The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1890-03-19
Not to be Hoodwinked.

Delaware County American.
The present depressed condition offarming
in the Eastern States is the occasion for much
wild discussion but the widest comes from
the Free Trade organs. These journals fire.
ouentlv inject into their news dispatches,
and always into their editorial comments.
the belief that the depression is due to the
Protective policy This is but a continuance
of the plan of the last Presidential campaign,
when special appeals of this kind were made
TO the farmers. The result was a larger far
mer vote than ever before for the PRINCIPE
of Protection. This ought TO have been
sufficient notice that the farmers were not
TO be hoodwinked and led upon false scents
in the efforts to correct existing inequalities.
England is Free Trade. and there the farm
1 ing community are lower in the scale Of IN
telligence and prosperty-than any other
The once independent yeomsn Of Great
Britain. whether now of England, Scotland
or Wales, is little better than a serf The
lands are high in produce, the products low.
and while manufactured articles are not
high, there is little money earned in farm
ing with which to buy them with.
Portugal is another Free Trade country,
made so by the persuasion of England. II
was once the Queen Of the Seas, aud noted
for its advancement and wealth. Now il is
so far behind the age that The farmers still
! use crooked sticks for pIows and such things
- L. L.- ss,-;,,r ae,rict,ltt,ral ir,Dlap1anfs a 70
( unknown. The prices Of all farm products
are miserably low, and yet even these have
TO compete with imported Goldfish, the staple
4 food of the country because of its cheapness.
! A poorer population cannot be found in all
T Of the civilized world, and this fact is due
to the surrender of the policy of Portugal to
I that Of England. France is almost contigu-
Gus and yet under Protective laws the
T French farmers are the most prosperous in
Europe They had so well saved from ample
earnings that upon the first call for q sub
scription to meet the great German indemni-
ly. they showed their ability to meet the
entire amount
Now take a country which acts upon the
I policy Of "a tariff fo- revenue only" Such
/ 4 country is Mexico, and of 1900 600 of
people there are not 5000 farmers Indeed,
there are bot a few owners oflarge hacienSss,
7 whose lands are free from taxation, and
whose laborers are generally poems. or slaves.
The wages are but Is cents a day. equivalent
TO l. in our money, while the women get
nothing.
In England food is not cheaper than prior
( to the repeal Of lis Protective laws in 1876,
il We except the grains, while income and
wages are smaller, and the ability TO buy
greatly less. In Germany the ne Wy found
ed system of Protection is increasing the
prosperity Of farmers and workmen. II
may be laid down as a maxim that prosper.
Gus workmen make prosperous farmers.
There may be exceptions. and the present
period Of transition in the Eastern States is
one of them, but when the home markets
are established in the West. a healthy eqnili
brium will be restored, and American pros
perity will one more be general. Take away
its Protective laws and the grains of the
Indies and Of Russia would compete with
those OF our own farmers in our own mark
els