Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-01-01


I mad 1t been practicable for the farmers OF tn,
country to withdraw their capital from this lint
? OF industry their numbers would have beer
greatly reduced, even in the best of the agri
. cultural States.
r But this was impracticable and from the very
necessity of their situation they have continued
I business burdened with loss instead of yield
ing profit (if the market value of their labor
Is considered,) out of which this Nation has
gathered threefourthS of all it's exports. and by
reason of which il has been able to preserve Z
balance of trade in its favor that has constant
J Nv added to the aggregate of our National
wealth.
1t is, however, If we stop to reflect, easy tc
discern that If the chief business of country is
being done at loss. and yet that the country
} as whole is becoming rich, there must be
some fragrant error in the industrial system
that produces such result
With the facts demonstrated by statistics as
they are, that the Nations wealth is being con
stantly increased; that it is largely derived
from its agricultural resources and that those
engaged in that industry are transactng bust
ness at loss instead of profit, is it difficult tC
understand that those who produce the greater
part OF the Nations wealth do not enjoy it:
We can easily see that If dozen men were
engaged In as many different pursuits, and
eleven OF them were compelled to give up to
the twelfth the entire profits they earned, the
aggregate wealth of the twelve might be great.
ly Increased, but in that there would be
one very rich man and eleven very poor ones
II we extend the example it is equally appar-
ent that if the great body of men engaged in
industrial pursuits in any nation are compelled
by law or otherwise to surrender to few the
profits of their IaOor, the Nation as such NAV
grow rich but its wealth will be concentrated
| in the hands Of it's favored few, while the
many, robbed of their share of the wealth
which the labor of all has produced, must of
/ necessity remain poor
| do not hesitate to say there is no possible
justification for q system Of laws that produces
such result.
No plea for the Nations prosperity however
| eloquent that plea may become, can smother
the indefensibe wrong that takes a single
dollar from the earnings of one class of its citi-
another.
! L will not stop now to question whether the
! industries of nation may or may not become
50 adjusted and equalized that protective
tariff could be made EQUALLY advantageous to
! all.
1t is enough to know that they are not so
equalized in the United States.
! If the farmers and laborers of this country
are required to contribute from their earnings
! TO build up lines OF industry in which they are
not engaged, it is absolutely certain that those
who give must become poorer thereby, while
those who receive will grow rich from the
! avails of labor they do not perform, and it re
/ QulreS no stretch of the Imagination to foresee
/ that under such q system time alone is needed
| to divide these classes in this the proudeSt Re
! public on the globe. as the human family is al
ready divided in the most aristocratic mon
arches OF the old world.
1t is infinitely better that this Nation should
remain poor with its property. such as it has,
| distributed among all its classes, than become
the richest on the globe with its wealth
! centrated in the hands of few
No dream OF a theorist could conceive of Il
condition more perfect than one which would
divide and could maintain, with equal effort on
the part of individuals. an equal distribution
of a nations wealth among all it's citizens.
This is impracticable but what can be said
in favor of system that strikes the very root
of this equality; that aids by artificial means
in preventing the nearest approach to such
equality that the human family is capable of
attaining? Certainly nothing if men are just.
If this is the result of protective tariff the
argument is ended.
Let consider further its effect upon the
, farmers of his tcountry.
1t is q Self-evident proposition that tariff
levied upon products which a nation produces
largely in excess of its own wants, which it is
constantly sending abroad because it's own
markets will not take or use them, can have no
possible effect upon the price of such commodi-
ties. and hence it follows that SO long are
producing annually hundreds of millions in
valne of agricultural products in excess of our
own wants, no tariff levied upon like products
can benefit the farmer.
Legislators may spread such laws upon the
statute books, but they should be as powerless
to deceive as they are to benefit the parties in
1t is equally apparent, as has been demon
strated so many times, that tariff upon man.
ufactured goods increases their cost and the
cost of like goods produced at home because of
such goods we produce less than and
hence must supply our wants in part by i'm
pOrtations from other countries
But this increased cost is not the farmers
chief ground of complaint against protective
tariff. He must have market for his surplus
productions in foreign lands. Unlike the man.
ufacturer he produces largely more than the
home market will take. The most important
question therefore for him to consider is how
to extend the markets for his products Moth
ing is more plain than the fact that if we sell
to foreign nations we must buy of them. No
nation could long pay in gold for any consider
able amount of imports and escape bankruptcy.
1t follows irresistibly that tariff that keeps
the products of any foreign nation out of our
markets must to considerable extent keep
ours out Of its market, and inasmuch the
farmers of the country supply threefourths of
all our exports, they are the chief sufferers
from any policy that accompltshes such re.
suit
have spoken OF the concition of agricultu-
rel industries In my own State. have called
attention to the fact that for gears these indus
tries have been prosecuted at a loss instead of
profit and affirm without fear of contradic.
tion that there is no State in this Union where
the great staples of agriculture the productions
that supply necessary food for man and beast,
can be more cheaply produced.
want now to say to the business men of this
Nation and to politicians well, that some
plan must be devised to get this industry on
different basis or this Nation must prepare for
storm, the consequences of Wilhelm both a
political and economical seuEc-no man can
measure.
want to say further that the men engaged
in this industry not ing to wait for
home market to grow up around them that is
large enough to consume the enormous surplus
they annually produce 1t is relief for them |
selves and not for generations unborn that they |
demand.
Recalling the sentiment of my toast, What |
our farmers have right to demand" permit |
me to add they represent an industry as old at |
least as the civilization of man, as laborous as |
that has ever fallen to his lot without the |
successful prosecution of which the whole hui |
man family would lapse into barbariSm and |
end in decay. a busfreSS that forms the base |
OF every other. without which the channels IF |
trade would run dry, the cities of the earth |
molder into dust, and the wealth of the world |
disappear
Considered apart from the'r business they are
the bone and sinew of this Nation. With their
own calloused hands they have produced the
bulk of its wealth; in times of war they have
been its sturdy defenders in times of peace the
promoters of its welfare.
Who shall set the limit of their rightful de
mand upon a country they have made and pre-,
served: Surely l not do this tonight.
Brief indeed must be my reference thereto.
They have a right to demand that in the
future policy of this Government discrlmi-
nation be made in favor of other Industries at
the expense of their own: that the power of
the Government to levy taxes be limited to the
single purpose of raising necessary revenue to