Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-05-15

hides now? Where is that promised
tax? After bobbing up and down on the
| hide questions; after playing a game of
now you see it and now you don't
laughter hides finally fall in the
place where the Republican party all
the while intended they should be, on
the free list.
The Republicans had promised the
farmer protection on this agricultural
product, which might amount to some
thing, but OF course the promise was
broken. They had plenty of protection
Tor wool, and plenty for tin plate, but
none for hides Instead they come in
here and try to make the farmer believe
he is admirably taken care of. They
increase the duty on wool for what?
Why, in order to give more protection
TO the shoddy business of this country
business which employs one hundred
millions of capital a business that is
| running the wool interest.
But the farmer must not complain,
for is he not getting protective tariff
of one dollar a pound on raw silk? Is
that not enough to satisfy him? l am
surprised that while the committee was
at the work of protecting the poor
farmer it did.not give him a protective
duty on tea in order to develop the sas-
safras industry of this country. Laugh
ter and applause. Instead of protect
ing tea in order to build up what might
be a promising business in sassafras
the committee puts a big tax on horses,
so that the farmer who wants to i'm
prove his breeds will be able to do so at
greater expense. Some of our South
western farmers find it to their advan-
tage to import from Mexico horses
worth 81 apiece, and here comes this
committee with a tax of $50 head on
all such animals [laughterl; and the
same committee has discovered that
wheat needs protection.
The wheat market of this country
must be preserved for the American
farmer. His rivals must be kept out by
the God-given tariff. How much wheat
did we export last year? Ninety-one
million bushels, and before the policy
of restricting importation and eXporta-
ton had been carried to an extreme we
exported nearly twice as much. How
did we import: to what extent did the
much-fcared foreign rivals take our
precious home market away from us?
We imported just 1,945 bushels.
Laughter. The wheat which we ex-
ported was worth 80 cents a bushel,
while that which we imported was
worth s.. o. a bushel. Seven hundred
bushels of it was worth So bushel in
Germany. OF course, the meaning of
this is that it was seed wheat of an i'm
proved variety with which our farmers
were endeavOring to improve their
crops, and yet the ways and means ma
jority says the farmer shall pay an in
crease of 100 per cent. on the seed wheat
which he imports for that purpose.
You are trying to fool the farmers,
but you will not succeed. And then the
farmer must be saved from ruinouS COM
petition in corn. Last year we exported
| 80, OOO 600 bushels of corn and imported
the enormous quantity of 2,91o bushels.
laughter One farmer in Texas could
raise it all on 500 acres of land. And
the American market for rye must also
! be preserved for the American farmer.
How much rye did we import last year?
just sixteen bushels. Laughter and
| applause. But there is one item of de-
liverance for which l thank the MAORI
ty of this committee, one blessing for
which we all rise up and give thanks.
At last we are to have agricultural pros
perity in this country, for the farmer can
stand in the midst of his Kansas cabbage
| patch and defy the world. The Repub-
lican party has given him protection of
cents head on cabbage. Laughter
But let us get down to the real ques-
ton. for you can't fool the farmer any
| longer | have been asked why it is
| that our farm products do not go abroad
as readily as they did some years ago,
| and will tell you. The cause is to be
| found in the tariff law of 1888. Then
| you put up the duties on foreign prod
ucts, and the foreigner is simply retail
| iating. Three times since 1883 Ger
many has enacted laws against AnSerl-
can meat products They claim your
meats are impure and dangerous, but
| that is simply the language of dlplo-
macy. What they really mean is that
| if you do not want to trade with them
! they do not want to trade with you.
Take down your Chinese wall and they
Will be glad enough to buy of you.
Why are our prices for farm products
| so low at the present time? Simply be-
cause there is not enough foreign de-
mand to take away the surplus. Inc
surplus must seek market at home,
and that forces the price down, and the
low price at home governs the price the
world over. The farm mortgage follows
| as logical sequence. Let US see WhaU
we have lost by restricting importatlons
AID expectations along with them. Ii
our farm product of 1889 could have
| been sold at the same prices which the
produ of 1850 brought, our farmers
would have received the enormous sum
of 81, $40, 900, 900 more for their crop last
year than they did receive. That IS the
loss we have sustained by checking ex-
portation by cutting off importation and
| driving trade from our doors.
| Our friend, the chairman of the COM
mittee, has asked why the foreign mar
1et is better than the home market
| There is no one fool enough to say that
| it is better. But the Democratic an
swer to that question is that the foreign
market and the home market together
are better than the home market alone.
Applause We have had thirty years
| of your policy of restricting Importation
and expectation. We see the result In
castles everywhere except where the
common people 1--we. We see the most
remarks BILE concentra ton Of wealth the
world has ever known, and in nine cases
out of ten the wealth is concentrated IN
| the hands of those who have been pro-
tected into opulence. Applause.I
The surplus is constantly increasing,
and the question is what Congress is go
ing to do about it. The Democratic
md OF