St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-31
THE sopaIsAIs OF KNUTE.


Red river valley to fire the opening
gun" of his campaign. He took his gun
with him. Its charge of powder and
shot was weighed out carefully before
he went. Even the wadding was care
fully selected. There is lots of game
for him in the valley of the Red, game
that he must bag if he will warm his
chair another term. There the heresies
of Populism, the revolt from Republi-
caniSm, have been the fiercest, and there
Republican solidity has become adream
of the past. 1t is needful TO load the
gun with care and fire it with precision
if the flying birds are TO be brought
down and safely bagged.
The governor assures his farmer reb-
els that it Is all a mistake to suppose
that they are not prosperous. He brings
statistics to prove the reverse TO them.
If they haven't so much of the nations
wealth as they had under other fiscal
regulations, it is only because others
have secured more. but If they had not
got the greater share the farmers would
have had even less. "They can't put
you in jail" said the lawyer to his
client. But they have" was the an
swer. Whether the farmer is prosper
Gus or not. he can answer for himself;
ne knows his condition best, and if he
is not getting on we doubt very much if
the glittering array of the gOvern0r 's
statistics will convince him that he is.
But the governor is hardly as frank
and candid as he was when, on that
March day of 1883. he broke out into
passionate and manly protest against
the policy of his party he now so stou tly
defends and lauds. Were he. he would
not have told his hearers that, but for
the great army of men who are engaged
in the other Industries his party's policy
has created, the demand would have
been very limited and the home market
very scant for the farmers produce" Did
a protective tariff create the men also?
Had there been no such tariff. would
these men never have been born? And
if,as in all the past, men continued to De
born without regard to tariffs, would
not these other men have had to eat the
produce of the farms? Had there been
no tariffs. would these men have been
born without appetites? Would it have
made any difference to the Red river
valley farmers where the men lived who
ate their wheat, whether here or abroad?
Do they eat any more because there is
tariff. and do they pay any more for
their bread because there is tariff?
To-day scarcely 20 per cent of our
agricultural produce finds market
abroad" says the governor. This may
or may not be true, for it is mere con-
lecture; there are no reliable statistics
to prove it; but. whether true or not,
the two facts remain one is that
just as large percentage of our ex-
ports is agricultural produce now as
during the free trade period. it forming
1884 per cent in the period from 1850 to
1860, and 77.14 per cent from 1870 to
1880. Another fact that the governor
does not touch, probably as not suited
to the gun he is now firing. is that that
surplus, whether it be 90 or more per
cent, which is sent to a foreign mar.
ket determines the value of the re.
naming so per cent, and the "great
army of men" engaged in these other
caliingS pay not cent more for what
farm produce they consume than is the
foreign price less the cost Of trans
port. We apprehend that the governor
will not bag much game among the
farmers with any such ammunition as
this. There was time when it would
have fetched them. but they have been
studying and thinking and learning
better than to be lined with any such
sophisms as these. The governors ia
nous tariff speech was too we'll learned
by them to permit them to change
| merely because the governor finds it
convenient and profitable to retreat.