The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1890-08-08


0s Ignores All the vses Thas Tsp :
support Me Cestsntson.
Says Mf. Blaine 70 Mr. Frye; ''Cone
{ impiore you, 70 tho support Of y.
reciprocity project" or words 20 tina
effect lie intimates that II was mis-
take 20 admit coffee free from Braxi
without first exactinR the free admis
sion Of certain American products int.
Brazil, and adds: ITO repeat this error
with sugar 10 an amount three time,
- large as with coilce) will close I'll
opportunity 70 establish reciprocity oil
trade with Latin America" And again
referring to his proposal to retain the
sugar duties for the purpose Of trading
them of for commercial favors from the
Latin-Americans, he says: "Iiere Is an
opportunity for Republican Congress
10 open the markets Of forty millions OF
people 70 the products Of American
farmers Snail we seize the opportunity
or shall we throw II away''
Mr.. Blaine directs special attention
20 our TRADE with the Spanish possess
sions Of Cuba and Porto Rico. from
which we get nearly or quite one-half
Of the sugar we consume. lie condemns
the policy OF admitting sugar from them
free without insisting that our agricult-
ural products shall be admitted to them
free. lilo would have Mr.. Frye and
others believe that the American farm
or would be INCIDENTALLY. richly bene-
flied" BY dicker for the free admis-
sion Of our agricultural products into
Cuba and Porto Rico in return for the
free admission OF sugar from those
islands into the United States.
II we look into the matter little we
will discover that Mr.. Blaine. as usual,
ignores all the facts that fail to support
his contention. The principal Ameri-
can agricultural product imported into
those islands Is wheat -four, and the
most Of ii goes TO Cuba In 1857. the
last year for which we have returns, the
value of -four imported into Cuba was
e., ssl, 49,. OF which 81, l45. 355 was from
Spain and sl..30. 100 was from this coun-
try. Porto Rico buys enough -four, per-
haps, 70 bring up the total importation
into the two islands TO So. 600. 900. To
be liberal, call it $1,000. 000 We import
from them about S44. 100000 worth Of
sugar. Mr.. Blaine does not state these
facts to Mr.. Frye. That gentleman
might not think market for S., 600. 900
worth Of -four 50 valuable prize to be
secured for the American farmer in ex-
change for an American market for s4f.-
600. 900 worth Of sugar. About the only
other American agricultural product
bought by the islanders to any consider
able extent Is lard. Of which they take
about So. 00o, 900 worth. But since near
~ all Of it now comes from the United |
States it would not benefit our farmers |
much to dicker for the free admission |
Of lard into Cuba and Porto Rico.
An examination OF the trade statis- |
tics Of other Latin-American countries |
does not strengthen Or. Blaine's case.
His talk about opening the markets Of |
90, 600, 600 Of people to t..s products Of |
farmers sounds very fine and |
large. but II Is mostly wind. The Lat
countries are themselves
agricultural, and their imports are
therefore mostly manufactures There
Is no great demand there for our agri-
cultural products. and It is not likely
there ever will be. Mr.. blaine ought
70 know this perfectly well. And yet
be deliberately proposes to ''bcneft"
American farmers ~ offending and
driving on their best customers, and Of
'ering them BY way Of compensation .
mere chance Of increasing their sales to
he Latin-Americans- Great Britain
Ilone buys ten times IS much OF the
produce Of our farms as all the Latin
americans do. or ever will. And yet
Nr. Blaine favors policy which is ad-
calculated to drive away this
'est customer. and give US only : bare
nance Of getting vastly poorer Gus
Omer. Il,
1t is not the American farmer that
ir. Blaine Is trying to benefit. but the
american ship subsidy and bounty beg
ar and the tariff-pampercd American
manufacturer. His only care for the
armer is for the farmer a. : voting ma
hine. He sees the farmer victims Of
is policy slipping away, and he seeks
0 hold them by Offering them the Chi
lera Of a Latin American market Chi
ago Times.