Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-21
A TARIFF STORY.

ELI PERKINS CMelville D. Landon)
| sends the followidg interesting narrative of
the effects OF the Mckinley bill to the New
York Sun:
want to tell our little children o story
about chicory. 1 suppose you don't know
what chicory is. Well. it is a vegetable like
a Darsn1p, which the French and Germans
nave Deen raising, drying, browning grind
ing and using, instead of coffee. we have
been sending out about S. O09, eco to Germany
every year for this little article. 1t tastes
like coffee, is good, wholesome food, but 1t
has no nerve stimulant like coffee. Children
can drink chicory as thev can milk.
To get to the story: When they we're put
ting the tariff on different things last year
and got down to &C" they came right on to
chicory.
whats chicory?" asked Major Mckinley.
No one was able to tell anything about it
except that we paid Europe 100000 every
year to get what was used
"Well, what.shall we do with it?" asked
several Congressman.
"Why, if we can't raise it." said Mckinley,
"and the people want it, we will let raw
chickory come in free, but we will put-a pro-
tective tariff on manufactured chickory.
We will try and bring the manufactures co
America if we can't raise the stuff" So the
tariff went on to manufactured chickory.
And SO They Hustled.
SUDDENLY noticed a great stir among
the chickory importers.
"Why, this Mckinley bill has raised the
dickens" they said. eve can't import
ground chickory any more from France and
Germany. We must make it here"
So .hey wrote and telegraphed the foreign
chickory manufacturers that they must
hurry up and bring their cnici1ory factories
over here. And sure enough there was a
stampede from Europe, and ch'ckory fac
tories began to go up in Jersey City, Ho-
boken. Villa amsburgh, Newark and Brook
lyn. Then Philadelphia and Detroit started
chickory factories till we hau IA factories
and 800 chickory makers at work in America
They got their raw chickory from France
and Germany. where it is grown with very
cheap labor. This worked well IN New York,
but out in Detroit they said:
eve are too far away. We must raise
our own chicorv."
So they got chicory seeds from Germany
and put in small crop in Michigan last
spring. The farmers made more money
than they made out of wheat. 1t set them
it. Well. this fall the Detroit factory is
doubling It's capacity. and all the farmers
are getting seed through the factory and
jerry Rusk and preparing to plant chicery
mex; year.
And They Tick!ed the Earth.
-Now,judge ofmy surprise when saw five
acres of chickory away out in O'Ne1ll, Neb.,
the other day. A Belgian by the name of
BoZZleman had it, He was drying it and
browning it for the Omaha and St. Louis.
market.
When 1 asked him how he came to raise
chicory, he said:
"Why, my brother raises it in Belgium,
and when the Mckinley bill passed he rushed
seed over to me and told me to put in five
acres, which did. He is on his way here
now to see about it,
What will be the result OF all this ch1cory
excitement? WHY, after paying out to
France and Germany over $40, 900, COO for
chicory we are finally going to make it here.
at home, and save our money-keep it in
this country.
The history of this industry and how we
got it is like that of dozen other industries
which have come through this wise tariff
measure.
One very funny thing came out of this
tariff on chicory. When Baron Babant, an
extensive chicory raiser in France, heard of
it, he thought the tariff was on raw chicory,
as it ought to be, and will probably be if the
next Congress is as wise as the last one, and
he came over here to raise it. But when he
found there was no tariff on the raw roots in
the States he went to Canada saw Sir John
Macdonald and said:
"If Canada will put tariff on raw chicory
Will plant four miles square in Manitoba"
''Then we'll do it," said Sir John; and he
did
And There's Millions in 1t.
LAST spring I visited Baron Babant's
4, OO0a chicory farm in Whitewood, Mani
toba, on the Canadian Pacific. He proposes
to supply all Canada with chicory and send
his surplus raw chicory over to be manu-
factured in the United States without pay
ng any duty. His fail crop is now coming
to Detroit to be manufactured.
1t is funny about the price of chicory,. too.
1t used to sell for l. cents per pound whole
sale. Competition brought it down to 10
cents, then to cents, then to cents then to
4 cents, and now it is offered Wholesale at 81
cents. Our retail grocers are keeping the
news from the people and still selling chicory
at Il cents per pound, when they could sell
it at cents.
By and by,if we get tariff on raw chcory,
every farmer can raise substitute which
will improve his coffee. One-half chicory
gives n delightful flavor to coffee. Good
coffee costs 30 cents a pound. 1t is one of
the burdens OF our farmers and mechanics
to buy it, for we all drink coffee. But soon
chicorv will be one OF our own crops and
year.
Putting in chicory fax, beet sugar and
raising more sheep for wool, will reduce
the acreage for wheat, and with the present
tariff of % cents against Canadian wheat, |
rye, oats and barley, we will next year con- |
sumo our surplus wheat, and then wheat |
will go to 81 bushel IN Dakota, farm lands |
will go up, the farmer will again, after Is |
years of low prices, be on top-and all |
through the wise protection put o1nd US |
by the Mckinley bill.