Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1890-06-13
MATERIAL PROGRESS.
Not Due to Protection. A Republi-
cans Reply to Blaine.

Not Due to Protection. A Republi-
cans Reply to Blaine.
Hugh McCulloch in the n. Y. Times,
A high tariff has been in force since
1862, and according to Mr.. Blaine the
country, and the whole country, under
its bencticient influence ought to be
highly prosperous. The circulating
medium is abundant. Interest is lower
than ever before known. Good rail-
road and municipal 4 per cent. bonds
command a premium; those OF the
United States are in demand at 124,
and yet what is the condition of that
great interest which underlies all
other interests-the agricultural in
terest? What are good farming lands
worth in Mr.. Blaine's own State. in
Vermont, in New Hampshire, in all
the Eastern States? How do prices of
farming lands in the Middle States
compare with the selling prices in
such lands when the tariff was light
in comparison with what it is at the
present time? If the condition of the
farming interest in these States is the
result of the increase of cultivated
acres in the new States and the
lessened rates in transportation, how
happens it that in all these great
grain-producing States the farmers
who are as well off at the close of the
year as they were at the beginning
are the exceptions?
If protection is the beneficicnt
policy that it is represented to be by Mr..
Blaine, how happens it that even
manufacturers are not happy? How
happens it that combinations are
formed by them to curtail production
and maintain high prices? Are the
consumers of manufactured goods
benefited by legislation that prevents
foreign competition and enables the
favored few to regulate prices for their
own advantage? Is country really
prosperous when cities, which are the
CONSUMERS OF WEALTH,
are rapidly growing, and farming lands
are decreasing in value; when rents
in cities are enormously high and ex-
cellent farms are not attractive to
tenants at rentals not equal to 6 per
cent. interest ON half their appraised
value?
l asked the keeper of little shop,
about fifteen feet wide and thirty feet
deep, on Pennsylvania avenue, in
Washington, what rent he was paying.
Three hundred dollars month";" he
replied; $4,000 year." Now,
venture to say that there is not farm
in Maryland or Virginia, no matter
what may be its size and the cost OF
its improvements, that rents for half
that sum. Nothing is clearer than
that the wealth-producing power of
the country is not in a healthy condi-
ton.
In all this unfortunately differ, not
only with Mr.. Blaine but Mr.. Depew,
who is reported as saying in a recent
interview that the condition of the
country is superb" that so enormous
were the last years crops that the
great east and west railroad lines have
more wheat and corn and beef to be
taken to the sea-board than they can
carry. This may be true. Well
managed roads are doing we'll, so well
that one of the greatest lines can
spare its president from his post of
official duty to enlighten the people
by his eloquent speeches upon the
beauties of protection and other SUBJ
jects, and at the same time declare
liberal dividends. But how is it with
the farmers, by whose productive labor
the railroads are supported? Are they
satisfied with the present and hopeful
for the future? If Mr.. Depew will ex-
tend his tours to Minnesota, Iowa,
Kansas and Nebraska he will discover
that, although they are the most fer
tile States in the Union, the condi-
tion OF their people is far from being
" superb" He will discover also in
travelling over the country, if he keeps
his eyes open, that it is the middle
men, the men who handle the agri-
cultural productions, and the rail-
roads that are making the money,
while the producers are unable to
make
"BOTH ENDS MEET"
No pnattor hn,v .nI,,tr:o,,c o-I