The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-10-17

Ofdlu FOrRS IlmeS: A tariff law
does not directly give the producer
of farm products all the advantages
in prices which mark the difference he
tween democratic and republican adj
ministrations. The real reason for the
dlnerence is in the preservation of the
consuming market for these products
Every farmer understands that in or
der to- realize good prices for the COM
modities which he has to sell, there
must be consuming market with suf-
hcient money to pay those prices. A
farmer might raise a thousand bushels
Of wheat, yet If he had no one to pur-
chase that wheat, it would be worth
less as direct money producer. But
IL he could find a market for his crop
at one dollar a bushel it would be
worth thousand dollars. He can UNI
derstand, too, that in order to create
such a market there must be consum-
ers who demand the wheat and who
have the money to pay the price. The
application is direct from the produc-
er to the consumer.
The questions naturally arise, then,
who are the consumers of the pro-
ducts of the farms and what enables
them to procure the money with which
to purchase? A calm and sensible
study of these two propositions will go
a long way to vote In the present cleo
ton. Two classes of people are large
ly the ultimate consumers of North
Dakota Wheat--the idle rich and the
laboring men in the factories. mines
and mills. The. first class can be dis
missed as insignificant because of the
limited number, so that the real con-
sumer Is the laboring class. In 1906
the last statistics on this point at hand
--~the wage earners in the United
States numbered 5,470,321. The total
vote cast for president two years ago
was a little over 100000 so that APP
one third OF the popula-
tion are wage earners and consumers of
the products of the farm. The wage
earner's ability to buy depends upon
his being employed, while the price he
can pay Is dependent upon the wages
he receives. If he is employed. he can
buy; If he is idle, he can not If he
receives good wages he can pay good
prices; If he receives low wages. he
must pay low prices. Therefore, if the
more than 100000 wage .earners are
employed, they can buy the wheat
grown by North Dakota farmers for
BREADTH they are idle, they can not
buy 1t and there is no market If they
receive good WAGES they can pay good
prices for bread; II they receive low
wages or wages only part of the time,
they must pay low prices for bread.
If the success Of the democratic
party means no employment for the
wage earners, is 1t NOT self-evident that
such success means low prices for
North Dakota farm products? Fortu-
nately, 1t Is not necessary to rely on
logic to prove an affirmative answe.' |
The democratic party has answered IT
with facts. The government took no
census statistics in 1895 and so there
are no actual figures to show the nun
Der Of wage earners employed. But |
everyone who lived through that time
knows that factories and mills and /
mines were closed everywhere and the |
wage earners tramped the country |
looking for employment enough to buy
bread while their wives and children |
were supported on charity. There were
no buyers OF North Dakota wheat and |
farmers sold 1t for 30 cents q busrel. |
u not the placing in power Of politi- !.