Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-09-08
FARMER AND TARIFF.
RELATION BETWEEN AGRICULTURE
AND PROTECTION


! Protective Taria Beneats the
Farmer.
A few weeks ago Congressman g. G.
| Gilbert. a Democrat, representing the
Eighth district Of Kentucky in con-
gress. submitted the II following ques-
tons to the editor Of The American
Economist, who promptly answered
| the same, not, however. without ask
| ing protection editors generally to give
the queries their attention. Recognize
ing the desirability Of disposing Of the
| fallacies which hold such men as Con-
| gresham Gilbert in bondage, The
| Chronicle will endeavor to answer his
conundrums, prefacing what ii says on
! the subject with the statement that
| all of the questions are effectively dis
4 posed of by the statement of the fact
that the farmers Of the United States
| constitute practically the only prosper
| GUS agricultural class in the world:
| First.-Docs a protective tariff enable horne
manufacturer to sell bis goods at a higher price
than he could procure without this protection?
The effect of protective tariff Is diff
ferent at various stages of the growth
| of an industry. In the beginning it
may increase the cost of the protected
| article, but it does not always do so.
| That result does not take place If the
manufacturers of the foreign country
who enjoyed the trade prior to the es-
| tablishment of the domestic industry
were accustomed to gain excessive
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| imposition of a protective duty may be
| to Immediately lower the cost to the
| consumer. In all cases as soon as the
| domestic industry is well established
| there will be a diminution of real
! prices to a point below those which
| obtained before it's establishment. The
correctness of the first contention, that
| in the absence of a domestic industry
| the foreigner controlling the market
| eXacts a greater profit than he can OBJ
! tain after domestic competition has
| been established, is proved by the f1uc-
| tuations in the price of iron during the
| period preceding the creation of an
| American iron and steel industry.
| These show that when there was an in
| creased demand for rails in the United
States the English exporters doubled
| the price, and when the demand fell off
| they cut the price in half. (See Null
! halls Dictionary of Statistics for prices
of English Iron and Steel association.)
| No such extreme fluctuations occurred
after the period when American rail
manufacturers controlled the market
of the United States. That in all cases
after the establishment of a protected
| industry on such a scale that it is ca
pable of supplying the domestic want
| there must be q reduction from the
| price which the article would have
| commanded had the domestic competi-
| ton not been called into existence is
! self evident, for it is unthinkable that
! such a phenomenon as the doubling of
| the worlds output, as has happened
through the creation of many protected
manufacturing industries in this coun-
try. could occur without reducing
| prices. That the effect of the increas-
ed competition promoted by protection
in this country has reduced the real
price of iron to American consumers is
! infallibly proved by the fact that the
| present per capita consumption is four
fold what it was before protection op-
Grated effectively.
second.-Does this higher price follow the goods
on down the line until it reaches the consumer?
The answer TO question No. l fully
| covers this question.
Third.--lf the consumer has to pay higher prices
| by reason OF the protective tariff, explain how
the consumer is benefited ii he is farmer engaged
in agricultural pursuits.
Adam Smith answered this question
over 125 years ago in chapter 4, book 3,
of his Wealth of Nations" when he
! pointed out in detail the process by
which the increase and riches of com
mercial and manufacturing towns con-
tributed to the improvement and cult
walton of the countries TO which they
belonged" 1t must be obvious TO the
most superficial observer that it is true
that manufactures produce this result.
Take for illustration the effect produc-
ed by the extension of the manufac-
turing industry in the United States TO
the central portion. Through the de-
velopment of great manufacturing
/ ClLlGS IL lllOuHdnh lliAiGS anu lhOlC AlOLIl
the Atlantic seaboard the farmers of
Indiana, Illinois. Ohio and the other
cities of the middle west have had a
market brought TO their doors. with
the result that the prices obtained for
their products have been enhanced. 1t
has been assumed that the price of
wheat is fixed in foreign markets, but
the assumption is erroneous. Liver
pool quotations are merely register
of the conditions produced by the
worlds supply and demand of wheat.
The presence of nearby consuming
population is. therefore, more impor-
tant factor in determining the price of
wheat or any other farm commodity
than a remote foreign consumption can
possibly be. If protection had not call
ed into existence in the United States
a manufacturing population numbering
millions, the farm surplus, assuming
that the agricultural industry would
have increased as rapidly as 1t has in
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