, 1890-10-30
POLITICS IN WHITMAN.
The Country Flooded With
Free Trade Literature.
BOGUS AND TRICKY METHODS
Attempts to Delude the Farmer
Into Belief That He Is
Being Cinohed.

democratic campaign methods in Whit
man county Is furnished in tho dis.
guised FREQ trade literature which floods
the Palouse valley, purporting to prove
that the Mckinley bill has raised the
price of everything except the product
OF the farm. This literature is in the form
of postal cards circular letters, business
notices, ETC., and bears tho postmarks of
Eastern manufacturing cities. Within
the last two weeks there have been no
less than 1900 postal cards handed from
the Colfax postoftice to farmers and Ia.
borers, and thoy all are represented as
having come from Eastern firms; but
in fact they were printed at Spokane
Falls and sent to this place by express.
1t Is probable that every office in the
country has received u similar consign-
ment, besides hund reds of enclosed cir
culars.
Six industries are alleged to make re.
ports through as many different firms.
First, and of most vital importance to
farmers, barb wire is noticed. Says one
of these eilusions:
when farmer hereafter buys barb
wire he will have to pay q big advance
on what 1t cost him In tho past. The
duty on iron and steel needed in the
lIlunuluctufe OF tnls wire mas advanced
from 30 TO la per cent.
"CASSADY & TOwNE.
"Marshalltown, Iowa, Sept. 49,
To the unsuspecting farmer such trash
might have some weight; but the letter
is bogus In every particular In Mar
shalltown, Iowa, there Is no such firm as
Cassidy " rowne, in proof of which this
telegram has been received in response
to an inquiry:
"MARsHALLrowS, Iowa, Oct. 2Z-No
Cassady & Townc were ever heard OF in
this part of the country. or anywhere
else, SO far as | know. The only barb
wire factory In this city is the Iowa
Steel Barb Wire Company: ,,
MILTON AMES, Mayor"
That telegram nails q campaign lie of
the basest degree. But more than that,
b-wire Ia lower in price now than 1t
ever has been before. The Palouse
farmer can purchase wire enough to
fence the universe ut 64 cents. year
ago it sold for 6I9, and the year before 1t
retailed at Z. Even last spring II was
worth q cents. Instead of an advance
in price, then, wire has gone down, and
under the operations OF the Mckinley
bill competition will reduce u TO cents
before twelve months, according to the
predictions of local dealers.
But regardless Of these facts, two
thirds of the farmers in Whitman coun-
ty have received notices from "Cassady
& Towne" of the increased price OF barb
wire. Why anyway, should "Cassady
& Towne" 20 to tho enormous expense
of informing the agriculturalists of the
remote Palouse country that they had
determined to make an advance In the
price of their product What business
sense would inspire such action? And
the Same question might be asked OF all
the other circulars and postal cards.
Another OF these circulars reads:
" fS,,Il s.nIl ut
tsntion to the folio wing section of the
Mckinley tariff bill that has just passed.
which advances the duty on imported
Havana cigars from $3.50 to $3.50 per
pound:
+" Section 2si.-CIgars, cigarettes and
cheroots OF all kinds, four dollars and
nifty cents per pound, and twenty fve
per centum ad valorem; ard paper ciga-
rettes ana cigars including wrappers
shall be subject to- the same duties as
are herein imposed upon cigars.
"In view of this Il will be necessary
for us to advance all imported cigars in
conformity with this Lill. Yours very
truly. NJ. A. GUNST & CO."
Business men, "a well as other classes,
have been the recipients OF the tobacco
letter; but the domestic cigar is selling
at the samo o.d stand The object of
bombarding the farmers with tins mo
tice" of advanced prices on imported
cigars was merely to mislead him, or to
aid In misleading him, on the general
effects of the new tariff law for tho
farmer who smokes u Havana does so
when he becomes u railroad president.
Havauas are luxurcs which the demo-
Gratis have been bowling about rs arti-
cles which should be taxed It's the
wall of the demagogue.
Firearms, too, must be pressed into
service. Here is sumner:
WHERE WILL 1T STOP?
~ Al, A. ,lusA 81 b,. D H..
Liege (BelgiunO Gun Syndicate ad-
yanced prices, effective Immediately, as
follows:
Single muzzlc loading guns, 75 cen
times.
Double muzzle and breech loading
guns, francs.
Flobert rifles, 80 centimes.
i. G. MEACHAM ARMS co.
st. Louis, Oct Is 1899.
What use farmers of the Palouse val
ley have ever found for Flobert rifles and
European double-muzzle breech- loading
guns is a mystery which will probably
go down to postcrity AS brain racker.
But the democratic bosses Of Whitman
county did not consider anything of that
kind. Their object was to Ihislead
farmers and impress them with the idea
that the ''pernicious Mex iney bill' had
increased the cost, not only of American
Whether the scheme will work depends
upon the intelligence of the PaIouse
agriculturist for they are mainly the
ones who have been favored with this in
formation from the "l.iegc (Bel elgium)
Gun Syndicate" A reasoning man is
disgusted with such trash. The "Liege
tBelgium) Gun Syndicate" Its arms are
used in America about as often rs the
pope's bull to the comet ~ employed ms a
preventive against smallpox. The cir
cular probably states tho truth as far as
the advance ofprices is concerned; but
how in al. reason could the Mckinley
bill produce the effect of advancing
the pr COS of European goods when cable
grams announce every day that factories
over all England, Germany and France
have been Obliged to shut down In con-
sequence OF the loss of trade which the
new Anne ricaa tariff measure infiicts
on those counties? And then, syn
dictate" in free trade Europe! The whole
truth OF the matter Is simply that q syn
dicate was recently formed by oil the
gun factories of England, Germany.
France and Belgium, aud as result,
the price of firearms which the syndicate
produces has been advanced. The
American arms, however, manuiac ctured
by Colts, Winchester, Spencer, Parker,
and Smith & Wesson, aro on sale by oil
dealers at lower prices than the Euro
pean gun, and even lower than they
have ever been offered before. In the
minds OF tho willy politicians of this
country, whose only object Is to dupe