The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1909-09-03
TRIBUTE TO TRUSTS
SYSTEMATIC LEVY MADE ON THE
FARMER.
AgricuIturists Are Beginning to Un.
derstand How They Are Being
Bled in the Interests of
Eastern Trusts

Do the farmers know what the on
gressiOnal cloakroom theory is about
them and the new tariff law? Doubt
less a few of them do, but most of
them may not have learned it. Well,
the cloakroom theory-the theory in
formally discussed and informally but
very generally adopted by the Rhode
Islanders of cOngreSs-is something
like this:
I'VE have kept up the duty on farm
products. We are going to have big
crops. The farmers are going to be
prosperous this fall. The farmers will
be made to understand that their pros
psrity has been brought about by the
new tariff law. AS a matter of fact,
so long as they are prosperous they
will care very little about the tariff
or anything else. They know good
prices on grain and live stock, which
they have to sell. They do lot know
how much we get out Of them on the
things they have to buy
And this theory is not by any means
absurd, for it is entertained by high
p~rotectionistS who have seen the same
theory work in the past and who are
SO blind to changing conditions that
they believe it will work again just
as we'll as it ever did. But unless all
signs that may be read "on the
ground are misleading, the farmers
of this country, and especially of the
great west, know the tariff better
than they ever know it before. They
have been awakened and enlightened
by those Republican leaders who have
stood by their party's platform and
by the presidents promises. Those
leaders have exposed the corruption
that has entered into the protective
system, and their expOsitions have
been convincing because they have
been unanswered by those who have
been challenged and because they can
not be discounted by partisan consid-
erations.
If this enlightenment-the enlight-
eminent of the tariff revision campaign
of last year and of the extra session
recently ended-is all that it seems to
be, the farmers now understand some
things they never before, as a class,
understood in the same way. They
understand that the duties on farm
products are an empty sop to the
farmers, because the volume of farm
products is far greater than the do
nestle demand, and, therefore, it is
the international market that deter
mines the prices of these products.
They know that eve with all these
farm products OF the free list, there
would be no impOrtations, for the rest
of the world does not provide all of
these articles it needs and must con-
stantly draw on the United States
for supplies and could not, therefore,
send supplies to the United States.
They know that in return for this
favor of duties on farm products the
farmers are made to pay enormous ex-
cesses in purchasing many other ar
ticles of food that are either not pro-
duced in this country or are produced
in insufficient quantities to meet the
domestic demand.
They know that they are made to
pay high tribute to the trusts in the
purchase of all kinds of clothing, all
kinds Of farm implements, nearly all
kinds of household furnishings, paints,
leather goods and many other articles
of necessity.
They know that the net result of the
tariff, so far as they are concerned, is
continuous extortion without compen-
sation-a confiscation of a considera-
BILE portion of the profits that accrue
from the farming business.
In short, they know that for taking
from them what they need and
have a right to keep, the makers of
the tariff have attempted to satisfy
them by giving them something they
do not need and can not usa-Kansas
City Star.