Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-04-11
eAooiHe AND Tss,nE..

Il
= 1fust Wh1GA B1opooeg - Grew B1eA -
the laxnnoEx kxpenss.
Juts bagging and iron ties are
essential to the proper and economical
marketing Of cotton. the staple crop Of
the South.
Twine Is just as essential to the
proper harvesting of wheat, the staple
crop Of the Northwest
The protective tariff on bagging is
81 per cent; on twine. it Is 40 per
cent
By the Mills bill bagging was placed
on the free list. and the duty on Irvine
was reduced to 25 per cent
When this question came before the
people the cotton-planters voted to
sustain the Mills bill, but the wheat
farmers of the Northwest were SO
afraid of the Southern brigadiers''
that they could not trust them even to
reduce taxes, and SO the Mills bill
failed, and the farmers North and
South were handed over, body and
breeches, one to the Irvine trust and
one to the bagging trust.
Last autumn the bagging trust
robbed ''under' the forms of law" the
Southern cotton planters of about
81. 600. 600, and they are preparing to
repeat the game when the cotton-pick-
ing begins.
The ''twine trust is now getting
ready for its harvest 1t has not only
secured control of the Irvine product,
but also of the raw materials from
which it is made. This raw material
-hemp-is now taxed $25 ton; the
''rebel brigadiers' proposed to put it
on the free list. but the plutocrats de-
feated this proposition, and now no
relief is possible.
We do not think the trust will be
able to put the price up to 25 cents, for
such an advance would lead to heavy
importations, and, as with copper, de-
feat the purpose of the combine. Still
the fact remains that under the protec-
ton of the tariff monopoly has been
established and the Western farmers
must pay the piper. Tbs following dis
patch from Minneapolis is worth re-
producing:
'Slowly blu. surely the binding twine trust 10
tightening its coils about the farmer. Already
the effect OF it 10 seen here IN Minneapolis,
where most of the Irvine in stock has been
bought up for the trust, and now lies in a Min
neapolis warehouse and where the price has
already advanced materially. An agent of the
Dakota Farmers Alliance, which last year
bought its Irvine direct from the factories, was
sent East to contract for this years supply. He
discovered that the whole output had been
bought up by the trust. Further, he dlscov-
cred that the Irvine which last year could be
bought for nine cents q pound would cost
twenty-f five cents this year. The only remain
ing plan left the farmers is to boycott the trust
and this they seem inclined to do. Minneap-
oils Irvine dealers are in the same fix
the farmers. About two months ago young
man, dressed as a frontier farmer, came here
and bought up all the Irvine in the hands Of the
dealers. 1t was discovered too late that he
was an agent of the trust, but the Irvine had
been sold. The local dealers are now kicking,
while the Irvine, five hundred thousand balls
OF it, is packed away. II the farmers get no
Irvine it is likely to have bad effect upon the
wheat crop. as that can not be harvested in q
good condition without the use OF twine''
This is one result of the defeat of the
Mills bill and of the election of Mr..
Harrison; the strike at Fall River is
another; the Reading failure is an
other. For four years longer the peo-
pie must bear the burdens of which
the Mills bill proposed to relieve them.
Louisville Courier-J ournal.