Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1892-05-06
win the COMMITTEES Ten the Truthq


Mr.. Hatch Of Missouri procured the pas
sage by the House last month Of a resolu-
ton directing the Committee OIL Agriculture
to investigate the effect ofthe new tariff law
on agricultural interests. The committee is
composed oft Democrats and FIVE Repub-
leans In urging the resolution Mir. Hatch
was eloquent in praise ofthese Democrats as
fair-minded, honest, impartial, intelligent
men, seeking only to ascertain the truth.
And to the reporter Of Democratic news
paper, he said THE passage of this reso-
luton is the first gun we Democrats have
fred at the Mckinley BILL" OF course it
is easy enough 10 understand what this
means Mr. Hatch eau sit right down at
this moment aud write precisely the kind
ofreport which the committee will adopt no
matter what the evidence may be that it re-
ceives. Mr.. Hatch's committee has been
got up for the purpose not of discovering
what the real facts are and Of deducing loei-
cal conclusions from them, but of colatiug
facts to sustain his party's free trade theor-
les. That's what Mr. Hatch confessed when
he told the reporter he had fired a gun at
the Mckinley bill.
But if Mr.. Hatch aud his committee were
as honest as, on the floor of Congress, they
professed to be, these are some of the things
they would declare in their report:
That the agricultural schedules of the Nc
Kinley bill were prepared in strict accord
with the desires of the farmers themselves
as conveyed to the Ways and Means Com
mittee ofthe Fifty frst Congress by the Far
mer's Alliance and other leading agricul.
tural associations; that the farmers were
agreed that their depression resulted not
from the high price Of what they had to sell;
that they complained especially fthe in
flow into the American markets of foreign |
farm produce, foreign breadstuffs. foreign
farm animals, and foreign fruits, that they
therefore demanded, Of all things else, the
imposition Of high duties on foreign goods |
with theirs; that this demand
was regarded as proper and just by the
makers of the Mckinley bill: that they ac-
ceded to it. and that the only general in.
crease Of duty imposed by that bill upon an
entire class Of foreign goods was imposed on
foreign agriculture.
Il will be necessary to say, also, that the
result has vindicatee every increased rate;
that the importation of foreign farm prod
ucts, such as completes with American. pro.
iuee. has been largely checked and the
home market to that extent reserved for
home producers, without any material in.
crease Of price to consumers. It will have
o be said that instead Of s3.22s,632 worth
If horses, cattle, hogs, and sheep imported
n the Government year ending June 80,
800, only s. ,47o953 were imported in 1891,
although the Mckinley bill had then been
n operation only nine months. It will
lave to be acknowledged that of breadstufs
iuly S3S3S,o39 were admitted during the
after period, as against Ss,72o,ooo during
he former; that the importation of fax,
emp, and other textile grasses amounted
B only ss,oS6,4o7 during the nine months
ucceding the enactm5sns Of the new tariff,
5 against sI9.7Is,46s ring the preceding
ear; that the importation Of hay fell of dur
ig 1891, as compared with 1890, from 81,
Il, s67 to s445,s98; Of eggs, from sao7493s
) sI,o65.79o; and Of seeds, from s34so,s 500
) S2,3s6,75o. These illustrations serve to
iggest how greatly the Mckinley bill has
perated to hold the American market for
lie American farmer. full comparative
BILE from November, $4,000 to Novem-
sr, 1899 'oI which would show the whole
tuahon, should accompany the commit
e's report, but we will bet turufp that
icy will not have the courage to print it.
Not in its restrictive features only, but in
any other enactments. the Mckinley bill
IS proved ofthe greatest possible advan.
&c to farmers. It has supplied his sugar
ON to cents a pound cheaper than he
er had it before, offering him at the same
ne bounty Of cents pound on all
e beet, sorghum, and maple sugar he
uld grow. It reduced the tariff on bind
& Irvine to a merely revenue figure. so per
uE lower than provided in the Demo-l