Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1891-04-18

most no railroad communications be-
tween Iowa and the east In 1854, a.
compared with the great lines of rapid
transportation to-day. Mr.. Edward
Atkinson shows that freight charge
between Chicago and New York in 1865
was S.45 cents per ton per mile and 06s
of cent in 1888. How this cheapening
of railroad freights Is still going on
may be seen from the fact that the
average rate on all classes Of freight on
all the railroads of the United States In
1883 was 1.236 cents per ton PEE mile,
and already in 1887 this had fallen to .
trifle above one cent.
Another enormous factor in cheapen-
ing the commodities consumed by our 4
people to-day is the great reduction OF
ocean freights caused by the use Of
steel and of triple-expansion engines In
making ocean steamers. This reduc-
ton can be estimated from the fact that
the freight charge between Liverpool
and New York is now less than one
tenth of what it was in 1860. This low
ering Of freights by land and water has
increased the foreign demand for the
products Of our farmers, and has thus
tended to check the downward tend..
ency of prices of these products :
The price of -four is given in these
lists as S4s4T hundred in 1854 and
SO. "a in 1890. The cheapening OF flour
even is claimed for protection; but II
the western farmers believed this the
protectionists would have hard time
convincing them that protection is a
good thing for them. The only way in
which protection can possibly cheaper
flour is by driving our foreign GUS
toners to other markets by
reason of our high duties
on their products. But, as matter Of
fact, the cheapening Of flour has not
been due so much to tariffs as to the in
vention of labor-saving machinery.
The grain drill for planting and the
self-binder for harvesting wheat has
diminished the labor of the farmer to
very low point On producing the
crop of 1887 in Dakota it was found
that the years labor produced $500
bushels of wheat per man.
Since the war the roller mill pro-
cess of grinding flour has been
introduced into this country from
hungary and now one laborer can in
one year turn into -four the $500 BUSH
els of wheat of the Dakota man. Thus
the labor of two men produces /, 100
barrels Of -four in year, allowing five
bushels of wheat to the barrel. In
this, way, as David A. Wells points out,
American flour from the fields of Da-
kota and the mills of Minneapolis is
sold in European markets at rates
which are determinative of the prices
which Russian peasants, Egyptian "fel-
lahs" and Indian "nyots" can obtain in
the same markets for similar grain
grown by them on equally good soil,
and with from fifteen to twenty cents
per day wages for their labor.
The cheapening of commodities in the
United States under protection is not a
thing peculiar to this country. The
same thing has taken place in England
without tariff to quite as marked an
|
high tariff. Protectionists never weary
of telling US how the first plate glass
made in this country at New Albany,
Ind, in 1878, cost $3.50 foot, and that
now the price is from rs to 90 cents
foot; but they overlook the fact that
the price of English and Belgian plate
glass has gone down to less than SO
cents foot. And the parrots go on
iabbering that protection lowers prices.
In ways like this the protectionists
| ignore the operation of perfectly natural
causes and explain all the cheap
ening of commodities by calling in
the great miracle-worker, protec-
ton. Thus it is hoped to lead the
people of state, which has the
slightest possible interest in protection,
to believe that their prosperity depends
upon that system. Hardly one person
in hundred in state like Iowa has
any direct interest in maintaining
protective tariff; hence the attempt
there to make the people believe that
protection lowers the price of commodi-
ties. If this is the effect of the tariff,
what, pray. will be the effect of McKin-
ley's increased duties on corn, wheat,
potatoes, hay, barley, etc? Moreover,
If his high duties were intended to lower
prices, why did he go up and down the
land last fall trying to convince the
people THAT cheapness is bad thing;
that cheap and nasty go togetherP