The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-04-26
PROTECTING FARMERS.

Statisticiau DODGE replies with sarcastic
rudeness to the protests Of Chicago and ST
Louis against the speculative character of
his reports. Secretary RUsK has also been
pretty roughly handled in the press for the
high -colored statements issued from his
department. whilst the Farmers Alliance
are not through with their criticisms OF
Superintendent PORTER in regard TO his
figures about farm mortgages.
These three officials, with the man hired
IN the treasury department to furnish re-
ports of our foreign commerce, make a fine
team of Republican boomers. For two
years or more they have been called on 10
help the northeastern protectionists pass,
maintain and defend the high tariff act,
and have performed the last by giving,
each of them, official documents whose OBJ
iect has been to hide the truth and induce
the public to accept falsehood. 1t has
all along been known that the chief opposi-
ton to increased tariff duties comes from
the agricultural west, and the duty i'm
posed on the worthless named is to delude
the western farmers into believing that the
MCKINLEY bill is one for their
particular beneit-one to keep out foreign
farm products, and to give our farmers
control OF the home market at better prices.
! BY making our farmers believe their home
market was being invaded by foreign rivals,
they sought to convince them that high
tariff on foreign farm products TO keep
them out of the country would reserve the
privilege OF supplying the home market to
themselves. Thus they, in their statistics
Of imported farm products, include sugar
and hides, and as these articles 60 to over
one hundred millions worth a year, they
make large showing. But whilst sugar
does not compete in our markets, except to
s very limited extent, with home products,
hides do so compete-and the joke Is they
are imported free of duty. The Massachu-
sets shoe and leather goods manufacturers
import free hides from South America at
the cost of the farmers of the west.
The United States imports millions Of
dollars worth of animals yearly for breed
ing purposes. This is an advantage to the
farming interest, and to impose duty on
superior blooded animals would Do a
tax on the farmers themselves. We
import hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of foreign cheese, OF
kinds and qualities not made in this coun-
try, and which do not, therefore, compete
with our own dairy products. Our imports
of hemp, fax, iute, silk and othe: fibres
amount to thirty or forty millions annually,
and none Of these compete with the pro-
ducts OF our farms. The tobacco we i'm
port is Cuba and Sumatra leaf of totally
different Kind from that which we produce
Thus, whilst the stRtisticians make ire
mendous showing OF agricultural products
imported into this country, it will be seer
that they are of kind not raised here
which completely destroys the idea of any
protection being enjoyed by our farmers
Nearly all our importauons of soil products
are articles raised in the tropics, or climate!
and regions different from ours, and 80 fal
from competing with our crops, they are
many Of them, articles which the grea
body of the American people have to buy
The pretense Of protecting our agriculture
) interest by high tariff is an unqualified
: fraud.