The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-01-04
FURTHER SCORED IT
Farmers Unanimous i'm DenOunc-
ing the Wilson Bill.
Its Heaviest Burdens Fall Upon the
Products of the Farm, and They
Believe 1t Unjust.
WOOL GROWERS AGAINST 1T
Strong Resolution Adopted
Against the Free-WOOl Clause.
Some Very Emphatic Speeches-Officers
Elected for the Year-Short-
Horn Breeders.
WOOL GROWERS AGAINST 1T

embodied in the Wilson bill, about two hun
dred members assembled in Room u, Of
the Statehouse. yesterday morning. Judge
Cowgirl, of Warsaw, was chosen chairman
Of the meeting.
When the chairman announced that the
purpose of the meeting was to discuss the
tariff and it's effects on the farmer, there
was a general call for George Merritt.
When Mr.. Merritt stepped to the front he
was greeted with a welcoming cheer. He
spoke as follows:
Tariff reform, or rather tariff demolition.
as advocated by the authors Of the Wilson
bill, reminds me very much of the penny
wise man who saw a few tufts Of grass
growing along the highway, just outside
OF the farmers fences. and advised the
farmers to pull down their fences that
their stock might eat the small quantity
OF grass that was at that time being
wasted. This wise man had not considered
the fact that such a procedure would also
allow all the scrub cattle that were roam
ing over the neighborhood to overrun the
farmers fine bluegrass pasture, utterly ru-
lining it, thereby destroying the farmers fu-
ture pasture for several years to come. The
Wilson bill proposes to let down the fences
OF this country that a few favored ones
may eat Of that tuft of grass, but at the
same time allow foreign scrub cattle to
come over here and get all the benefits Of
our fine bluegrass fields"
'"I hope v hat l have to say will not dis
courage any one or be considered as adj
vising any one here to change his business
because of the difficulty that / may point
out, but rather let me preface my remarks
with advising every one to stick to the
business that his experience has fitted him
fer. Let the wooden manufactures who has
had reasonable success in the past stick
to his trade; let the ~sheep-grower hold on
cattlemen and swine breeders each stick 70
the line in which he has had experience.
DGnt be driyen from your business ns by an
The point to which | invite your atten-
ton is the assertion of the tariff thinkers
that sheep should be grown in this State
prir cipally for mutton, and wool be con-
sidered a ~by-product because Australia
could sell us wool cheaper than our farmers
could raise 1t. But what assurance do
these men give you that you can have the
American market for mutton, or beef, or
pork? The Wilson bill places these articles
on the free list.
81 hold a book in my hand entitled Aus
tralian Sheep and Wool issued by the De-
partment of State in 1892, and being reports
of Melbourne, to the State Department.
Beginning on page III, | find six pages de-
in that country for disposing of their sur
plus sheep. They first tried boiling them
down for the tallow., bones and hide. Then
they tried canning the meat for export to
Europe, but the last and most successful
plan was shipping the carcasses in a frozen
state to Great Britain and other European
countries. The expense of placing a. fifty-
tv o-pound carcass of mutton on the London
market is found by experiment to be sos.
The carcass is said to be sold in London at
Z cents per pound, making 1854, or net to
the Australian shipper $1.56, a very good
price in Australia, where land is furnished
by the government almost free and sheep
are not taxed for the support of the gov
eminent, and where it is now proposed to
subsidize the companies formed for freezing
meats for export. See page 112. On page
1l3 1 learn tEat in 1891, 1926. 900 carcasses of
frozen mutton were imported into Great
Britain from Australasia and South Amer
lea. On page 115 L find this statement: With
the system of killing and chilling stock near
their respective stations a success, there
only remains this one measure, viz, the or
ganization of a powerful export association
TO enable this colony to dispose of it's sur
plus stock Again on page 116 the writer
says: Almost as L write a large meeting of
the shareholders of the New South Wales
Refrigerating Company is being held and
Tt was asserted that within a short time
the trade would reach 5000, 600 carcasses per
arnum.' Now with these subsidized power
full export associations in the field and our
duties on fresh meats repealed, as is pro-
posed in the Wilson bill, how long do you
suppose it will be before you will see in
New York harbor shiploads Of frozen Aus
tralfan mutton and other Shiploads of
South American beef? UntaXed Australian
mutton raised on land practically free COM
peting with your mutton that is raised on
high-priced land, where sheep and land are
taxed TO support a. civilized government.
How long can you stand such competition?
l hope you may never be compelled TO meet
II trust that the protests now going up
TO Congress from one end of this land to
the other will convince them that they
should no longer listen to these 'subIimated
theorists called tariff reformerS. but rather
give ear to the men OF the shop and the
men Of the farm. In this paper, which you
have all seen. it is stated that twenty-nine
of the finished products of the farm that
are now protected by equitable duties are
placed on the free list by this Wilson bill.
The story of each one of these articles, II
searched out, would sound very much like
the history Of free wool and free mutton
as l have given it to you. In every branch
of manufacture you will find similar stories.
Then are We not all bound together both by
our separate and mutual interests? Is not
every, trade and every class of farmers
pound In one common interest-in one COM
IRON caose-to make one common effort to
defeat this threatened disastrous legislation
known as the Wilson bill. Farmers have
rot asked 70" such law. No manufacturing
class has asked for it. Every productive
interest will be injured by it"
While Mr.. Merritt was speaking every
one present listened with the closest at
~tention, while quite a number Of his hear
ers by nodding their heads, and other
signs. showed their full approval of all
he was saying. One old man especially.
who sat in The back part Of the room, con-
Stanuy eNlnceu MS approval by nodding
his head. and every time an especially peril
nent point was reached he would empha-
size his mods by a vigorous slap on his
neighbours knee or back. That Mr.. MIer-
ritt's remarks were fully concurred In bv
his hearers was demonstrates by the loud
applause he received when he concluded
his address.
l. ~. Cotton. of Marion county, then Of
fered the following resolutions:
Whereas ii Is proposed in the Wilson
on the free list twenty-nine OF the finished
products of the farm which are now pro-
tacted by equitable duties. and
Whereas the same bill gives many man
ufacturers ~ per cent. protection, now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That we condemn the gross
and unjust discrimination against the
farming interests manifest In that bin.
and We call on our congressman and Sem
atOrs 10 oppose said bill"
In support Of his resolution sIr. Cotton
said: Our whole structure of political
and social economy rests upon the pros
perity of the farmer. When the farming
interests OF our country are prosperous the
whole is prosperous TO the same degree:
but on the other hand. smite the farmer
with poverty and it is Immediately felt
throughout the entire land. Every in
dustry. every home, every individual feels
the blow that takes from the farmer his
produce at a price that is not adequate for
the labor involved in It's promotion" State
Senator Mount said a few years