Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1904-04-21
A WHINING ORGAN.
sheds Hypocritieal rearss over the
Trust ridden American Harnsr.

Sheds HyDocfitical Tears Over the
Trust Ridden American DaRaeF.
Some Republicans In Minnesota and
other states bordering on Canada are
very anxious for reciprocity with Can
ada. The American Economist, how
ever, denounces this reciprocity 40 "a
means Of adding to the profits Of the
millers, the jobbers and the railroads"
and "a selfish, senseless scheme OF
cheapening the domestic market for
farm products" The Economist also
claims ut would break down the price
of wheat at Minneapolis, and for pre-
cisely that effect and for that reason
the Minneapolis milling corporations
and the Twin City daily newspapers
are urging reciprocity with all their
might and MAN,"
As every farmer knows, this crude
reasoning is based on the suppositfon
that the price of wheat Is fixed in
Minneapolis according to the amount
Of wheat received there. But the
facts are that the price Of wheat is
controlled by the combined crops of
the world and the demand for the sur
plus after our own and other home
markets are supplied. Those countries
like England which do not raise
enough wheat to supply their own
people buy what they need from the
United States, India, Argentina, Rus
STA or any other country that has q
surplus to sell. The demand for that
surplus fixes the price of wheat all
over the world, and the Canadian
wheat has but a slight influence to
raise or lower it. If the Canadian
wheat does not come through Min
neapolis, where most of 1t would be
ground into flour in American mills, It
would be shipped to eastern Canada
and either made into flour there or
shipped direct to England. In any
event the most of it reaches England
and completes in regulating the price
that is paid the world over.
The American farmer has been badly
treated by the protectionists. He has
to pay high tariff prices for all he
buys and has but little protection on
what he raises. The Economist knows
this and must bolster up its protection
fallacies by its pretended anxiety for
the American farmer. The Protective
Tariff league, which supplies the mon
ey to publish the Economist, is COM
posed of eastern manufacturers, most
Of whom are now organized into trusts
and combines, which are bleeding the
farmer at every pore, and their ankle
ty, expressed through their organ, the
Economist, for the protection Of the
farmer is like the love Of the lion for
the lamb-to make good meal of.
This contention among the Republic
an protectionists on the virtue Of reci-
procity, which, by the way, was ia
vored by Blaine and urged by McKin-
ley and was part Of the political creed
Of President Roosevelt until the 'stand
patters" forced him to yield to their do
nothing policy, is favored by many Re-
publicans who see that protection can
not long exist unless some of its bar
riers to trade are lowered.
The Democrats may accept reciproc-
ity us a means to break down protec-
ton, but it is not the Democratic way
Of curing the evil of monopoly. When
the farmers are relieved from trust
exactions by the tariff being reformed
80 that the trusts can no longer charge
them much higher prices here than the
same trust productions are sold for
abroad, the wheat problem will be set
tied at the same time. All the farmer
wants is to be allowed to buy in the
cheapest market and sell in the best
market that the world affords. The
farmer, with the trusts removed from
his back, which are now riding him to
his undoing, will then have equal
rights with the monopolists, who are
now enjoying special privileges at his
expense.