Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-01-11
THE TARIFF AND THE FARMER.

Prince of Wales clusters of ostrich feathers
catching up the drapery Of the tablier'
THE TARIFF AND THE FARMER.
John q. Carlisle On the Effects of High
Duties.
The leading article in the January num-
ber of the Forum is on "Ihe Tariff and the
Farmer" by John q. Carlisle ex-speaker
of tho House of Representatives. As
everything written on the subject by Mr..
Carlisle must be Of public interest, we re-
produce In a condensed form his views OF
what tariff ought to be IL IL were framed
more In the interest of tho whole people
than II is now. Mr.. Carlisle begins his
paper with the proposition that 'no logical
show that the policy of protection cncour-
ages any industry in this country except
upon the hypothesis that free competition
would so reduce the prices thst our people
could not profitably engage In that par
ticular industry. IL free competition tends
TO reduce prices, whatever interferes with
such competition must tend to Increase
them, and as the imposition Of taxes upon
articles imported from abroad necessarily
prevents competition to greater or less ex-
icnt with similar commodities produced
here, II Is contended by protectionistst that II
Is the duty of the government to levy such
taxes, whether II needs the revenue or
tent with truth, or with itself, admits that
the effect of the protection policy is TO in.
crease the price of the protected articles in
this country, for If this were not the case
Il Is plain that It could not enable our peo-
Pile to produce them at profit, and would,
therefore. bo worthless" IL is evident
that protective tariff can only DO benef-
cial TO the producers OF those articles which
would be imported to what the protection
lists consider an injurious extent, and that
as to all other articles whicn we produce
in greater quantities than we need for our
own consumption, as well as those we pro-
duce as chcaply rs tho foreigner, such
articles could not bo imported here even If
there were no tax. Whatever the effect of
the tariff may be on other classes of pro-
ducers the farlners of the United States
cannot possibly increase the prices OF tho
articles they have to sell, because without
protection they can have no foreign COM
petition in their home market, while they
are subjected to the most severe compete
ton in the foreign markets, where they
must sell their surplus. Mr.. Carlisle pro-
ceeds
"And In this connection IL must not be
forgotten that the prices of all the princi-
pal agricultural products which the farmer
sells at home are fixed in the free markets
abroad, where he sells his surplus, while
the prices of nearly all the things he has to
buy are fixed in the protected markets
here, and are largely increased by tho total
or partial exclusion of foreign competition,
and by reason of the unnecessary taxes
imposed upon the materials used in their
production. Tho fact that the home prices
of such articles as we produce In OK
cess of the home demand, and therefore
export TO other countries, arc fixed in the
foreign ports where they are sold Is ad-
mittod by every intelligent protectionist."
If the farmer had the home market in
which the demand was equal to or in ex-
cess of the supply, IA the protectionists
have been promising them for three-quar-
ters of "A century, the case would be differ
ent, but il is certain that no such a market
has been secured TO him, and "the question
he has now to decide is whether he will
continue to tax himself for an indefinite
period in tho future in order that the i'm
possibility of success may be demon
strated." From the experience he has
already had ait would seem that no argu-
ment ought to be necessary to convince
him thnt he has been the voluntary victim
of policy which guarantees home mar
ket and high prices for tho producers Of tho
articles he has to buy, and leaves him to
get such prices as he can in the open
markets of tho world for the arti-
cles ho has to sell" Mr.. Car
Isle next takes up Senator Cullom's $
article in the last number of the Forum,
and points out the iallacies of fact and state
ment Senator Cullom refers to tho article
of steel rails and the reduction in price,
through the alleged operation of the tariff,
between the years 1867 and 1887, and quotes
1t as "a typical case of the working of pro-
tecton." Mr.. Carlisle shows that Senator
Cullom gives the price in 1867 in depre-
ciated paper and in 1887 in gold. lie might
have shown, says Mr. Carlisle, that the
prices of many articles have been reduced
since lS67-articlcs that always have been
admitted free of duty. The same reduce
ton in the price of steel rails was going on
in free-trade England much faster than
in the United States during tho same
period, and the cause in both cases was the
expiration of patents and tho discovery of
improved processes of manufacture. Mr..
Carlisle finally states the case of tho far
mer and II Is so strong that we give IL en-
tire:
"Tho American farmer, although he
cultiyates the most fertile soil in the world,
and ought 10 DO the most prosperous mom-
Der of the community, Is constantly en-
gagged In a hard struggle to secure a COM
Portable support for his family and a mod
crate education for his children, and to pay
his taxes and keep out of debt. This is all
he can reasonably hope to accomplish. In
large maiOrity of eases he fails even to do
this, and sooner or later is compelled to sell
or mortgage his land and reduce his eX-
penditurcs 10 the lowest possible figure. lie
has paternal government which has de
termined that certain classes of industry
ought TO be maintained mt the public
expense, and for thirty years no has
been taxed for their support and
now, after these favored industries have
become rich and powerful, they combine
and confederate under the names of trusts,
syndicatcs and pools, and dictate the terms
upon which the people may procure the
necessaries of life and carry on their busi-
ness. Under our system of taxation the
4 IN = Il. "a "a hA Al .xf
power To protect his own interests. He can
not control the prices of tho products he
sells in the markets of his own country,
because the demand is not equal to the
supply and he must take what he can get I;
and he cannot control the prices of the ar
tclos he buys here, but must pay what
ever is asked because theyare protected by
tarin laws against the competition of
everybody who wants TO sell them
lower Nor can he control the
prices of his products in the markets
abroad, where he sells what his home mar
ket will not take, because there he Is com-
polled TO compete, under many disadyau-
tages, with similar products from all parts
OF the world. If he attempts to escape
eNtortion at homo by purchasing what he
wants in the cheap markets abroad, where
he sells his surplus, his own government
arrests him at the custom house and fines
him from 30 To 100 per cent. upon the value
of his goods, and this he must pay before
he is allowed to sell or even to use the
articles he has bought with the proceeds of
his own labor. And what makes the mat
ter worse il the fact that the government
does not need the fine, but imposes il upon
the importer and the importers customers
because they are supposed to Se competing
with some individual or corporation en-
gagged in making the same kind of goods
IN this country"
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IN DREAMS.
For the INTELLIGESCER.
dream of you. The day still keeps