receiving
pay (imports) for his surplus wheat.
!. The result, too, would be precisely the
same to him If the custom house Off
cials had kept back 450 bushels of his
wheat before 1t was sent abroad. The
government protects Carnegie and the
other iron masters from competition by
the farmers. and fines the latter class
! for presuming to buy and sell iron.
1t is the same with sugar. Three
, miles off our coast, or any where on the
high seas, sugar sells at Al cents. If the
farmer were permitted to receive sugal
for wheat, he would supply himself anG
sell sugar to all his neighbors at profit
of five cents pound. But the govern
ment will not permit the farmer to sci
the same articles that Claus Spreckles
r and the Republican sugar trusts sell
5 so the whole people buy sugar at mint
! cents from the few millionaires instead
: of five cents from the millions of farm
ers. 1t is the same with nearly thu
whole tariff list. The farmers surplu.
productss amounting by actual valu
alton to rs percent. Of all our exports
are taxed 30 per cent. of their value
. when the pay for them arrives.
The farmers were told that imports
must be stopped, but were not told tha
4 these imports are the pay received ir
exchange for the farmers exports. TC
stop imports is to- stop exports anG
hence to stop farmers from having any
8 surplus products. 1t is the farmers
! surplus that pays the carpenter the rna'
: son, the blacksmith, the sehoolmaster
the lawyer and the doctor. And while
the law can and does diminish the pur
chasing power of that surplus in the
case of nearly every manufactured ar
ticle, it is to much to believe that the
farmer will ever consent to laws intend
t ed to abolish or destroy that surplus
{ product. but there is another and diff.
I ferent surplus" which the Republi
can party is also pledged to destroy
the $l04,000, 600 surplus revenue.
!, The condition of the theory have
fallen into the hands of the Republi
cans, and it isinteresting to watch wha
tariff-tinkering they will undertake t,
y appease the public sentiment. Tht
!. Republicans began by denying the exist
: ence of any surplus; they then admitted
there was a surplus, but said o surplu
: was better than deficit and should no
be removed. Then they framed bill tt
t reduce the revenue, in which the esti
t mate average reduction in $100 wa
somewhat larger than the Democrati,
measure for the same purpose. The,
did not pass this bill, which, for th,
first time in history, was an attempt t.
reduce revenue by raising taxes; for ,
while it removed taxes on tobacco ant
whisky, itactually increased the rate il
most of common necessities of life. Th,
condition" still remains, despite tn,
| off 10 VII ~, e. -,