Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1896-09-03

last session for the current fiscal
ear are worry large iH amount.
This is a description Of the con
ditiou Of the country under the low
tariff law OF 1916, ana no better
description could be written Of the
condition of the country under the
tariff law Of 1894. (Applause.) Can
the farmer be benefited by free
coinage of silver (? (Cries of emo"
mo- mo- No, forever no, my
fellow citizens. (Cries of "Hurrah
for Mckinley - lie cannot be
helped because, If the nominal price
of grain were 10 rise through an
imitation of the currency, the price
of everything else would rise also
and the farmer would be relatively
no better off than he was before.
(Cries of ''that's right, major.")
He would not get any more real
value for his grain than he gets
now, and would suffer from the
general Generalization which would
follow the free coinage of silver.
You cannot help the farmer by
more coinage of silver !; he can only
be helped by more customers for
his products. You cannot help him
by free trade, but as | have shown
he can be hurt and seriously hurt
by the free introduction of com
tpeting products into this-couhtry.
Better a thousand times enlarge the
markets for American products,
than to enlarge the minis for the
silver product of the world !! (Tre-
mendous applause, and cries of ''you
are right.") You might just as
well understand now that you can
notadd value to anything by dim
inishing the measure of the value
with which the thing is sold or ex-
changed. Great cheering and cries
of "Hurrah for Mckinley ~ If
you can increase the value by low
ering the measure of value, and
you want to benefit the farmer,
then make the bushel smaller, the
pound lighter, and declare a legal
dozen less than twelve. (GreaC
laughter.) The home market is
the best friend ot the farmer. 1t
is his best market. 1t is his only
reliable market. 1t is his own nat
ural market He should be pro-
tected in It's enjoyment by wise
tariff legislation, and this home
market should not be permitted to
be destroyed by lessening the de-
mand for American labor and dim
mishing the pay of American work
men, aud thereby diminishing the
demand for agricultural products.
applause
The sugar industry should be
cultivated and encouraged in the
United States. Diversity the pro-
ducts of agriculture and thus you
viii have additional employment
for your land. The only way to
help the farmer is to increase the
demand for his farm products.
THIS can be done by preserving u
home market to him and by ex-
tending our markets, which we did
in 1S92-3-4 under the reciprocity
provisions Of the tariff law of 1890.
I(Great cheering.) The best con-
sumers for the American farmer
are those ~ home. They consume
eighteen times as much Of the pro-
ducts of the American farm as the
foreign consumer. Their earning
power has been cut off in the past
two years so that it makes Il home
market less desirable. Prosperity
of manufactures is inseparable from
the prosperity of agriculture. Set
all our wheels in notion, set all
our spindles whlrling, set all our
men at work on full time, start up
the idle workshops of the country,
bring back confidence aud business
and the farmer will at once feel the
influence of the greater demand fol
his products aud in the better
prices he would receive. Great APP
plause, and cries of"You are right
He wants to be protected by wise
tariff Legislation from the competition
of the other side ; and then he wants
the mines and mills and factories o.
his own country humming with busy
industry, employing we'll paid work
men who can buy and hi:
products. When he has got custom
ers, he wants his pay for what he
sells in such unquestioned coin thai
he will know it is good not only to
day, but will be certain to be gooc
, every day of the year and in al
) countries of the world. Long anc
enthusiastic %applause.) Free silver
will not cure over-production no
under Laughter.) Free
silver will not remove the com
;. petition of Russia, India, and Argen
tine Republic. This competition
would remain if you would coin al
{ the silver in the world. Free silve.
will not increase the demand for you