Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-12-21
THE FARMERS INTERESTS.

| THE FARMERS INTERESTS.
Protection Duties fraud Upon Amers.
can ProducerA
If the farmers of the United States
would peruse carefully the reports OF
the treasury department for the fiscal
year of 1892 in regard to the value OF
both imports and exports of agrjcultu-
raj products they could no longer be
deceived by high protection advocates,
and they would readily recognize the
farce and the futility of an import duty
on those products. These reports
show conclusively that the interests of
| the farmer are on the side of low
| tariff on all manufactured articles, and
| that the farmer is in no way injured
| by the tariff bill providing for free
raw materials.
What possible benefit, for instance,
can it be to the farmer to levy an Inn
port tax on wheat when the price of
wheat is fixed by the foreign markets?
The reports for the year 1892 show that
the amount of wheat exported was
s161. 500. 1872, and that the total amount
of imports of wheat, either sent here
for seed purposes or brought over to
the Canadian bordering towns in the
United States, which are the natural
market for the adjacent Canadian
farmer, amounted only to. $40, S07.
That is, the United States not only
produces its own wheat for consump-
ton, but must absolutely depend upon
a foreign market to dispose of its sur
plus product and maintain a steady
price.
Again, in the matter of corn, there
was expor ted in the year 1892 in value
Sal, $50, AGO, while the total imports of
corn amounted only TO s3,571. At the
same time we exported rye to the value
of S11, 4s2. 16O and imported rye to the
amount of ss4s, and we imported rye
flour upon which the duty is one-half
cent per pound to the amount of only S..
Our exports of beef amounted in value
to 0,O1O, $50, and the imports under a
duty of two cents per pound amounted
only to s11,917. In lard we exported
S33, POI 1921, and with an import duty of
two cents per pound we imported lard
to the amount of s997. The export
value Of our oats sent abroad amounted
to s3,s42,559, and our total imports
amounted to So, 131.
AS a matter of fact every child knows
that we do not import agricultural
products such as are not raised in this
country, and there would be no differ
ent result, even if there were no duty.
The high protectionists may argue that
the duty levied upon these articles pre-
vented their importation; IN fact that It
amounted to prohibition, but the alb
surdity of this argument becomes
patent when we consider the fact that
we raise millions of surplus above
what we consume and that the market
price of all these products is practical
ly determined by the price of the ex-
ported article in the foreign market.
If there were no duty at all on agri-
cultural products, so that the Canadian
markets on the border, we would
simply be relieved from that much
in the. forsjgn market and
we would export. that much more of
our own product. The levying of this
duty, therefore,; upon agricultural
products by the high protection advo-
cate is a fraud upon the farmer and is
done for the purpose of deceiving him
and enabling the protectionists to ST.
lence the opposition of the agricultural
interests to the policy of high protec-
ton, which increases the price of every
article which the. farmer consumes
not raised upon. his own farm and
forces him to pay a. higher price for
his clothing and for his agricultural
implements than does the foreign farm
err W it'll whom he: must compete in the
foreign market.
It furthermore limits his opportuni-
ties, in that imports are. checked and
reciprocal trade, which would follow
an enlargement of our foreign COM
merce and increase the amount of our
agricultural exports, is really destroyed
by the protective tariff, which Is false
ly alleged to be for his benefit
Under present conditions the foreign
takes the product Of the Amer
lean farmer only to the extent of its |
that is to say, it buys the |
entire output of India and other coun-
tries, to whose ports the foreign manu-
facturer has free access, and it makes |
up whatever deficiency there may still |
exist by buying American products. |
while under a system which would en-
exports and foreign trade the |
American farmer would have an equal |
show in the foreign market instead of |
being treated as source OF reserve from
which deficiency may be supplied in
case of necessity. In other words, if we
shut foreign merchants off from our
markets with their products they are
not going to purchase ourproducts any
more than they can: possibly help.
Reciprocity of trade prevails as a nat
lral result of trade intercourse.
For all these reasons the new revenue
bill prepared by Mr.. Wilson's commit.
Tee is bound to be of vast benefit to the
farmers interests.-kansas City Times.
OPINIONS AND. POINTERS.