The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-03-23

more money TO pay the farmers for their
produce and give them good home mar
ket."
Now one OF the most splendid inven-
lions for the beneiit of our western cutiva'
tors of small grains was the self binding
reaper Instead of two men TO follow each
machine, the expense of man and halt
was saved by the purchase of binder Irvine
at never above l2 cents pound. But as the
manufacture of this Irvine was already pro
tected by high duty, and none of the
m aterial OF which 1t Is made is raised here
and less than five hundred men are really
engaged In Its manufacture and are bene
fitted by Its protection" the Mills bill pro.
posed, instead of dividing the millions of
tariff tax paid on binder twine among the
paltry 800 interested In It's manufacture, 70
give that money 10 the five millions Of far
mers by whom the tax was paid. ooh, but
that will never do" said the promoters of
the old party fetish. THAT Is an interior
ence with the great principle of protection
by which our manufacturers make so
much money to give your farmers home
market" so TO save the immense home
market accruing TO them from this little
squad of manufacturers of binder twine,
they placldly vote upon themselves three
| million tay far thair hanofit
But as hint to leave is seldom misun-
derstood If accompanied by kick, SO the
stupidest man Is apt to realize that he is
being robbed when he catches a thief
emptying his pockets The manufacturers
of binder Irvine took the farmers at their
word. "You have voted,' said they, mot
only that the tax on binder twine shall re-
main untouched, all for the purpose of
enriching the manufacturers 90 that they
can give you home market for your pro-
duce. Very good. We areI doing very
we'll with the liberal tax you are already
paying US on our twine, but don't you see
we can pay you still better for your pro-
duce If you will increase that tax. There
fore we have decided to organize ourselves
into a trust and raise the price from 10 to
10 or 20cts a pound"
Strange to say, stolid and impossible as
the farmers had hitherto shown them.
selves, this kick of the monopolists was
felt, and they actually realized that some
thing like the hand of thief was getting
into their pockets. Close calculation
showed that an addition of cts a pound
on binder Irvine meant levy of tax Of
about ten millions on the western farmers,
and In return for this was the shadowy and
ridiculous promise of being able to sell a
few hundred dollars worth of produce to a
squad of sturdy paupers engaged in the
manufacture of binder Irvine!
so the farmers are becoming aroused
All over Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Mime
sofa, Dakota, and even among the truly
loil" In Illinois. meetings are being held
to devise ways and means to head off this
monstrous binder twine trust, some of the
meetings going so far as to resolve that
rather than submit to this imposition they
will turn out their splendid self binders to
rot and return to the old cast off self rakers.
! Well, to the honest, Jealous tariff
reformer, who realizes that he owes about
all the disappointment of his high hopes
of accomplishing good in his way to the
stolid immobility and Indifference of the
farmers, 1t we're too much to say that the
sight of this squirming Is wholly unpleas.
ant 1t is better that men should be moved
In the right direction, even If II must be
done by kick.
But once aroused on the subject of this
threatened binder Irvine robbery, wouldn't
It be sensible thing for the farmers to
look little further into this tariff business
and see If the hand of the thief isn't dis
coverable In many more of Its provisions.
There is just now In process of organiza
ton salt trust, with capital of S25, OO0,-
600, Its purpose being to levy tax of Is
to 25 cts per barrel off the farmers on the
salt they must use. To ordinary house.
holders the cost OF salt is trille and thus
matter of Indifference, the bulk of the
salt of the county being used in dairying,
stock raising and the curing of meats--in
word, the cost comes out of the farmer.
Then the lumber tax could receive a
profitable overhauling, the tax on the
coarser boots and shoes, leather, clothing,
hats, hosiery, and the hundreds of objects
manufactured of steel and iron in which
the farmers have so deep an interest. Oh,
a little patient, persistent investigation on
the part of the farmers, we beg to assure
them with the fullest confidence, will re-
veal to them such maze of ways that
are dark and tricks that are vain" by which
they are plundered, as will make their hair
stand on end
The New York Herald seems to think
that two hundred years hence the Anglo
Saxon race will have on its hands fight
| q ...i. Al.