Red Lodge picket. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1889-1907, 1892-10-22
FARMERS FRIEND.
WHlTELAW REID THE ORIGINATOR OF
THE FARMERS PROTECTIVE TARIFF.

Duties on Farm Products-He Organ
lied Method by Which the Farmers
of the Country Spoke and Were card.
The origin Of the Mckinley tariff Of
1890 deserves more attention than it has
yet received. Since the senate finance
committee has made it clear that, under
/ this tariff, the wholesale prices Of farm
| products have advanced in two years
1928 per cent, while the actual COST OF
living to consumers has declined and
the wages OF labor have advanced, it is
proper to note that the most important
! changes made by the tariff Of 1890 were
+, explicitly proposed two years earlier by
u movement of farmers suggested and
organized under the direction of White
law Reid, the Republican nominee for
vice president.
Early in 1887 Mr.. Reid, the editor of
The Tribune. canses! series of state
ments to be made and published show
ing the disastrous effects OF lack o.
proper protection to the agricultural in
terest. In the summer of 1897 he sug
gested through The Tribune that the
farmers in all parts OF the country, by
their associations and by individual let
ters. should state their wishes regarding
the tariff and the changes deemed neces-
sary to their interests in view Of the
then low prices Of farm products. About
| 5000 replies, representing several hun
| dred thousand practical farl!crs-nlany
of the letters We're from organizations
| set forth with much particularly and
detail the workings Of the old tariff Of
1888 as respects the farmers and the
! changes they desired.
Mr.. Reid saw the Importance Of put
ting into definite form! tins altogether
unprecedented man: :festalion Of the
wishes Of farmers which he had himself
| elected. He therefore caused some Of
! the most distinguished and influential
representatives of agriculture to be i'll
vited by The Tribune to examine and
report on these letters. They prepared
general report in the form Of an ad-
dress s'to the farmers OF the United
States" which was printed in The Trib-
une of Feb. 8, 1893 This report set
| forth that:
AN overwhelming majority Ct the
writer's realized that the protective sys-
tenn, by building up other industries has
enormously increased the demand for
agricultural products. With scarcely
an exception the letters received point
out that the tariff should have directly
defended the industries of farmers in
ways in which it has not 1t should
shield them as completely as any branch
! Of the manufacture from the spaslnodic
and destructive competition which the
cheaLness and degradation of labor in
some other lands permit. Thousands of
! farmers, therefore, appeal through the
letters considered 10 all other farmers
throughout the country to mite in de-
nlanding for their great industry not
only indirect benefits, but the fair meas
ure of direct protection it deserves.
The following definite proposals the
committee found embraced in the ma
jori1y of the letters received, and they
suggested that the farmers OF the United
States petition congress as follows:
PETITION FoR MOnE EFFECTUAL PROTECTION
OF AGRICULTURE.
TG the Speak OF the House of Representa- ives:
The undersigned respectfully pray tilat agri-
culture MAY be more ef'ect,;al!y protected by
preventing fraudulent inportations Of cattle
on pretcnse that they are for breeding only.
| By a duty of 20 cents Per blahcl on barley
with l,rcportioh;ite increase Of duty On malt.
| Ey duties cf - cents ler buailc on potatoes
and onions, s. per 100 on cab:H5cs, - per ton
It9y hans
on beans and peas S cents Per dozen on eggs,
so per cent. ioN Is and poultry and on ''vcsre-
tables in their natural state or ia salt or brine
not otherwise provided for with no removal
| reduction OF duties market garden prod
ucts now Gut.;iblc.
| i5y such increased duties On fax and on linen
| go DIS as will efectually encourage the prepa-
ration OF fiber aud manufacture of goods.
| BY aboisEng all duties on sugar, with a
bounty to home producers.
| BY preventing imports of leaf tobacco suit
able for wrappers at the duty imposed on OF her
leaf tobacco and repeating all internal taxes
on tobacco.
BY restoring to wool growing the substantial
| protection enjoyed under the tariff of 1861 so
modified az to meet the later forms of foreign
| competition and OF evasion.
A great number Of these petitions were
signed by farmers in every part of the
| United States, especially in the states
bordering Oh Cailada, and were for
warded to congress. 1t is impossible to
say how many farmers signed them, for
| the Democratic house and it's officers
took care to pay very little attention to
them, and the result was that the farm
ers Of the country expressed their desire
at the polls for a change in the com
plexion OF congress and elected a Repub-
lican house for the Fifty-first congress-
| This was the one which passed the Nc
kinley bill.
That measure provided against fraudu-
lent importation of cattle paragraph
4s2) 1t imposed Il duty Of 80 cents per
bushel On BARLEY paragraph 252): 45
cents per bushel on malt (253); duty of
25 cents per bushel on potatoes (2S3): 3
cents each on cabbage (273); 81 per ton
on hay (277); Is cents per pound on hogs
(279); 40 cents per bushel on beans (27O)
and peas (2S); 5 cents per dozen on eggs
(215); cents per pound on poultry (315).
25 per cent. on vegetables in their nat
ural state (2SS), and As per cent. on veg
etables prepared OF preserved 2SD.
It imposed a duty of, $$2222. 40 per ton in
stead of $50 on flax (35D, and 50 per
cent. instead Of }5 per cent on linen
goods (21D. 1t made raw sugar free
(726), with d bounty TO domestic pro
ducers 1881 236). 1t shut out tobacco
leaf for wrappers by a duty Of So per