The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-10-28
PLAIN TALKS FOR PLAIN PEG
PLE--THE TARIFF.
From a Reformer's Standpoint.
OLD FOGY.
No. 3.

the producer. Another factor is lack
of currency. l have seen scores OF
cattle lin the South) sell in spring
time for less than half what they
would have brought in November,
when the price ought to have been
greater, as the stock had been kept
all through the winter. The OF
low prices was because there was but
little currency in the country.
So that however great the demand,
however great the supply, there must
be a supply Of the purchasing medium.
Just in proportion to the legal cur
rency in active use, all other things
being equal, so will prices be.
Major McClsmmy said we'll when
he stated, "that there was an abun-
dant supply of grain, 81 much so that
we shipped millions of bushels abroad.
The demand was very great, but in
the old North State there were thou
sands of people that had not tasted a
biscuit for a month" No matter
how great the supply or how urgent
the demand, if we have not the legal
currency or credit, we must go unfed.
The insum ;iency of currency is
demonstrated by the fact that money
in the money center of the New World
has loaned at the rate of 1876 per cent.
a year. So that the farmers in st
Louis, at the great National Alliance
meeting embodied all these causes in
their demands and demanded that
they be adjusted. What a comment
ary on u statesmen that the farmers
had to discover the cause. And all
the political hacks have done is to
say that the particular bill, or bills, IS
not constitutional.
have recently visited a portion of
Pennsylvania, where the farmers are
al in favor of a protective tariff.
Seventy five per cent. of the blast fur
naces of Pennsylvania would shut
down if iron ore was admitted free
of duty, and with the furnaces out of
blast, the rolling mills would have to
close. Farmers there have a good
market for minor crops; they also
have a royalty on iron ores, and the
increase of wealth increases the value
of their lands, but in other parts of
the State this condition does not OBJ
tain.
Since 1876 l have written for the
Northern press, and in lectures in the
North and in conversations with bust
ness men have advanced their idea
time and time again, that in Virginia,
Pennsylvania, Georgia and Alabama
iron could be made successfully if
every dollar of duty was removed.
This would transfer to the South IS
per cent. of the ore smelling
of the United States. While it
would almost ruin the people of
Pennsylvania it would build up the
South. Yet capitalists are not slow
to learn the differences of per cent
hence tho South is developing more
rapidly now than aver before. Home
markets are growing and will until, as
In the New England States, the sup
ply is greater than the demand.
There is another and broader view
TO take of the tariff question. 1t can
best be understood by compariso
with other principles which are &C
copied.
lst. 1t seems wrong in principle to
tax the grower of wheat for the ben
eft of the manufacturer. If he alone
received benefits it would be.
I'd. 1t seems wrong, equally wrong
with the protective idea to tax a citi
zen who has educated his children to
aid in educating the children of an
other.
Sd. 1t seems wrong to tax the
honest, peaceable citizen to defray the
expenses increased in rows, murders,
etc.
Yet we say that we must educate
u citizens; we must give our citizens
capital that cannot be taken from
shem. We hold that ~peaceable citi
zens must defray the expenses of our
courts to protect themselves in the
future.
Again. The government must have
. revenue. While we are not in favor
of raising a revenue by a tariff tax.
yet a majority of our people are, and
in a democratic government majoritieE
ought to rule.
Protection to American industries
has induced thousands of our citizens
so build factories, and competition be
tween producers of products in fac
tories, as in field products, 10 wers
prices. Were it not for trusts, com
potion in manufacturing would make
prices low.
Take the factories of the North as
an example. The ground is purchased,
thousands of dollars is paid for brick
and stone indirect employment,
thousands of feet of lumber are used,
The pineries of the South are drawn
on, our citizens are employed in cut
ting hauling and saving the lumber.
others in transporting it. Our rail
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