The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-01-02
AGRICULTURE AND THE TARIFF
LAWS.


AGRICULTURE AND THE TARIFF
LAWS.
The relation OF our present tariff to
the interests Of the farmer is most IN
furious and most damaging from what
ever standpoint and under whatever
circumstances it may be regarded.
One Of the most spesious and per
sistent arguments that has been adj
vanced by the high pfoiectionists. in
order to secure the support for their
principles Of the agricultural classes,
has been that protective duties would,
by building up great manufacturing
centres, and thereby Increasing the
population engaged in other than agri-
cultural pursui,s. furnish home mar
ket for the products OF the farmer.
Has this been the case? On the con-
trsry. it is shown upon examination
that agricultural products constitute
from Is to so percentage Of our exports,
an enormous disproportion, this being
due to the fact that we produce far
more in this line than We can consume.
rather than TO better prices abroad.
The necessity under which the farm
ers labor, Of exporting their surplus, is
one Of the most serious evils from
which they are suffering, inasmuch as
the prices Of their products sold at home
are regulated by the prices Of their pro-
ducts sold abroad. Our agricultural
classes find themselves, in consequence,
in the remarkable position of having TO
sell what they can dispose Of at home,
at prices fixed in the free foreign mar
I kets. and. at the same time. Of being
compelled TO buy nearly all that they
are required to purchase, at prices fixed
IN the protected domestic markets. IN
other words, thew are ground TO pow
der, in pecuniary sense, between the
upper milestone Of free markets, which
regulate the prices Of all they sell, and
The neither milestone of protected mar
kets, Which regulate the prices of near
lY all they buy.
The agricultural classes are allowed
the largest liberty Of selling in the
cheap foreign magkets, but when they
i make purSeg'ses in those markets and
eade3S6r TO introduce what they have
bought. into this country. they iind.t their
property subject to a duty Of from ~
to 100 percentage in passing through
the custom house, and they are forced
! to submit to the imposition, not that the
government may be sustained in the
hour Of a great emergency, but in o.
der tkat certain grasping manufac-
lurers in Falls River, Buffalo, Cleye-
and or Chicago can add to their
private fortunes at the expense
OF the impoverifhed millions who
own and Till the soil. Even more than
This: Not only do the protective duties
levied upon every thing that the farmer
buys 10 to the further enrichment Of
The manufacturer. but in dong so
they also increase his power TO combine
with his fellows, battening upon the
same epoils, in order to rob the farmer
TO still more outrageous degree by
the formation Of trusts and monopolies
as criminal in their character as as
socialions of pnaiical freebooters.
What is the consequence Although
our American lands are the most fertile
on the globe, and with every means Of
transportation for its products. near at
hand. yet the condition of theAmerican
farmer is that of man ia the last stages
of decay and ruin. Wherever we direct
our gaze over this great country, so d.
yelsiiied in climate and soil, we lis
cover similar state Of things Large
farms are being abandoned in New
England as if haunted by pes
THENCE. A cry OF desperation rises
from the great prairies of the West,
while the Southern farmer languishes
as if in the throes Of a mortal disease.
From all sides and from all agricultu-
raj elias. es. the testimony received does
not vary one whit. Unless a radical
change is made in the protective
system az il now stands, the bankruptcy
Of the farming interests will be inevita
bic and irrevocsble. The failure of
these interests must carry ruin through
every rsmifcation Of our industrial
life.