The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1892-01-01
ELI PERKINS ON CHICoRY.

A Result Brought Abont by the New
Tarin-Baron Babant's Experimentation
the Price Has FaIlen-A Duty on Raw
ChIcory Would save Us sS,OOO,OOO
Yearly.
l want to tell our little children a
story about chicory. says Eli Perkins in
the American Economist. l suppose
you don't know what chicory is. Well.
it is vegetable like parsnip which
the French and Germans have been
raising. drying. browning, grinding and
using instead of coffee. We have been
sending out about IS. 900. 900 to Germany
every year for this little article. 1t
tastes like coffee. Is good wholesome
food, but it has no nerve stimulant like
coffee. Children can drink chicOry as
they can milk
To get to the story: When they were
putting the tariff on different things
last year and got down TO &C. they
came right on to chicOry
What's chicory?" asked Maj Nckin-
ley
No one was able 20 tell anything
about it except that we paid Europe
s, 600, geo every year TO get what was
used.
We'll. what shall we 10 with it?''
asked several congressman.
"Why, if we can't raise it." said Nc
Kinley, and the people want it. we
will let raw chicorv come in free. but
we will put protective tariff on manu-
featured chicory. We viii try and bring
the manufactures to America if we
can't raise the stuff." So the tariff went
on TO manufactured chicory.
Suddenly ! noticed a great stir among
the chicorv importers.
Why. this Mckinley bill has raised
the dickens" they said. We can't i'm
port ground chicOry any more from
France and Germany. We must make
it here"
So they wrote and telegraphed the
foreign chicory manufacturers that they
must hurry up and bring their chicOry
factories over here And sure enough
there was a stampede from Europe, and
chicOry factories began TO 90 up in
Jersey City. HOboken, Williamsburg.
Newark and Brooklyn. Then Philadel-
phia and Detroit started chicOry factor
les till we had II factories and 900
chicOry makers at work in America
They got their raw chicOrv from France
and Germany. where IL is grown with
very cheap labor This worked well in
New York, but out in Detroit they said:
We are too far away. We must
raise our own chicOry."
So they got chicory seeds from Ger
many and put in a small crop last
spring The farmers made more money
than they made out of wheat. II set
them crazy. Everyone wanted to raise
more of it. Well, this fall the Detroit
factory is doubling its capacity and all
the farmers are getting seed through
the factory and Jerry Rusk. and pre-
pairing to plant chicory next year.
What is the result? Why. after pay
ing out to France and Germany ever
so. 900. 900 for chicory we are finally go
ing to make it here, at home. and rave
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 ont of
this tariff on chicory. When Baron
Babant, an extensive chicory raiser in
France. heard of it. he thought the tar
if was on raw chicory, as il 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 ne found there was no tariff on
the raw roots in the states ne went to
Canada, saw Sir John Macdonald and
said:
IF Canada viii put a tariff on raw
chicory I viii plant four miles square
in Manitoba
Then we'll do Il" said Sir John, and
he did.
Last spring I visited Baron Babant's
4.OO0-acre chicOry farm in WhitewoOd,
Manitoba, on the Canadian Pacific He
proposes to supply all Canada with
chicory and send his surplus raw
chicory over to be manufactured in the
United States without paying any duty
His fall crop is now coming to Detroit
to be manufactured
II is funny bout the price of chicOry,
too. It used to sell for IL cents per
pound wholesale Competition bought
it down TO 10 cents, then 20 5 cents, then
TO cents Their to cents. and now it is
offered wholesale at g. cents Our re-
tail 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 a tariff on raw
chicory, every farmer can raise a substi-
tute which will improve his coffee. One
half chicory gives a delightful flavor to
coffee. Good coffee costs 30 cents a
pound II is one of the burdens Of our
farmers and mechanics 20 buy it, for we
all drink coffee. But soon chicOry viii
be one of our own crops and S, 900, 600
will be saved to our country every 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 p cents against
Canadian wheat, rye, oats and barley,
we will next year consume our surplus
wheat, and then wheat will 90 20 4 dol
lar bushel in Dakota, farm lands will
go up, the farmer will again. after if
teen years Of low prices, be on tOp-and
all through the wise protection put
around US BY the Mckinley bill
Why Am = Prot-ctionist.
BY DAVID II MASON OF CHICAGO
All the r1rosneritv euiOyed by the