The Colored citizen., 1894-10-08
DOWN EAST FARMERS
FEAR CANADIAN COMPETITION WILL
GLuT THE MARKETS.


erything For the Trusts.
] have been spending my vacation In
. little country town way down In
Maine. The old farmer with whom
boarded was an active politician, and
he and ! had many discussions One
day l rode over with him to the country
store, q mile or two away, and while we
were there another farmer came In and
greeted my host with, well, Miller,
are they going to pass this tariff billG"
81 dunno" said Miller. Looks like
it."
'Well sir, said the newcomer, "if
they do. I've voted the Democratic tick
ct for the last time"
"Whyp" asked Miller.
because. was the reply, ''if 1t passes
I'll have to sell my fock Of sheep I've
been getting as and 30 oents q pound
for wool, but II this bill passes won't I
get more'n 10 or l8 cents, and ! can't
afford to raise wool for that And that
amt sll, I" he went ON. II can't get 90
much for my produce II they let the
Canadians bring their stuff In here free
or at lower duty than they pay now. :"
"Do You think that no duty or low
or duty ON Canadian farm products
would Affect you very muchf' I asked.
well. Ishould think it would, was
the reply. "Some things 'twon't inter.
fsre with, but 1t will make q big differ
enoe in the price Of my eggs and pota.
toes and turnips and hay and such stuff.
They ought to put up the duty ON hay
ifanything. There's too much Canadian
hay comes in here now. And a. for tur-
nips, you see, St Andrew down there,
just across the line, is Q great place for
turnips, and II them turnips didn't
have to pay duty 1t wouldn't pay me
TO raise any"
''Do you set q pretty good price for
your produce nowP" ! asked
"Well," he said. there hasn't been
% good market for them as usual the
last year, the times are 80 hard. A good
many mills have been shut down for o
longer or shorter time. and that's made
money pretty tight"
"Well, then," ! said, you farmers
have a. much to fear from the shutting
GsU 81 as PiS plodSS g rQm gata hs coming
more. We couldn't sell anything II
the mills didn I run. Who'd we sell tor"
That's Just It," said. "You see,
you get Just as much benefit from the
tariff on manufactures % the manufac.
turer does II there wern't any facto-
ries, you wouldn't have any market for
your produce. so you profit by the tariff
ON manufactures as we'll as by the tariff
ON farm producta You need tariff on
both to protect you p"
well, that's 80, he replied, though
hadn't thought Of 1t before I dunno
but I'll vote for protection anyhow,
even il they don't put wool on the free
list and make me sell my sheep"
There's no doubt that they'll make
wool free." / said, though didn't
know before that free wool would affect
Maine much. II Is easy enough to see
the danger from the coming in of Ca
madam produce under o low duty, but
I didn Z suppose they raised wool here. +"
"They don't much, he said, though
I've got a small flock of sheep The
wool hasn't started ON my sheep yet
this year, though. and my wife says it's
because voted for Cleveland and free
wool"
"Shouldn't wonder" said.
II should think those western fellers
who raise wool would kick more'n we
do, though" the old farmer continued.
81 guess they dc" replied. "Pe-
titions against free wool have been
sent to congress from 80 states and ter
ritories, but the people are not in 1t
with this congress The trusts have the
inside track with this administration. I"
Just here there entered man with
q Cleveland figure, who, l afterward
learned, was Democratic politician of
local fame. Catching my last words,
this politician asked In loud, impressive
tones, "What is the loss to few thou
sand woolgrowers compared 70 the gain
to 20, 900, 900 of oonsumersf"
"Ah," l said, "but you must remem-
Der that those 20, 900, 900 consumers are
also producers They produce the arti-
cles which the woolgrowers consume
The benefits are mutual, and all have
employment and money with which to
buy the products q she others To see
the effect as a whole you must apply
the same argument to everything. To
be consistent. if not wise, you would
have to make everything free. Then all
your 20, 900, 900 consumers would soon
find that they are producers also For.
eign goods would take the place Of
home products in our markets until our
people, thrown out of work by the ruin
of all our industries, would be toe pos
to buy even the products Of European
labor"
"we're not talking about free every
thing, >" returned he of Cleveland stat
ure 1--WE don't want everything free,
80 we don't have to apply it to every.
thing. We're talking about free wool I"
Pardon me, / said, ''for assuming
for q moment that the Democratic par.
ty had any use for the jewel of consist
ency. There is chance for q whole
days discussion in finding out what