Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1907-04-03
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~ ==OF THE DAY &
Observation-Disclosures
Farmer Organizations,
OF THE DAY /

mum price for which the producers
shall sell. There are two organiza-
lions, one the Society of Equity, and
the other known rs Farmers Unions"
but both appear to have the same end
In view. AS nearly every trade and
profession is organized for the purpose
OF increasing profits or fees or wages,
1t would seem but matter OF self
defense for the farmers to do likewise.
1t is not at all certain, however, that
this combination of farmers can sue
coed In their object, except in part, for
the price of all farm products of which
a surplus is raised more than can be
consumed In the United States must
be exported, and there sold in compe-
tition with the surplus crops OF other
countries. The great law Of supply
and demand In fixing the price of the
surplus is certain in great measure
to control the home price. AS an ex-
ample, the price of wheat in Chicago,
ST. Louis, Duluth or New York is the
same price as Liverpool. London or the
continental wheat markets, less the
freight and charges from our markets
to the foreign ones. The Society of
Equity has already discovered this. for
the price Of 81 bushel for wheat at
Chicago, which its officials declared
last fall was to be the minimum price
for which the members should sell, has
never reached that figure and is now
but 70 cents. The reason for this low
price of wheat is very simple one.
There is a large surplus here, the crop
Of 1906 being bumper one, which Is
trying to find market in such coun-
tries as Great Britain, and the surplus
from India, Argentina and elsewhere Is
seeking the same markets, and very nat
urally the English or other buyers fix
the price they will pay.
If all our wheat farmers were mem
bers of the Society of Equity and re-
fused to market their wheat until the
price was ST bushel, it might and
probably would compel our consumers
to pay that price, but the wheat grow
ers OF the West, with their present lin
tied storage on the farms. could not
retain the wheat. The moment bushel
of wheat leaves the farmers hands, al
though he may not sell 1t but only
store 1t in nm elevator, 1t at once be-
comes available for the Western mills,
or may be shipped to New York and
even exported. If the farmers owned
al! the elevators they might prevent
the wheat stored there from being
shipped. but that would require enor-
nous capital for the farmers to own
and build all the elevators. But event
ually the stored wheat would have to
be sold either to the mills or for ex-
port, and although If the wheat was
held back in the elevators the home
demand would force up the price the
surplus must still seek foreign mar
ket. and the price there would be less
than the price In the United States
But while the farmers were holding
back their wheat from market, the
mill owners would be using their In
f1uence with the administration to al
low Canadian wheat to be imported in
bond, made into -four in bond, and the
-four exported without the payment of
the duty of % cents bushel That
was actually done in the spring Of 1905,
when the supply Of wheat in the West
ern States ran short in consequence Of
the short crop of 1904 There were
205,S24 barrels of flour SO exported and
the drawback paid amounted to $685.
173. The tariff law, 1t is thus evident,
Is administered by our Republican high
tariff friends for the benefit Of the
wheat manufacturer, and the farmer
Is left In the lurch when the pinch
comes. Yet II that Canadian wheat
had not been Imported in bond, 1t is not
likely. that the price of wheat would
have been much, II any, increased, for
there was enough wheat and flour to
supply the home demand, and the aver
age price as reported by the Agrlcul-
tural Department was 924 cents a
bushel, the highest since 1888. For It
Is law of trade that when the price
OF even necessities goes beyond the
ability of the consumer to pay, con-
sumption decreases and thus keeps the
price within reasonable limit.
When 1t comes to making consumers
pay the price fixed by the Society Of
Equity on other farm products, such as
corn, oats and cotton, similar obstacles
prevail, for we always have surplus
of those products to sell and the price
is fixed by the law of supply and de-
mand In the countries to which the sur
plus is exported. There is perhaps an
exception with regard to cotton, for it
Is possible for the cotton growers to
hold back their crop, or part of It, from
the market until the price suits them !;
for cotton can be stored cheaply and
with but little deterioration for some
time. But we have virtual monop-
oily on cotton and 1t Is not protected
by the tariff, but wheat and corn and
oats are; yet even IL partial failure
of our crop of these cereals occurs, In
the case of wheat, 1t is seen how the
tariff law defeats Its own protested
object Of protecting the farmer by al
lowing wheat to be imported by the
mills and exported as flour without
payment of duty except one per cent
Of the duty of 25 cents bushel, and
corn and oats are never imported in
any quantity whatever the price may
be.
1t naturally must occur to the farm
er who investigates the tariff law, that
1t has been created for the benefit of
the manufacturer, and that the farmer
gets, not only no benefit, but is great
loser, for the protected trusts. into
which most manufacturers are COM
bined, charge enormous extra profits
on what he buys, because the tariff
protects them In SO doing. II the mem.
bers of the Society of Equity and the
Farmers Unions arrive at that conclu-
sion, they will, as matter of self
protection, vote to have the tariff re-
vised, SO as to abolish this unjust pro-
lection to the few at the expense of