Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1890-05-09
sECRETARY RUsK,s ADDRESS.

SECRETARY RUSK'S Address,.
Secretary Rusk, of the Department of Ag-
riculture, starts out in his recent address to |
the farmers with confessed ability to prove |
the blessings of high tariff upon farmers by |
nearly lrebling the actual imports of farm |
products which could be produced here |
under ugh tariff taxes. OF the over $780, |
600 900 of agricultural imports which should
be produced at home, nearly $100OO0,00 |
are for sugar and molasses.
The brief answer to this is In the fact that
the people have paid high protective taxes
TO the sugar industry for many years--more
than 81 per head for every man, woman and
child in the country, and yet we import our
sugar. We tried taxing hides for the bene-
fit OF the farmer, with the emily result Of in
creasing the farmers taxes greatly for shoes,
harness, betting, &c. We tax hemp $25
per ton and have done 80 for many years,
and the farmers Of the entire country don't
produce hemp enough to run one mill In
any large city eight months OF the year.
We tax hops and must sell one-third OF
our crops abroad and import more, but
quality that we cannot grow. Wetax but
ter and expert much more than we import.
We tax wheat and must sell our surplus
abroad. We tax corn and call it protection
to the farmer, when the western farmer
burns his corn for fuel. We tax wool, that
is not grown on the farms, but on our nom
farming lands, and thus tax the farmer from
10 to 100 per cent. on all the woolens he
wears.
Next we tax the farmer on his lumber,
paint, his stone, his brick, his forks, his
rakes, his mowers, his thrcshers, his wagons,
his wheelbarrows, his table, his tinware, his
knives and forks, his salt, his spoons, his
churns, his Bible, his window panes, his
pocket knife, his tumblers, his lookinglass,
his blankets, sheets and pillows-in short,
we tax everything he must buy from 20 to
1876 per cent, and largely by needless tariff
taxes.
1t would be well If Secretary Rusk's pub
8 proclamation be made the careful study
ol farmers, and then let them look around
their homes, in their barns and about their
farms, and figure outsfor themselves how
much they are helped and how much him
dered by maintaining high war tariff taxes
in time of peace. Let them read, consider
and decide for themselves.
IL would be very difficult to say what
part Of Secretary Rusk's lecture upon agri'
cultural depression is the most shameless
and absurd But at the risk of making q
mistake we would designate the following ;
81 would say to the farmer, stand firm as
the everlasting hills In demanding what is
right and resisting any possible infringe
ment on your rights as citizens by other
class or combination Of people, but beware
1syour just eagerness to secure your own
rights you seek to infringe upon the rights
OF Others No measure that conflicts with
the rights of any one class of citizens but
what is sure to follow the course Of the
boomerang and return to injure the hand
that shaped. it,"
1t will be observed that the doctrine in
volved in this lecture to the impoverished
farmer, in addition to being shameless and
absurd, is also brand new The theory of
protection has always been that 1t was
tnees4re Of public safety. 1t has been de-
aed on the single ground that it fosters
and develops infant industries, and in that
way promotes the Independence and COM
mercial welfare of the people. The wealth
which it confers on the protected manufac-
turer has always been treated as merely
incidental to the good done to the nation.
The charge brought by Democrats that the
protective tariff is designed primarily to
enrich a few monopolists has invariably
been denounced by Republicans as Sian.
der, but now comes Secretary Risk and sets
up the claim that the protective tariff is
natural and alienable right Of the nabObs to
whose good it nures-the manulactur ers
must be protected.