St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-08-03
SUNDAY TARIFF DISCUSSION.


SUNDAY TARIFF DISCUSSION.
To the Editor of the GLOBE.
Inasmuch as the ''dear farmer" the
''honest tiller of the SOIL" whose
''horny hand" and whose ''bone and
sinew" are so much admired by the pro-
tectionists and who isfor his dear self
or his dearer vote-so much beloved, is
at present SO absolutely upperm0St In
the minds of the leaders of the great
'shome market party of America, it
| may not be in0ppOrtune to invite the
| attention Of the aforementioned farm
| famous and only hOme-market agitating
| circle is so unostentatiously showering
| upon them. Of course, there are few
benefits ~ which the farmers have
| been asked to remember and be CRATE
full for, but the we'll known modesty of
| the Republican party forbidS that it
| should mention more than an insignlf-
| cant part of the good deeds it has done.
Its shrinking from public approval has
| deferred it from taking more than half
what the party in its heart really feels
| that it wants. Its tlmidity has well
nigh been the ruination of the party,
and that it's most .magnanimOus deeds,
particularly those in the interests Of the
| farmer, should not pass unrecOgniZed
and unreward ed, it devOlves upon out
siders to call the attention of an I'M
| grateful world to Its extremely self-sac-
rifcing policy, and to these most gen.
erOus remembranceS of the neediest
class of the masses, the farmers.
There was time when protection
was only for the encO engagement and de-
velopment of small manufacturing in
| duStries, but that was years ago, and
since then the Republican party, in its
great good ness of heart, has stretched
this, its favorite cloak protection-so
as to cover the dear farmer and the
dear working man everywhere and in
every vocation, it informs us. To be
sure the farmer does not seem to nave
| gotten rich out of it. but, OF
course that is not the fault of
the Republican party; 1t iS-well,
it is probably due to his extrayagant
tastes and habits The infant indus
tries grew long ago to magnificent pro-
pOrtious, but as there are something
| like eight million farmers in the United
States and only little over thirteen
thousand manufacturers OF articles
F which without protection might be i'm
ported, way should not each farmer con-
| tribute his little share to make these
few industries something more than
ligitimately profitable? 1t may keep
| the farmer poor. but ordinarily he is
patriotic man and what cares he for his
| poverty so long as he is able to say that
his country has few citizens whose
| fortunes eclipse those of the crowned
heads of Europe? Thousands of little
feet many 90 bare, thousands ..Of little
apostles be improperly or partially
| Satisfied, thousands of little persons be
but partly clad. thousands of bright
llittle minds left stunted and unde-
Veloped, thousands of young souls
may go to the very devil, but
let them. Who cares, so long as
we are able to create and maintain
a very small and very select class,
whose children can Surfeit in luxury,
and when they have attained the ages
| of majority a few surplus millions can
| be snapped off for tainted titles for
| them? Of course the tariff and the farm
ers have nothing to do with all this. ex-
cept that each OF the 100000 farmers
must contribute his little, a mere baga-
| telle of course, in the shape of protect
| i've duties, to make up these surplus
millions. The greedy farmer must not
| expect to eat his cake and keep it too.
| HIS cake in this instance is the ines
| Unable privilege Of being allowed to
| help create these beautiful piles OF gilt
tering wealth, and, though it may seem
| little dOughy that he can only stand
afar and gaze upon them, ne has notyet
! reached the point where he is willing to
| emphaticaily say so. Then there are so
many other blessings accruing.to FARM
| ers from this glorious protection system
| that the Republican party wishes to
| maintain. 1t cuitivateS among the farm
/ ers the truly ariStocratlc incllnat ton to
/ pay more for thi,1gs than they are actua-
I ly worth. Nothing is so indicative of
| familiarity with the spending of money
as the careless throwing down OF i've
| dollar note for an article which neeG
| cost but dollar, while the nose is held
! at the high and haug hty angle denotlng
! the most supreme Indifference. U nder
| ordinary conditions, such as natural
| laws might give us if let alone, the
| farmer would not enjoy this great priv
| ilege, but would doubtless become vul-
gar and mercenary, and only pay for
| things just what they were worth.
| Think of it! All our 100000 farmers
| SOdegraded and commended. Of course,
individually they do not purchase as
many luxuries OF comforts, or even nee
essaries of life, as do the few people
whom they have helped to make rich;
| but then, under this blessed protective
system, they enjoy the privilege right
in common with the most exclusive cIr-
Gle, of paying more for what they 40
| purchase than it is worth. How nice!
There are slight discrepancies in
the tar if schedule. of course, but 1t all
mitigates in the favor of the farmers.
some way. For instance, diamonds,
which, as we all know, are the popular
! gems with the farmers, are admitted
| practically free, and he Is thereby de-
| prived of the privilege of paying eX-
Orbitant prices for them. There are
many little costly foreign delicacies
/ and high-grade spirituous beverages,
| all popular with the farmers, which are
/ also admitted practically free, and
| again the farmer is denied the 0ppor-
tunity of paying for an article two OF
three times it's actual worth; but it
| would be inconsistent to expect that the
entire tariff schedule would be abso-
Iutely f1awIess. The Republican party
rhas only had some twenty-five or thirty
tsyears to tink er it up. and the Republic
i an party in congress belongs to that
Ffine-haired element which does not
work itself to death, even for the farm
er. whom it so dearly loves. In the
Il matter of plowS and harness and threSh-
sing machines and hay knives and
Espades and hoes and sewing machines
and such things as the farmer and
his family use occasionally when
| they work, together with the actual ne
cessities of life, the blessed opportunity
J; for displaying his intimacy with and IN
/ difference to the spending of money, is
returned to him. The pillow manufact-
ured in the United States, for which
mercenary Canadian only pays ss.75, he
can pay $3.50 for. Then there is his
wife's sewing machine; after being made
| complete in the United States and trans
ported to Canada a, the vulgar Canadian
woman only pays some $40 for it. while x,11 ne
| Mrs. Yankee Farmer can cheerfuiiy
] pay $50 for the same thing. About the
same proportion of difference is main
| tanned in the matter of the harnesses
and the hay knives, and the hoes and
the boots and shoes, and clothing, and
all those various things which the
farmer is more or less given to spending
money upon Then, 100, the Repub-
lean party by this magnificent tariff
| f,- In,