The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1907-11-23
FEW ARE BENEFITED
FACTS ABOUT THE FARMER AND
THE TARIFF.
AuricuIturists Are Taxed Heavily to
Support the Trusts and the Small
Number Who Are Protected
Standpat Policy.

Does the tar1n protect the FARMER
No. The tariff plumbers every farmer
on all that he buys, and but a few
farmers who raise sheep and a small
number that grow sugar cane and
sugar beets and a certain brand OF
wrappe tobacco are the only ones
that receive any benefit. AS the farm
ers who grow Connecticut seed wrap
per- tobacco are confined to two or
three townships in the Connecticut
valley, who are about the only ones
protected by the tariff on wrapper to-
bacco. their number Is so insignificant
as not to be worth mentioning. The
number Of farms Of which the prin-
cipal source Of income is sugar cane
and sugar beet growing, only exceeds
| per cent. of all the farms in two
states, namely, Louisiana 3.3 per cent:
and Utah 2.3 per cent, SO that the
other farmers of the United States,
besides every other person, pay the
tariff tax upon sugar of LOS cents per
pound to substitute tie Sugar trust and
these few cane suge~ and sugar beet
growers, and the principal share OF
the profit Is monopolized by the Sugar
trust, who control the beet sugar fac
tories and also the refineries for pro-
ducing granulated sugar, which Is vir.
tually the only kind in use In the
United States. ~
But how about the sheep farmers?
According to the last census, there
were 81, COS 81 sheep on farms and
ranges in 1900, of which more than
half that number, or 33,499, 669, were
on ranges in the mountain and Pacific
states, SO that while the t~ypically great
agricultural state of Iowa had only l.
056, 71S sheep, the state of Montana
had 6,170,4S3, New Mexico 4,S99,4S7
and Wyoming 5,099, 613. There were,
when the census was taken, 22S,622
farms in Iowa and only 1870 in Mon
tana, 1871 in New Mexico, and but
6,095 in Wyoming. In Iowa there
were on an average only four and me
half sheep to a farm, while in Montana
there vas an average of 461 sheep to
the farm and ranch. The average in
come from wool for each farmer of
Iowa, allowing him the value of all
the wool produced, was only $3.50 per
farmer.
How much does the tariff cost the
farmer? AS far as the individual
farmer Is concerned, 1t costs him &C
cording to what he buys. If he buys
imported manufactured goods, the
tariff tax is over Is per cent. on the
average. If he buys domestic goods
that are produced by a trust or COM
bine, protected by the tariff, the in
creased profit the trust or manufacture
er charges is very nearly what the
tariff tax would be on similar foreign
made goods when imported. 1t is es-
timated by the most reliable statisti-
clans that the increased cost of living
through the tariff, to the average fam
lily, is over 500, of which the govern
ment receives $3.50 for tariff taxes.
and the trusts and manufacturers re-
ceive about $S4. From this must be-
deducted what the farmer receives inf
the increased price of the sugar cane,
sugar beets, wrapper tobacco and wool
that he sells. How much that increase
is can be figured very closely by each
farmer, according to the profit IN the
amount Of those four articles he raises,
AS said before, the duty on refined
sugar 1876 cent per pound; and from
OK Ora b,,pIraIthC ~ n can't nm 70 I PE
cents on unrefined sugar; On sugar
beets it is difficult to be exact, as the
increased price depends upon the sac
charine matter contained in the beets,
but as all the beets raised In the
United States were sold to the sugar
factories for an average of $4.38 al
ton, it is safe to say that the increased
profit to the growers could not have
been greater than 3S cents a ton, for
the census report shows that it cost
the factory proprietors just over 81 a
ton to grow beets themselves. Il
So it ONE to this, if those farmers
who raise sheep get all the wool
sheared as profit, the average value
of which, according to the census, was
about 81 per sheep. and allowing that
the lambs pay for the food and trouble
of caring for his flock, the profit
amounts 10 81 a head. But to make
the sheep farmer come out even on
what the tariff costs him he must keep
a flock of at least 100 sheep, and have
losses by disease or the ravages of
dogs or wolves. Every farmer can
thus figure out what he gains by his
sheep and loses by the tariff on what
he buys. But only a small percentage |
of farmers raise sheep or sugar beets
or Connecticut seed wrapper tobacco,
while all the farmers who do not raise
these protected products are COM
PEELED to pay the tariff tax of about
500 a year to support the trusts and
help out the few farmers who are pro
Is that Republican policy q
square deal for the average farmer
and the general consumer? No one
but a Republican standpatter will say
II Is.
Tariff Here and Elsewhere.
It's rather absurd of the Mohonk