Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-09-29
FARMERS AND TARIFF
Home Demand Supplies the Chief
Market for Agricultural
Products.
WHERE THEIR INTEREST LIES.
Effect Of CurtaiIing the Purchasing
Power Of the Men Employed
in Factories.

We export about one-third OF the
wheat grown in the United States either
in the form of -four or of wheat. We
corn crop. The expectation of other
grain is as rule triAing in quantity, al
though the very low price of oats for the
past two years, owing to hecvy produc-
ton and falling off in the home de-
tnand for consumption by street rail-
way horses and driving horses, has led
to a considerable foreign movement In
this grain. OF our meats we probably
export about 10 per cent, although exact
statistics are not available on this point.
These figures are sufficient to make il
plain to the intelligent farmer that the
home market is his great market, and
that any causes which reduce the home
demand for provisions directly iDjure the
farming interest.
Besides the staple articles of grain and
meat, there are a multitude of farm
products for which there is no market at
oil except the home market. This In
cludes the whole range of perisha BILE
fruits and vegetables, and also includes
to a very great extent the dairy products.
Other important items are poultry and
eggs. All thrifty farmers know the value
of home markets for such articles as
these, and know, too, that much of the
profit of farming comes from the minor
productions of the farm.
If we are to have increased home con-
sumption of farm products we must have
labor generally employed, and at fair
wages, in the towns and cities. To keep
labor well employed it is absolutely es-
sential under the present conditions that
we should have protective duties upon
large range of foreign-made articles.
This is no longer matter of theory,
about which Intelligent men dispute. 1t
free trade that the superior intelligence
of the averag &c American workingman and
the superior quality of the machinery he
used would be sufficient protection to
insure our own markets for our own
manufactured products. This is de-
fusion which no intelligent man now adj
vocates. The extension of commerce by
steamship lines all over the world, the
laying of submarine telegraph cables,
the worldwide habit of travel, the cheap
ness and convenience of transportation,
and the general spread of intelligence
by newspapers has put the entire civ
ilized and semi-civilized globe in close
business relations. Our ingenious labor,
saving machines are being introduced
into China and Japan. and no important
improvement is made in inventions in
this coutry that is not Immediately
known in all parts of Europe. The skill
and producing capacity of the mechanics
and operatives of other countries are
constantly being increased by the sharp
ness of competition and by the introduce
ton of new methods and machinery.
Labor all over the world is tending to a
common level.
Now the thoughtful farmer will readily
see that if we were to keep up the abili-
ty of our own shop and factory popula-
ton to consume his product in liberal
quantities we must maintain an excep-
tional rate of wages. If through such
free-trade legislation as Mr.. Bryan and
his followers advocate we are to lower
our American wage-earning population ia
the standards of living prevailing in the
manufacturing countries which compete
with us, then there would be great
surplus of farm products in this country
for which there would be no home mar
ket. We must put up tariff wall to
keep out food of such articles as we
manufacture i'm our own country, or We
will soon be deluged with cheap ware:
and fabrics from Japan and China al