The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-10-23
HURTS THE FARMER.
THE DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF
THE WILSON TARIFF.
Shall Thoy Continue? P Republican Plat
form Says No-Chicago Platform and
Candidate Says Yes--A Few Quotations
from organs Speeches.

In previous articles during the cam
paign we have shown some OF the ways
in which the WilsonGorman tariff has
injured Michigan farmers.
Q) 1t has curtailcd the exports of
farm products. In the fiscal year 1892.
under the Mckinley tariff and the re-
ciprocity treaties, the total value of
such exports was $700, 32s, 232 In the
calendar year 1905, under the Wilson
tariff their value was only $3.50, 2l5, 3l7,
afalling off of $24G, ll6,9l5, or over 80
per cent.
(2) 1t has increased the imports OF
many farm and pasture products, in
Guiding almost everything that is
raised in Michigan. OF wool alone the
imports during the fiscal ye1r 1894,
which was the last full year of the Nc
Kinley tariff, were 55,152,5s5 pounds.
In the calendar year 1895, which was
the first full year under the Wilson
tariff, they were 24s, 9s9, PIT pounds, an
increase, of 1913, s36, 632 pounds, or 35l
per cent.
(3 BY it's depressing effect upon
manufacturing industries, especially of
wooden goods and iron manufactures,
it has greatly injured, and in some
eases destroyed, tue home market,
which is the most valuable market for
the farmer.
(4) IL has been especially disastrous
inits effect upon the lumber and iron
interests OF Michigan. which in 1892
were employing more than 100, 900 men
at good wages, and which were large
consumers of almost everything that
was raised, for man or beast. These
industries arc not, now, employing one.
fourth as many men as in that year,
and their consuming capacity is re-
duccd in even greater proportion.
One of the main questions in this
campaign is whether the tariff policy
which has been thus destructive OF
American industries and of home mar
kets shall continue.
The Republican platform says: eve
renew and emphasize our allegiance
to the policy of protection as the bull
wark of American industrial independ-
ence and the foundation OF American
development and prosperity This
true American policy taxes foreign
products and encourages home indus
tfy; it puts the burden of revenue on
foreign goods; it secures the American
market for the American pr )ducer; it
upholds the American standard Of
wages for the American worl<ingman;
Il puts the factory by the side of the
farm, and makes the American farmer
less dependent on foreign dc mand and
price; it diffuses general thrift, and
Pounds the strength of all on the
strength of each. In its reasonable
application it is just, fair and impartial
equally opposed to foreign control
and domestic monopoly, to sectional
discrimination and individual favor
itism. y TO all our products
TO those of the mine and the field as
well us to those Of the shop and factory
Ito hemp, TO wool, the product of the
great industry of sheep husbandry, as
well as to the finished woolens of the
nills-we promise the most ample pro-
lection"
The Chicago platform, upon which
Bryan is running, holds that tariff
duties "should bc levied solely for the
purposes Of revenue" and adds, until
the money question is settled, we are
opposed to any further changes in our
tariff laws except such as are neces-
sary to'make up the deficit in revenue
caused by the adverse decision of the
supreme court on the income tax"
Mr.. Bryan himself is even more
strongly opposed to protection than
are the various parties which are sup
porting him. His chief reputation in
congress was made by his tariff
speeches of March 16, 1892, and
January 10, 1894. In these speeches
nc denounced protection in every
form, and in the 1894 speech he
advocated every reduction in the tariff
that was proposed, his only lament be-
ing that the reductions did not go far
enough. Here are two extracts from
the 1892 speech, and columns of the
same sort of stuff might be quoted:
II desire to say that 1 am in hearty
sympathy with the majority of the
committee in its decision to attack the
tariff in detail; and 1 think that the
bills which have been reported and the
DlllS w Dc IcpOi Icu Will July duSWcT
the argument of the gentleman, that
we are making only u slight assault
upon the system.
1.-THE reduction which we have made
IN the tariff upon manufactured articles
r. great reduction in existing sched-
u.es. 1t is not as great a reduction as
might be made. | believe that we
have left far more tariff ihan can be
shown to be necessary to provide for
any difference, il there is any differ
ence, between the cost of manufacture
here and abroad. But 1 am led to
agree to this moderate reduction of the
tariff upon manufactured articles for
two reasons: First, because, in going
from n vicioi4 system-and l believe
that our pres,ns system is a vicious
system. created by the necessities of
war and continued by favoritism-be-
cause, say, in going from a vicious 10
correct system, the most rapid pro-
gress can be made by degrees"
The following is from the Congress
sional Records report OF Mr.. Bryan's
speech Jan Is, 1894, when the Wilson
bill was under discussion.
Mr.. Bryan: II have said that the