Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-04-01

remained much the same, the rate 6
b increase in the vaIue Of farms wa
enormously reduced, being less thai
one-third what it was from 1850 t.
1870.
Now if the late Of increase in thu
value Of farms is governed 10y thu
tariff, while the tariff remains sub
; stantially the same, that rate Of in
crease will not materially 1uctuate
: In other words, the same cause vii
continue TO produce the same effect
But We see in one decade of higt
tariff an increase in farm values
three times as great as that which
occurs during the next decade of q
similar tariff. This proves to q
demonstration that the tariff doe:
not govern the rate Of increase In
farm values.
Take the three decades from 1850
TO lsS0 and we shall find many ele-
meuts which affected the aggregate
value Of American farms. The pros
periIy Of the first decade invited a
heavy foreign immigrations and i'm
pelled native inhabitants to spread
over new territory, and thus the
area of American farms was
enormously augmented; and the
greater the AREA the greater
the value. y person unskilled in
the intricacies Of the tariff can ae-
count for the increase in the value
Of American farms far more easily
byconsidering the increase in their
total area, than by figuring on ex-
ports and imports. 1t was between
1850 and 1860 that great portion Of
several States was transformed from
a wilderness to cultivated fields.
Kansas, Iowa, Oregon, Nebraska and
portions Of the South, are suggested
in this connection.
From 1860 to 1870 the rate of in
crease in the value Of farms was cur
tailed 10y the suspension Of foreign
immigration during the war, by the
ruin and. devastation consequent
upon the war, and by the fact that
many farms fell into disuse because
the former tillers Of them were dead
or crippled. Many reasoners can far
more easily connect such
causes as these with the result
named, than they can the problems
OF the tariff. But we find these
causes Of depression largely over
come from 1850 to 1870 by certain
other causes which tended to in
flation. Farm produce was high
and "war prices" prevailed in re-
spect to almost all commodities.
Obvious causes other than, or at
least in addition to, the tariff, COM
bined to produce "war prices"
Between 1870 and 1850 occurred
the most severe and protracted
period Of "'hard timesn and bust
ness depression, including contrac-
ton of values, the country has ever
known. This was the decade in
which the increase in farm values
was so small. Free traders attribute
the panic of 1873 to the tariff, but
silver men with quite as cogent
reasoning, urge that the demoneti-
cation Of silver did the mischief.
still other financial philosophers as
sert that the mad spirit Of specula-
ton which prevailed in the United
States while the war between France
and Germany was in progress, and
which had to eliminate in disaster,
caused the great panic.
Did the gentlemen, to whose let
ter We are referring, ever check
trial balance from set of mercan-
tile books? If so they found the
footings unequal to start with.
They found an error which, they
fondly hoped, would make the foot
ings even, but alas, it was toe small,
or perhaps il threw the balance the
other way. The same experience,
oft repeated, finally resulted in an
exact balance. There are many
elements entering into this tariff
question. One should be placed on
the debit and another on the credit |
side Of the account.
That the tariff is an element af-
fecting values in this country, We
freely admit; so are the following: |
The financial legislation OF Con-
gress; the prevalence or non-preva-
lence OF speculation; foreign immi-
grafton; the condition Of Europe in
respect to crops and the prospects Of
peace: the combinations Of capital;
labor troubles, and many other
things. For example, there has oc-
Cured, in the west, and especially
on the Pacific Coast, within the
last three years, an enormous in
crease in real estate values. Had
the tariff anything TO do with il?
Nothing at all, unless as remote
element of much nearer and more
powerful causes.
Referring again to the gentle
mems figures: The proposition that
the labor which produces S2l2 worth
Jfsugar is plid but 81, We pronounc-
ID preposterous, yet the gentlemen
urge it again, though this time in a
somewhat different light. 1t now
appears that the employees in the re-
Iiisry get 81 in wages for each 1912
worth of sugar turned out; but
he cost Of the crude sugar is
not given; hence We are left in the
lark as to the amount paid in wages
o plantation employees, for trans
IOrtation, etc, elements vital to the
question, without which the figures
,iven are worthless. Unless the cost
# the crude sugar is kaown, the re-
iner's profits remain unknown,
renee also does the amount Of in
ustice done by him to his employees. :
1t has not been our aim to either
avor or oppose free trade, but to
how that where a question en-
races several vital elements, all
must he considered together, or an |