The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-09-24

lieyed that the farmers of this coun-
try, paying taxes here, had right
to the markets Of this country. We
did not believe that Canadian farm
ers should bring their products in
competition with ours without pay
ing for it,
ALLISON AS A STATESMAN.
The oath of March 1870 in his place
in the United States Senate, Mr.. ALI
son in discussing the tariff question
spoke as statesman instead OF .
demagogue and in the course Of his
speech said:
1.-THE agricultural interest, it will
be seen, is much the largest interest
in its aggregate product, as we'll as in
the number of persons employed. l
believe no one will claim that this
large interest is directly protected.
1t is true that under customs laws
there il small duty upon wheat,
barley, oats and other agricultural
products, but it does not afford any
protection to the great wheat and
grain producing regions of the coun-
try. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Wilson,, in discussing this qcestion,
stated that the cost of wheat in New
England is about $l.7O per bushel,
while in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin
the price is about 65 cents per bushel.
The Canadian wheat is the only
wheat that comes in competition with
our own. Canada being nearer New
England than the wheat growing
states more than makes up the duty
in the reduced cost of transportation.
What is true OF wheat is equally
true Of other grains. Therefore the
farmer has practically no protection
at all, and whatever benefit he de-
rives is from what the home market
furnishes for home products. Un-
fortunately for the farmer, the mar
ket price of wheat is fixed by the
market price which the surplus will
bring abroad, or the price OF wheat
in London or Liverpool. At that
market, where the surpl us is sold,
and which fixes the value OF the
whole crop, he comes in competition
with the grain produced in the
Crimea, in Hungary and in the region
of the Baltic, from fields cultivated
by what is known, in comparison
with our own, rs pauper labor.
but | am told we must so legislate
as to furnish a home market for all
our agricultural products, and this
can only be done by high tariff. Any
one examining the subject will see
that our agricultural products in
crease more rapidly than our popu-
lation, SO that if we do not export
these products in their natual con-
dition. we must do SO by converting
them into manufactured articles and
export these articles. But this can
not be done under a high tariff, for
all nations will buy manufactured
products where they are the cheap
est, and the nation selling the cheap
est will control the market. This rule
excludes our highly taxed manufac-
lures made from highly taxed ma
terials from the markets of the world.
although we have natural advan-
ges possessed by no other nation"
We can safely leave Mr.. Allison as
a statesman to reply to Allison as a
demagogue. The truth as spoken by
him when the tariff had not become
party question completely refutes
the untruthful inference Of his Chero-
kee speech. Then Mr.. Allison said
the products of the country increased
more rapidly than did the consumers;
hence the surplus fixed the price
which was what it would bring in
London or Liverpool. This il still
true, both as to surplus and oonsuM-
ers. Wheat and bread stuf{$ are not
shipped from Europe to- the United
States for the same reason that Iowa
coal is not sent 70 Pennsylvania or
ONO. The reason, every farmer
knows.is that Pennsylvania and Ohio
are exporters of coal having1a sur
plus. The L. S., has surplus OF
bread stuffs and is All exporter. and
hence a poor market for fore isA grain.