The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1903-06-18
Protection and the Farmers.

The trusts are blaming the increased
cost of their products on the working
men, who. they say, are demanding
unreasOnably high wages. As the cos
| of living has increased on an average
about 40 per cent In the last few
years. mostly In consequence of the ad
vance in the price of trust productions
| it Is difficult to see why the working
men should not get that much in
| creased wages, but wages have only
been advanced about - per cent
Wages have not kept pace with the
cost Of living. and the trusts and
combines having refused in many
cases to increase them, the result has
been the innumerable strikes to force
them to do so. Wages, thus being
forced higher. will increase the cost
of production, and the trusts will have
to again advance prices. and then Ia
Dor Will be compelled to make further
demands. How far this increase in
wages and the price of trust products
may go Is problematical. but it is GER
tain that those who have fixed in
come or those who cannot force an in
crease Of wages are great sufferers by
the increased cost Of living. and per-
haps a majority Of the people Of the
United States are in this condition. To
them the halcyon days of the trusts
mean lack of prosperity and diff
Guilty In making their income furnish
them decent living Monopoly, with
its insatiate nav. Is devOuring their
substance. vet those of them who are
Republicans still cling to the fetch
protection, that is the main cause Of
their suffering. If the tariff on trust
productions was abolished the fear of
competition would compel the conf
bines to lower the prices of their prod
ucts to prevent the importation of for
would enable the workingmen to spend
more money on luxuries and business
in many lines would improve. 1t is
prepOsterOus to answer that there
would be an influx Of foreign goods
which would shut up our factories, for
the trusts are competing with the for
eigners on their own ground and un-
derselling them. If. as is sometimes
claimed. the exports Of trust produc-
tions are sold at loss and are merely
the surplus that cannot be sold at
home, why this anxiety for foreign
markets and the boast of the Repub-
licans that the largely increased ex-
ports exhibit our wonderful prosper
ity? Business done at loss cannot
long continue. and to make the home
customer pay increased prices to carry
it on is an imposition upon the Ameri-
can consumer.
The farmer. whose products are not
protected, and whose surplus crops
must be sold in the markets of the
world. have just begun to feel the in
creased cost of what they have to buy.
They find the good prices for agricul-
tural products are being offset and the
of profits decreasing. With
good crops all over the world the pros
perity Of the farmer would disappear,
for the prices of farm products are
entirely established by supply and de-
mand. They have no trust Of combi-
nation to keep up prices, and any at
tempt to organize for that purpose will
fail, because it would not include even
4 minority Of the farmers. The price
,f every bushd of wheat is liked by
the demand for the surplus after the
people Of the United States have been
supplied. Bad crops in Europe mean |
Increased demand for American wheat, |
and good crops there force the prices |
lown. Other agricultural products of |
he United States, oe which surplus |
IS raised. are governed in value In
ike manner.
Protection to the trusts through the
ariff is therefore Il constant menace to |
he farmer and workingmen alike, and
rust prices are uniform tax upon |
heir incomes. The trusts must be
made to compete with their products
n the markets of the world as the |
'armer is compelled to do, by removing
he tariff protection.