Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1907-06-15
EVERY FARMER PROTECTED.
Should Dread Competition of Foreign
Labor Products.

The editor of an Indian territory pa
per cannot see how the tariff Hotect5
the farmer. He is very proAVj hon
est in his position, though hens put
! ting charity to somewhat of strain
when he declares that farmer can
be a Republican is one of the curiosi-
ties of the political situation"
That a farmer who votes in accord
ance with his own so-called class In
terests can be anything but Republi-
can would be still more curious. There
are lots of farmers who are Demo-
Gratis, and sincerely so, but we venture
the assertion that their political creed
is not based upon a careful study or
their own interests. They are Demo-
Gratis for other reasons.
1t is argued that 'the prices OF near
ly all the necessities he buys are pro-
tected at the average ratarof 60 per
cent, while the prices of the commodi-
ties he produces are made in competi-
ton with the world"
Those who argue that way are not
fools. But in our opinion they are
most egregiously mistaken. II the
farmers who are directly protected by
the tariff against Mexican cattle, or
those who are directly protected
against IaTadian wheat, should sud
denly find the bars let down, those
farmers at least would soon see where
they are protected But this is only
very small degree of the protection
which the farmer receives.
The greatest degree of protection is
that which he receives indirectly. The
tariff provides him with a market for
his products at home by putting
wages into the pockets Of workingmen
and by enabling the vast and varied
commercial enterprises of the country
to flourish. 1t is superficial to say
that Liverpool fixes the price OF the
American farmers wheat and corn. 1t
must not be forgotten that the farmer
more than any other producer is the
victim of the speculative market, with
which the tariff has nothing whatever
to do. But aside from this disturbing
and eXtraneous influence, which is it.
self intimately affected by fiuctuating
crops, the price which the farmer re-
ceives for his product is determined
entirely by supply and demand. The
supply may be limited by poor crops
and the demand may be increased by
prosperous times. Conversely the sup
ply may be abundant and the demand
small in times of commercial depres-
sion.
AS a producer of hard times nothing
has ever been so successfuN tried in
this country as a substantial reduction
in the tariff. When the factories are
idle and commercial industries Ian
guish, the farmer finds his most profit
able and extensive market cut off.
The severest blow which the agricul-
tural interests could sustain would be
the enactment of legislation at all APP
preaching free trade.
In protecting industries which fur
nish buyers for what the farmer raises
protection protects every farmer in
the land. The farmers real competitor
is not the grower of wheat in Canada
or Siberia or Argentina, it is not the
raiser of cattle and hogs in Mexico or
South America 1t is the manufac-
turers across the sea, whose products
are excluded by tariffs that keep
American factories running apd fur
nish American workingmen and allied
consumers. with the means of buying
what the farmer has to sell-kansas
City Journal.