St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-10
THE FARMER PAYS THE TAX.

HsAANN1 H. - - ~ ~.
For several years the farmers of this
country have contributed from rs to 50
per cent OF the value of our surplus
products sent 10 foreign markets. For
the same period duties OH our impOrta-
tions of f0relgn-made goods have av-
eraged about S200,0O0,000 a year. We
purpose 10 demonstrate that this Is per
cent, representing the products of the
farmers, pays rs per cent of the duties
levied upon the goods imported. In
other words, not only does the foreigner
not pay the tax OH imports, but the
farmers of this country, while selling
their produce in free-trade markets in
open competition with the farmers OF
the world. are additionally burdened by
the payment of three-fourthS Of the
taxes levied upon the goods brought
back. Ii this be true, we can find
cause for the admitted impoverishment
of the farmers of this country without
making display of our want of COM
mon sense by attributing it to the "gl
gantic conspiracy" which demonetized
silver Ill 1878. If during all of this
period they have been paying an av-
erage of $l50.000.000 year out of the
proceeds Of their farms towards paying
the taxes levied on imports by the gen.
eral government. we can understand
why their farms have raised such pro-
life crop of mortgages.
The farmer who takes his produce to
market for sale can readily understand
that he has to pay all the cost incurred
III bringing from that market the articles
he buys with the proceeds Of his sale.
Ii, in going or returning from the mar.
ket, he is obliged to incur expenses,
they must be paid out Of the proceeds of
his sale. 10 the extent of these charges
his capacity for buying is decreased.
Out OF what he receives he must retain
enough to pay the Charges. As they in
crease. his capacity to buy diminishes;
as they diminish, his ability to buy
more increases. If. for illustration, he has
to pay ferry charges Of a dollar on his
return home. that dollar must be with
held, and his ability to buy the articles
he needs is diminished to the extent of
that dollar. If, instead of the ferry be.
tween him and his market, there is a
customs barrier, where a federal officer
stands to levy tribute on whatever he
may bring back with him, then out of
the proceeds of his sale he must deduct
sufficient sum to pay whatever the toll
gatherer may exact before he can buy.
and consequently can buy less.
1t is one of those facts of trade and
economics, i'll spite Of the sneers
of visiOnarieS-orlinarily termed pro-
tectioniSts-that the purchases Of a ma
ton abroad are in the long run meas
ured by The value of what it sells
abroad. What is true of the individual
farmer taking his own produce to mar
ket is true Of the aggregated farmers OF
this country, who, aching through
multitude OF agents, send their surplus
produce to foreign markets for sale. In
one way or another. directly or indi-
rectly, these products are there eX-
changed for those of the foreign nation;
and. Just as in the case of the individual
farmer enough had to be withheld from
the proceeds with which to pay the
charges on the homeWard journey, Soin
this larger transaction it is inevitable
that the purchases of foreign products
the proceeds of enough money to pay
all return charges.
This will include not only the trans
portatlon, but whatever sum is levied
by way of tariff upon the goods bought
abroad upon entry into this country.
As the average of taxation under the
Mckinley bill is 49 per cent, it follows
that for every dollar received from the
sale of our surplus products abroad and
invested i'll foreign products, forty-eight
cents must be taken to pay what the
government of the United States de-
mands as a condition of admitting the
dollars worth in this country. The
purchasing capacity of our surplus is
thus diminished one-third, and, as the
farmers of this country contribute an
average of at least IS per cent of our
exports, 1t follows that they contribute
Is per cent of the amount charged by
the government OF the United States
upon the goods purchased or exchanged
for that and brought back in the way
of imports.