The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1909-09-16
TARIFF AND CROPS
FORMER is FED ON THIS YEARS
IMMENSE HARVEST.
Tribute to the Trusts and Combina'
tions of Manufacturers Is Pro
portioncd to the Wealth OF
the Country.

There is a relation between the tar.
In and the crops of the west. On this
years $S,000,000 900 harvest the pros
peIlty of the nation is maintained.
And the tariff is fed on that prosper.
ity. The tariff tribute to trusts and
combinations OF manufacturers is pro.
portioned to the wealth Of the coun-
try. 1t is measured to take practical
ly all the margin OF production over
and above the needs of the years
living.
One adventitlously powerful citizen,
Joseph G., Cannon. spoke more signifi-
cantly than he intended when he said:
We can afford to throw In this jack
knife"-the Jack knife" being a little
matter of 100000 n year extra al.
lowed to a protected monopoly. Here
some and there some, into n few pri.
vate pockets, the wealth of the pro.
ducers of the country is distributed by
men who do not produce It and who
have no more right to lay their hahds
upon II and misappropriate II under
get the bulk of 1t would have the right
to take IT burglariously.
Tariff rates which exceed the differ.
ence between the cost OF production
Of manufactured articles at home and
the cost of their products abroad
have. of course. no more 10 do with
the production of the crops, or with
the price OF the crops. than they have
to do with the raising Of vegetables
on Mars. But these tariff rates have
more effect upon what becomes OF the
wealth produced, that Is, upon its dis.
tribution, than any other factor OF
modern living affects 1t. BY the me,
dium OF the tariiT the surplus wealth
of the country Is so absorbed into the
control and the actual possession OF
he few that the most productive ma
ton on the earth is practically held
TO handto-mouth existence, After
years and years of $4,000 100000 har
vests one year of scant crops would
throw the country into financial de
preston And If there were $4,000,
100000 for consecutive years the trusts
and combinations OF special interests
fosterod and abetted chiefly by the
tariff, would manage so as to conccn
trate the great body of that wealth
into their own hands that the mass
Of the pcople-the produccrs-w would
have little laid by for period OF
scarcity.
Now, It needs not the wise counsel
Of a Joseph in Egypt to make provi
sion from the seven fat years for the
seven lean years to follow-it needs
not that narrative to teach the plain
truth that It is absurd that coun.
try OF such productiveness should de.
pend for its prosperity on each years
contribution of wealth The improvi.
dence of that course is all the more
foolish and hateful since the people
do not even have the spendthrift
pleasure of throwing their money
away" The money is taken from
them for the few to spend fraction
Of extravagantly and to pile up
larger proportion into a concentrated
money power whose influence ia felt
outrageously In politics, in congress
and In social and industrial affairs.
The theory that he is the best ciu
zen who makes two blades of grass
grow where one grew before implies
the principle that mankind is bettered
by his industry. The special interests,
whose system Is cemented and held
together by the tariff graft, assume
that the extra blades Of grass were
grown for them-and they make good
with their assumption, for they get
the grass. How long will the people
suffer this monstrous perversion?