Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-09-14

overtaken, or likely to be in our day.
and inasmuch as the patience of the
western farmer has not only been
commendable, but phenomenal, it now
seems that the burdens he is carrying
and has carried so long should be, if
not entirely removed, at least tighten.
ed.
h The stock-raiser is in the same
plight with the wheat-grower. The
home market does not yield him an
advantage in the slightest degree over
the foreign market. 1t requires no
great amount of knowledge of poit-
lcal economy to determine this be-
yond all possibility of dispute. Sup
pose on contiguous western farms
two neighbors start each with load
OF grain (whether it be oats, wheat or
rye will make no difference) for a rail.
way station. Two buyers, we will
suppose, are there located to purchase
gram, one for the domestic market
and the other for foreign firm. If
the grain be of like quality each will
receive the same price per bushel az
the other, though one load is ground
up and consumed in this country,
while the load of his neighbor is con-
signed to foreign market.
If two farmers drive each q car
load of cattle or hogs to the salne sta
ton, if they are alike in quality the
same price per hundred will be paid
for both lots One load may, however,
be consigned to New York, there to be
transferred to England, while the
other is slaughtered at home and con.
sumed by our own citizens. The net
receipt or profit to the farmer is in
each case the same though both may
forever be in total ignorance on the
point whether their products were
consumed in this country or in tho
Old World. This much being conce-
ded, for there is no possible escape
from this conclusions veritable ip.
noramus is capable of verifying that
much-then we have only to direct our
investigation to the prevailing condi-
tlon,. the lnvariable character of the
foreign market, to determine whether
or not the protective system is a
friendly institution or a beneficent
contrivance for the western stock
raiser.
when this western stock-feeder ar.
rives in England, France or Germany
with his hogs and cattle, the product
OF his labor, the result of his contin-
| ued toll what does he find? Has he =
monopoly of the market which enable.
him to dictate prices and thus deter
mine the per cent of his profits? Does
he finds Uncle Sam there with the Nc
kinley bill and the glorious Stars and
Stripes to protect him? Are the Amer
lean champions of protection there to
plead his cause, to intercede for him
and to secure for him a paying price7
Does he hunt up the republican plat
form and offer it as an argument that
he should receive an advance upon cur
rent market quotations? Has he the
patience to wait and trust that the
gospel of protection, with which he il
SO thoroughly familiar that he know.
it by heart, will come to his rescue
! and insure him a comfortable div.
idend, satisfactory per cent on his
investment? Is he stubborn enough
to ignore the state of the worlds mar
kets and insist that, inasmuch as he is.
citizen of the great United States of
America and firm believer in the
protective principle, market quota.
lions must be revised to harmonize
with the great American systeln?"
No! he doeth none of these things.
Like sensible man he yields to the
inevitable, he succumbs to the stu
alton. He takes for his grain or meat
whatever he can get, and the most un
comfortable circumstance of all is that
II he be in the market with wheat he
sells it in competition with the wheat
| from India, and if he be there with
cattle he will dispose of his animals a.
does his competitor from South Amer
lea and other parts of the world in
open, merciless competition with ey-
erybody having cattle to sell. Indeed,
he is at the mercy of circumstances
over which he has not the slightest
control. Uncle Sam is as impotent to
protect him as is the wooden god OF
carved idol to ward off pestiIence or
prevent famine in the lands of the
heather devotee.
But thus far we have been consid-
ering the question on the supposition
that the foreign market 10 at all times
open to the western live stock raiser
The historical truth is that in the
past he has been excluded therefrom
with at least a part of his products
and we do not know how soon he may
be excluded with all. There are some
fundamental facts which underlie
this whole controversy, this entire
question of trade and commerce, that
have been stated so repeatedly and are
so primary in their nature and self
evident in their application that it
seems not only superfluous, but an
unwarrantable waste of time on the
part OF congressional committee to
again call attention to them. Our on
ly excuse for referring to these first
pr nciples is that, in order to state q
proposition understandingly, the pre-
misses upon which conclusions are bas.
ed should not be left unnoticed. These
should not be left to conjecture, but
frankly stated and distinctly elabora.
ted.
"one of these primary, self-evident
propositions is that commerce can not
be carried on with money. CONNER
cial exchanges and international trade