Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1894-11-02
The Ealiin Wheat.



lon 10 c!a,. in the country has
tie Mckn!c!itc policy Of high pro
t,ctiIc" taxation horn =" nppre,siIclv
- II la. uruu the agricultural Cla-,.
. Tie ptic,- oitL'. iAfm'l, lruductS-
81 al least the prices ii those staples
which con>titut. the hackhun oi his
lro>pcrity-Arc regulated wholly III
foreign markets Foreign commerce
l. the hone and ,incw and lie blood Of
successful progress IN agriculture.
Whatever tnlirgcs the markets ui a
nations trad, benefits It's farmers;
wh?tcrvr contracts those market, III
lIfc- the farmers. This fact j. true OF
all countries that export agricultural
products and it applies to the United
states with greater force than to any
other land in the world
Let Us take the present low price OF
wheat rs an instance. This can not
he attributed to any one cause, though
perhaps the most potent has been the
m0nomctali~t legislation ui the past
twenty wars, wnIch. all over the world,
/ IL cuu'ra,t.d the circulating medium
! the farmer to give more wheat every
wear to get the dear dollar with which
to pay his debts. But to this gradual
and steady cause of the decline in
wheat there has been added, in this
country, the special and swift-working
one OF the Encouragement Of foreign
commerce through high protective"
taxation. In August, 1890. just before
the Mckinley law went into effect,
wheat was quoted in the Chicago
market at $l0S4. Its quotation in
that market last Saturday was 52t
cents. After nearly four years of the
Mckinley tariff this is what it has
brought the farmer.
But" the high protectionist will
say, % this fall in the price of wheat is
due to the balefui influence of DEM
ocratic administration the Mckinley
| law has not had lair chance during
the past eighteen months" etc. But
this argument will not hold: for, go
ing back over the Chicago quotations,
we find wheat constantly falling, under
the operation of the Mckinley law,
DURING REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION
So rapidly did this occur that, in
October 1892, A MONTH BEFORE CLEvE-
LAND WAS ELECTED, wheat had fallen
to sixty-nine and one-eighth cents in
Chicago. In other words, wheat fell
twenty-seven per cent, by the opera
ton of the Mckinley law, in two years,
under a Republican administration;
while it has only fallen eighteen per
cent, by the operation of that law,
since Cleveland was declared elected.
The fact is that the Mckinley law,
by discOuraging our foreign trade, has
helped to develop the vast wheat belts
of Argentine and other grain produce
ing countries, % which England, Ger
many and France could send their
ships laden with merchandise and
bring back return cargoes of bread
stuffs. The complacent stupidity Of
Mckinley and his followers was I'M
able to grasp the fact that trade can
not be all one way.
The Democratic party has taken an
impo :tant step toward reversing that
policy, so disastrous to our producers
of breadstuffs, meats, fruits and other
products Of the farm. 1t is unfortu-
nate that this was not done during
the first months OF Cleveland's admin
stration it is unfortunate that the
panic of 1898 was worked in the in
te. est of the bondholders to demonetize
silver chiefly through the instrument
ality of an almost solid Republican
vote in the tifty-third Congress, and
that the tariff issue was made to take
. subordinate place. But congress did
at last, in some sort, do its duty; and
to take a step backward now, into the
stupendous folly of McKinleyism,
means worse days for the farmer than
he has yet seen at any period.