The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-06-03
THAT POTATO TARIFF.

The Hon. Ole Myran, of the state CEN
trail Republican committee, having come
to grief through the exposures of his
nonsense by "The Representative" and
the Penny Press, has at length appealed
to Congressman Eddy for help in his
predicament.
1t will be remembered that the potato
member Of the Republican committee
had been preaching to the Red River
valley farmers that the low price of their
potatoes was due to lack of tariff pro-
lection on them, and that the salvation of
the Red River valley was high potato
tariff to keep out the pauper tubers
of Europe. Being unable to back up his
blind-as-a-bat partisan theory, he ap-
piled to the Seventh district congress-
man, and that gentleman furnished this
highly interesting bit Of logic and Stats
tice:
For the fiscal year of 1895 Chat is the
year beginning July 80, 1894, and ending
June 80, 1895, and that is the way statis-
tice are calculated in the government
offices) there was imported into the
United States one million three hundred
and forty-two thousand five hundred
twenty-three bushels Of potatoes.
when we come to consider that our
potato crop for 1895 was double that Of
1894 it seems to me that any man can at
once see that such importation had some
effect on prices"
Now the potatoes in question were
these dug-or left in the ground undug-
in the fall of 1895. It is interesting there
fore to note that the nearest that the
eminent Mr.. Eddy gets to this blooming
potato question is June, 1895. That is,
he gives statistics regarding the crop Of
1894!
if, or lack of tariff, has ruined the crop
of 1895, the brilliant congressman from
the Seventh district tells about the I'M
ports which came into competition with
the crop of the year before. This 10
about as much of an explanation, howev-
err as the matter would stand, and about
as near common sense as the small pota-
to tariff demagogue usually gets to a
subject.
Mr.. Eddy tells the farmers Of the Red
River valley that the 1872, 1923 bushels
which came in during 1894-5 were a sam
pie of the ruin which the present tariff
is bringing upon the agricultural inter-
ests of the country. Why did he not tell
his constituents that under the Mckinley
tariff in 1923 there were imported L.
295,946 bushels, and that during the first
eight months and Is days Of the McKin-
ley tariff there came into the country
5,255,913 bushels of foreign potatoes?
But why was it necessary for MIR. Eddy
to evade the facts which his constituents
called for? Why did he not give them
the imports for the past fall and winter,
which might have something to do with
the price Of the 1895 crop?
From July 1, last summer, down to the
first of March last, there were only 1O0,-
500 bushels Of potatoes imported into the
ccuntry-less than one-eighth Of the
crop of Chisago county alone last fall.
During the same period we exported to
other countries 531,372 bushels!
The few foreign potatoes imported
probably sweet potatoes at the i'm
port price Of Al cents per bushel. Did
these Accent potatoes cause the price to
drop to cents or less in Minnesota?
Does Mr. Eddy think that he can make
Minnesota farmers believe that these
100, 900 bushels of Al cent potatoes fixed
the price of 100000 bushels OF Min
nesota potatoes at from to IL cents? Mr.
Eddy's potato argument will not keep as
long as the potato crop Of 1895 1t is so
cheap that, like much Of the potato crop
of his district, it is not worth digging.
F. N. S.