Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1890-05-08
THE HONE MARKET"
Tne Fallacy Of the Protection Hobby is
Becoming More and More Apparent.

becoming more ana more Apparent.
'Protection continued says the
1rib,He, Twill build up manufacturing
industries in the agricultural west and
give the farmers near by home mar
kets that will pay more than ten cents
a bushel for Kansas corn" This is
one of those statements properly class
ed as important if true" Let us see
how much truth there is in it before
stamping it as important. The protec-
tion from which such happy results
are predicted was inaugurated nearly
thirty years ago. 1t has been ''contin-
ued" ever since. The results ought to
show pretty clearly what is to be ex-
pected from further continuance. If
they do not, it is not easy to imagine
how that can be shown.
The promised results originally, as
now, was the establishment of home
market which should take the farmers
products at handsome profit to him.
He was to pay more, it is admitted, for
his plows, his harrows, his lumber, his
window glass, his tinware, his clothing
and everything else that he could not
raise. But the stimulus he would give
in paying these enhanced prices to the
ly the number of employees in the
manufacturing industries of the coun-
try; and this vast army was to buy the
farmers produce at prices high enough
to make up to him for the enhanced
cost of his living. The dollar of tax he
was to pay to the manufacturers of all
the articles named were to be lavishly
expended by them and their workmen
ing the farmer the necessity of ship
ping his product abroad. In short,
he was to have that great desideratum,
a home market.
For nearly thirty years the expert
ment has been going on and where is
the ''hOme market?" The intelligent
farmer has long been diligently seek
ing for it but in vain. When he in
quires into the matter he finds that he
is compelled to send about 500 million
dollars worth of his products abroad to
find a market in competition with pau
per labor, and that the price at home
is regulated almost entirely by the
price received abroad. He finds,
moreover, that the same policy which
makes him pay an enhanced price for
what he uses and does not raise cuts
the manufacturer off from the markets
of the world and thereby makes him a
poorer instead of better customer for
farm products.
The time is not propitious for talk
ing to the farmer of the beauties of
home market. The wiser of the pro-
tectiOnist organs, to do them justice,
realize this fact, and fight exceedingly
shy of the subject. They have sense
enough to see that farmer who is SELL
ing small part of his corn crop for
twenty-five cents a bushel and burning
the rest because he can find no market
for it; who is shipping his wheat a
thousand miles to find a home market
and taking seventy-five cents for it;
and who can scarcely give away his
potatoes, is not in a mood to appreci
ate the excellencies of home market.
When thirty years of protection give
such results, CONTINUED protection" is
mighty poor phrase to conjure with.
A letter recently published from a
citizen of Iowa shows up the humbug
policy of the ''home market" notion in
a clear light. The letter says:
1 want to give you one instance of
what tue home market of the present
time means for Iowa farmers. II. C.
Wheeler of Odebolt, Sac county, is
probably the largest farmer in the state.
He was canldate for the republican
nomination for governor at the con-
vention and was narrowly defeated.
He planted last spring 100 bushels of
potatoes and raised good crop. Last
fall he sent thirteen Car loads to Phila-
delphia, the classic city of home mark
cts. When he got returns from his
commission merchant he found he
had been brought 500 in debt, that is,
the commission merchant paid the
freight charges and the price received
for the potatoes lacked Sl00 of paying
these and the brokerage. Mr.. Wheeler
din not dig the rest cf his potatoes,
but sent word to his town neighbors
that whoever wanted potatoes might go
out to his place and get them. This
experience is really not exceptional
this year. 1t has become almost inn
possible to give away potatoes. y
Detroit Free Press
What makes 'em Hot?
The report of the Kansas state board