Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-09-15
The Grange and the Tariff.
Published by Request. j..


The National Lecture furnished the
following:
The position of the Grange, as an or
ganization upon the question of the
Tariff is often inquired about, often
misunderstood, and sometimes mis-
rerrented.
AS party question the Grange
takes no part in the discussion, 1t has
never attempted to make all its
members protectionists, neither has il
advocated "free trade"
And yet the Grange has Tariff
policy.
What is that policy?
1t is the principle of equality as
found in the Declaration of Indepen-
dence. and guaranteed to us in the
Constitution: that dH citizens shall be
equal before the ld,O.
The very essence of all Grange meas
ures for the relief of agriculture, is to-
day, and always has been, that old
principle of our forefathers, equality,
before transportation laws; equality
before tax laws; equality before finance
laws; equality before Tariff laws,
Hence the Grange has unitedly
insisted that all Tariff laws shall
"protectn the product of the farm as
we'll as the product of the factory.
The Grange opposed the tariff of the
mills Bill" because it placed thirty
three articles produced upon American
farms upon the free list to start with,
AMI the average tariff for farmers in
t le whole bill was less than one-hali
the average tariff it gave the manu-
facturers.
The Grange Tariff plank is, "Tarifi
for all or tariff for none; equality
before the law"
Interested parties, manufacturers and
others, have for number ofyears been
trying to amend the tariff laws so as to
provide "free raw Materials" at the
same time that they asked high tariff
on the goods made from the, so-called,
raw materials" Farmers have not
asked for this "free raw material" leg
islation, but the Grange has persistent
ly and constantly said, "If free wool,
then free cloth, free blankets, free car.
pets and free everything made from
Wool.n
The bill lately passed by the House
of Representatives placing wool on
the free list entirely ignored the rights
of the farmer guaranteed under the
Constitution, and the Grange will
never endorse such action while a
single duty remains upon manu-
factured wool. Wool is not "raw
material" Wool is completed,
manufactured, article for the farmer,
the result of his investment of labor
and capital, and it should stand equal
before the tariff law with wooden
goods. The Grange ultimatum is, II
you take all tariffs from the farmers
product of wool, then take all tariffs
from the manufacturers product of
woolen goods; or, Ifyou have protec-
tive tariff, however small, on the
woolen goods, then have an equal
protective tariff on wool. The ques-
ton is not high or low tariff, free
trade or protection, Republican or
Democratic policy. 1t is the question
of right, justice and equality before
the law, belonging to every American
citizen. The same proposition is
iuNOlNCN Ill llCC POtotOCc1 AlSO AiNNS'
free barley and free other farm pro.
ducts, which we are told are coming
But interested parties may rest assured
that the farmers in their great Nation
al organization, the Grange, are in no
sense divided on this plain proposition
of right, equity and fairness.
A few figures as to the farmers
manufactured product-wool: The
product he makes" (The farmers
down South always call it making" a
crop. "Howmany bales of cotton will
you make?" "How many barrels OF
corn did you make?n etc., etc).
Capital Invested In woolen mills is
well protected by the tariff. If the
free-wool bill lately passed by the
House of Representative had become
a law, capital invested in the sheep
farms, buildings, sheep and wool
would have no protection.
There are about four times as many