Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-02-27
LETTERS TO FARMERS,
4 Few Facts About the Taxes on
H0nse-Bmlding

now anticipated the regular order of
my design. / have shown our good
natured American farmers how they
are oppressed by the sugar duty and
| swlndied on the salt tax. These two
articles are. Of course, used i'll the
house. I ought To have begun the ex-
pose of the great tariff robbery on the
materials the farm house, barns and
stables are built of. | will make good
this omission to-day. OF course we
ell know that timber ard lumber Is
! the material from which farm hahita-
| tons, barns and sta hles are built.
! Well, then, the tax 90 every 600 feet
| of lumber not planed or finished is g.
or this class of lumber we imported in
! 1856 $. .243, 736 worth, and the Treasu-
ry received S667 ,040 duty on it. That
this lumber is enhanced 81 per 1000
feet to the consumer, whether import
| ed or produced in Maine or Michigan,
| is as clear aS the sun at MONDAY.
| Now, our farmer friend in Kansas or
Iowa or Nebraska, having lived in a
| Shanty for seven years, raising wheat
or corn, and receiving for his product
| las have clearly proved over and over
| aaain) the price prevailing in London
| and Paris, who, therefore, is not be
| holden in any way or manner to an
enhancement of prices by the mock
| duty that tariff triclsters have put
| on foreign wheat and corn, has saved
enough money. laid by during, say,
seven years, stinting himself in all
sorts Of manner, to bald what he con-
sideTs a.nice house fer his wife and the
children. OF course, in doing so, the
ch ief material is lumb ber; but in steps
the tariff and says pay toll of 81 on
every 900 feet of lumber you use on
the premises. a reasonable, intelli-
gent y merican citizen should first of
all know that he does pay tax of 81
on 900 feet Of lumber, and ! honestly
believe there are not 10 per cent. OF TIE
30OOO.O0O Interested in farming, com
prising men, women and children, who |
know the fact and understand il.
Suppose, now, the Intelligent farmer |
who does understand this TACT were to |
ask the following question: Why |
should | pay 81 a thOuss nd feet on |
lumber when the Treasury is over
flo wing with an annual surplus Of /
Sl00, goo, 600? The answer be would |
get would be as follows: You see, |
friend farmer, there are the State of
Maine aud the State Of Michigan, where |
we grow our own native aristocratic |
timber; and that our timber is aristo- |
y
dimiuutive and puny size and ealibre. |
just the same as the true aristocratic !
descendants Of e long line of blue |
hlooded ancestors Of France and Spain |
are hioWn by their puny and diminu |
tive statuTes. Well, then, we must |
first Of all protect our arlstocratic
tim Der and lumher. because it cannot
compete with the pauper lumber ofI
Canada, which has not drop of ars- |
tocratir blue blood in it.
Then again, my friend, if You don't |
pay 81 tax on q thousand feet of lum- |
her. Maine, Michigan, and other tim
her producing States will be deprived |
Of at least $4,000, 900 or perhaps $50 |
000,0O0 of bonus annually. And lastly, |
brother farmer of Kansas and Nebras- |
ka, + you DON'T pay a tax on timber
we in Michigan and Maine will not
eat any Of your wheat, and then you
will he a pauper farmer.
OF course the aristocratic h0m e-tim- |
Der Dodge against the pauper-Iabor
timber of Canada is pleasantly not
worth noticing. The plea for not be-
ing deprived OF S25 900 600 bonus is in |
telligent on account of seIf-interest in
hereut in mankind. But the plea that
the farm RS wheat Is benefited by the
consumers of the timber regions is sim
ply a big lie. And here I'll prove it |
The great bulk of the lumber produced
in the United states was as follows, ,ac-
cOrding to the census of 1850:
Michigan. $52 ,449 ,92S Ohio..... $13 SG4 ,4GO
Peuna..... 2.451.;;} Maine.... 7,923, sos
Indiana.... Il, $50 Iowa,...... 61S5,G2S |
New York. I4,356,910 Missour... I,265,G17
Wisconsin. l. ,952, ,341 tllnois..... 5,0G3,031
These are the States chiefly interest |
ed. Now. there are only three States |
in the above list that do not export |
both wheat and corn, and they are |
Maine, New York aud Pennsylvania,
In 1850 the State of New York |
raised 1l,587.76G bushels of wheat. |
and needed about 12,000,000 bush |
els in addition from all other |
States. Besides this, New York pro- |
duces over S14, 900 900 Of lumber annu-
ually. Pennsylvania raised 1912, ,405 |
bushels Of wheat, and did not need any |
wheat raised outside her own State. |
The State of Maine consumes about g.
500 600 bushels of wheat and raised
$50, ,714 bushels. That is, this State |
buys about 100000 bushels Of wheat
outside her own state.
Altogether. say, New York and
Maine need 15 600 600 bushels of wheat
over and above what is raised in these
States. Yet it IS impudentIy aud ma
IiriousIy asserted that these $4,000, 900
bushels of wheat consumption will af
feet the total wheat prod uCtion of the
country, when we raise about 500 OO0,-
600 bushels and export more than 000,-
600 busheIsOf wheat, including wheat
-four And let it be fully understood this
argument Of consumption OF cereals is
made by the organized army of pr
lection in everything that the farmer
uses, from wood-screws TO horseshoe
nails. But let us come back to the
farmar's house, Having paid tax of
s. a thousand feet on lumber. he pays
a tax Of 80 per cent. Oh the Screws he
he uses, 40 per cent. on the nails, and,
of course, pays a tax on the iron hinges
and doOr-locks.
Now, We certainly must put couple
Of coats of paint on the house. The
tax or duty on white lead is 3 cents a
pound. Although, I am bound to
state, at the present moment there is
a nice little cut throat competition GO
ing on between the Far West and the
East in the production and prices oil
white lead, which for the time beng
has reduced the price. But the duty
is cents pound, and in 1886 we even
at that duty imported 755, ,l03 pounds
of white lead. Shonld the farmer de-
sire to put slate roof OF his house he
has to pay 25 per cent. duty on the
states.
Having so far raised the house and
painted it, shallIu my next commuDi-
cation pat windows in the farmers
p,