Sturgis advertiser. (Sturgis, Dakota [S.D.]) 1887-1???, 1890-11-27
WHAT THE TARIFF Is.
How iT PROTECTS THE WEST
ERN FARMER.
tt il as Much for His Benefit as for the
MaDufacturer--A Policy That Builds UP
Home Industries, While Competition
Regulates Prices

tt il as Much for His Benefit as for the
MaDufacturer--A Policy That Builds Up
Home Industries, While Composition
Regulates Prices
[Cor. Omaha Bee.
There was recently handed to me. for
perusal ain apparently plausible argn-
ment upon the tariff problem, written, /
believe, in the interest of free trade, for
its author, in closing, remarks: II am
convinced that almost nobody is benefited
by the tariff, excepta clique OF million
aires who have got rich by this polite
form of begging, while everybody else is
plundercd for their benefit.
In an article which forces its author to
conclusion so clearly erroneous, one is
apt to infer that the opening declarations
must be equally indefensibe, and they
are. SHOW strange it is" he writes,
s'that any American citizen should say,
when asked his views upon the tariff
question, Il don't understand it," and
again, before beginning his argument,
he says: sBut first, want you to stroll
with me down into the valley of humilia-
ton and blush awhile for having ever
been compelled to confess that you didn't
understand the tariff question
Indeed! William +. Gladstone, the
ablest statesman In England, looking at
the problem from an English point of
view, set up an elaborate argument
against the American system. Follow
ing Immediately upon it's publication
came an equally exhaustive article from
James g. Blaine, in which every promi-
nent feature of Mr.. Gladstone's reason
ing was attacked, and, from an Ameri-
can standpoint, completely upset.
Congressman Morrison, of Illinois,
after months of study and careful con-
sheraton, presented bill for the modi-
iication of the tariff, which, to major
ity of his associates, seemed wofully at
fault. and the bill and its author were
both set aside. as additions to political
ruins.
Roger @. Mills came forward later
with another complete revision OF the
existing schedule, and Immediately
thereafter the most animated and per-
sistent discussion of this complex ques-
ton that has yet taken place in the re-
| public was begun. The bill was be-
| headed, dissected, revised and recon-
structed by the senate and the house,
| but it never assumed an aspect which
promised improvement upon the sched-
| ule in force, and was therefore put
| away DIS dHDbueI CONSPICUOUS ldlluit'
When the last session of congress be-
| gan, with the republican majority in all
| it's branches, and republican president
| in office, it was we'll understood that the
| party whose foresight and Judgment for
/ twenty-four years had given to Ameri-
| can industries their magnificent develop.
ment would endeavor to revise the tariff
| upon the basis of greatest good to the
greatest number" Whether or not the
Mckinley schedule will work out the
benefit that is hoped for, time only car
| tell. No man, nor set of men, in a ma
| ton where interests are so diversified a:
they are in ours will ever be able to ':un
| derstand this wde-reaching problem
sufficiently to tell, in advance of test
what measure could be adopted tina
would satisfy all the desires of every
element in our national family. NJ
man, nor set OF men, can frame bill
for regulation of tariff whose provisions
would not be assailed. 1t is easy to TN
derstand the simple matter Of charging
an importer fixed amount for the priv
ilege Of bringing to one country for sail
the products and wares Of another, blu
this part of the question has about TIN
same relation to the problem, as whole
that an alphabet bears to q language.
The people of New England, and o
other manufacturing districts, who's
prosperity depends upon the success o
the industries about them, are certainl,
consistent in demanding that measure o
protection which is essential to their per
manency and success. The lumbermel
and others who are dependent upon then
in Michigan and Wisconsin may be blin'
to the interests of New England, bu
they are fearfully in earnest when tn
tariff on lumber Is threatened, TIL
raisers of tobacco In Virginia and Ken
lucky are willing that the duties o
| lumber and woolenS, and multitude @
articles they cannot produce, should b
removed or reduced, but the tariff o
tobacco must never be disturbed, excep
to be raised. In the west, where farm
ing is the chief occupation, men ar
clamoring for heavy reductions on every
thing that the east produces, but tn
man who would hint at removing tn
tariff on potatoes and grains would b
labeled by the farmers as an enemy. A
sorts of arguments have been hrough
into service by democratic speakers
prove to the farmers and mechanics ho'
disastrous the outcome must be wit
McKinley's revislons in force. And the
are cunning about it, too,
They refer to the increase Of duty O
tin as an outrage, but they fail to inforl
the industrious husbandman that tn
duty on potatoes, for the protection {
farmers, has been almost doubled.
They see glaring injustice in advant
ing the tariff on glass, but they rarel
allude to the SO per cent. that was adde
to butter and cheese.
They talk of alleged oppression in q
increase of duty on woolens, but al
always too busy to explain to the farm
ers that the tariff on barley is MOI
than doubled and that duties on a
other grains have been proportionatel
raised.
They foretell disaster from the. tart
on number of protected commoditie
but they rarely refer to the most col
spicuous of all the changes, one. made
the interest of multitude Of farmer
who are raising tobacco, where the dut
on Sumatra leaf has been raised fro
an average of SIS cents to exactly 50 p'
pound. Nor do they state to the farm'
that duties on beans have been raise
n from 10 per cent. ad valorem to 45 cen
per bushel; on bacon and hams from
6 cents per pound; on apples from not
= ing to Is cents per bushel; on beef fro
to 2 cents per pound, and on cattle al
horses in like proportion.
These are the articles which emit
most largely into active competition wi
our own agricultural products, and Il
farmers are entitled to protection:
Now the impatient free trader w
say: ''This tariff Is oppressive to Il
,,oobario - And So IL goes The farm