The Saint Paul globe., 1904-12-01
is THE FARMER A cHuMP

Is THE FARMER A CHUMP
No class of men in any community
ever received a greater insult to their
intelligence than that contained in the
attitude Of the Republicans toward
the farmer. They are playing him for
a sucker all the time. They did it
before election, and they are doing it
more openly and absurdly now. Con-
gresham Steenerson plays the game
when he says that the tariff on Ca
madam wheat is the first benefit that
the farmers of Minnesota have ever had
from the protective system. and that
he is not willing to relinquish 1t.
We are advised from the East that
definite plan of campaign on similar
lines has been adopted by those who
heartily oppose tariff revision, and by
those who really oppose while pretend
ing to favor it. They are all thrum-
ming away on this same old string.
They are beating drums in the farm
er's ear to arouse him to the danger of
tariff reform. They are sending word
out in the country districts every
where that if the tariff is adopted the
duty on wheat will go with the others,
and then they ask him what protection
his interests will have. We wonder if
it is possible that there should be in
the whole Northwest a farmer so
stupid as to be fooled by this paltry
game.
The tariff on wheat, as every sane
man knows, has no more connection
with the price of wheat than an anti
free lunch ordinance has with the VOL
une of foreign Immigration. The price
of wheat is fixed by the price at which
we sell our surplus for export. That
is determined by the competition of
the entire worlds supply in the entire
worlds markets. A surplus or a def
cit in Russia or the Argentine Repub-
lie has just as much effect upon the
price Of Minnesota wheat as a surplus
or deficit in Manitoba. AS matter of
record the price of all the wheat crop
of the Northwest has been advanced
from five to ten cents per bushel by
the opening Of new markets in the
Orient.
Now with wheat prices determined
in Liverpool it cannot make the slight
est conceivable difference to the Min
nesota farmer whether Canadian
wheat reaches Liverpool by an all
Canadian or all-English route, or
whether it comes from Minnesota and
is shipped from New York or Balti-
more or Newport News. AS a matter
of fact there may be slight advan-
tage to us in the latter, because our
railroads get the transportation
charges and their employees are cor
respondingiy benefited. This tariff on
agricultul al products is a swfndle and
a shame. Everybody knows it and al
ways has known it; unless there are.
as the Republicans insist, a mass of
farmers too unintelligent to undeT-
stand what is clear to the rest of the
world.
The peculiar impudence of this pro-
test against tariff revision shows ON
the very surface. In the first place.
xx-I,xy r17or,I5 +E,o ro5,,ot;.x,. "a 5.-..
trust made articles, on the products of
factories which sell cheap abroad and
dear at home by virtue of protection.
require a change in the tariff on wheat
anyway? Is there any law in the dec
aiogue which obIiges the Republican
party to cut off the tariff on wheat as
a condition of cutting off the infamous
duties that rob the American con-
sumer? If the grain tariff is a benefit
to anybody, no impediment lies in the
way of keeping it If the Republican
party so chooses.
But, on the contrary, the wheat
tariff is today mere shell out of
which all the substance has been suck
ed by department rules. The only use
for Canadian wheat in this neck of the
woods is furnished by the n1fllers. The
only protection that the farmer could
have is to keep the nlillers from going
to Canada for their supply instead of
buying from Minnesota. Now while
the tariff keeps other people from buy
Ing Canadian wheat, it is being inter-
preted by decision after decision so
that the mTIlers may get all of It they
want They can now buy and ship It
in bond ana manufacture their -four
for export without paying duty.
Where does the farmer come In? How
is he protected when all the big buy
ers of wheat can get it from Canada
without paying a cent of duty? By.