The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-05-25
N. D. Man Shows Up Calamity
HoWlers on the Tariff Question

itdhe some more comparisons. Yol
mention clothes. Every few years
J puy and have bought a tailor made-to
order suit of clothes. cannot remen
per OF buying one for less than $45. The
last suit | bought this last winter.
PAID Grand Forks tailor $50 fol
them and they were about the same
quality as the other suits purchased
NOW, the tariff or duty on the wool in
That SALT of clothes, If the wool was
imported or the American farmer got
the tariff in added price to his wool
! would be about 40c. The wool in that
SUIT or clothes cost the manufacturer
ABOUT S2.40. You remember they said
When they put wool on the free list
ana a tariff on sugar that free raw
material (the farmers manufactured
article) would stimulate manufacture
In this country and wool would ad-
vance We all know the results. For
a pound of wool In those DAYS of free
wool farmer in the west could buy
pound Of sugar, now he can buy four
pounds of sugar with a pound of wool.
The sheep farmer must buy nails and
wire fencing with a. pound of wool
When wool was on the free list the
of nails or two pounds of wire fencing:
at present he can buy six pounds of
wire fencing for one pound of wool
ana still some say the tariff is robbing
the western farmer. presume that
the material in the $3.50 suit of clothes
did not cost $40. Thirty dollars repre-
SCENTS the labor and profit to the Crane
Forks tailor. Now. I did not kick on
the price Of the suit of clothes because
1t was the cheapest suit of clothes,
considering the quality, ever bought.
measuring the clothes by the products
of my farm, and that is what I buy
clothes with.
l take three daily papers at pres
ent. Two of them kick vigorously on
the tariff on print paper and kick about
the robber tariff on everything in most
every issue. In the low tariff and
cheap period The Daily Herald cost
me eight bushels of wheat per wear.
now 1t costs me four bushels per wear.
and l get a lot more paper for four
bushels of wheat than did for eight
bushels, and If paid for it with other
products of my farm the comparison
would be much greater In my favor
than with wheat, and from appearances
the editor or printer is making more
money at present that he was in the
cheap days. If my memory is right the |
editor was then living in a few rooms
on the third floor of The Herald block. |
Now he has a city residence, a summer
lake residence a country home where |
he can spend some of the money he |
makes in town as an agriculturalist. In |
he oh -
horseback, now he rides in a touring |
car, driven by high priced chauffeur. |
In the cheap days he spent his winters |
in cold North Dakota, now he and his |
family spend their winters in the sun
NEST and pleasantest cline they can
find, and for one am more than pleas
ed that he can do so, and I have no |
kick to make. Don't you think the tour
ing car, the paid chauffeur the lake |
residence and all the other Iux,Irjes
help to make your products high? I
do. In those cheap days It took eight
bushels Of wheat to pay for the other
daily paper that kicks harder than The
Herald does. Now / get that daily. |
with Sunday issue included, for three |
and half bushels of wheat and there |
is as much paper in the Sunday Issue
now as there was in the six issues in
the cheap days. and print paper, they |
say, has doubled in price. But 1t must |
pay or they would not be so anxious
to supply 1t at their own price That
editor is also making money. I visited
with him in his fine residence in Min
neapolis last winter and he told me
about touring the United States and
Europe with his family, six of them.
with a guide and chauffeur. Travelling
over 5000 miles abroad and Shipping
an American car to Europe and back
cost money. But l am awfully pleased
hat he could do it. That helps make
arm products high. If I had his brains
and energy / could tour Europe also.
You know | go to Grand Forks quite
often at present, and for the last few
years two bushels OF wheat will paw
ny railroad transportation down and
back, buy a highball before dinner, paw
or my dinner at Hotel Dacotah and a
'igar after dinner In those cheap DAYS
'or farm products-you seem to want
is to return tot cost over four bush
lis of wheat to go to the city and get
rink, eat and smoke at the same
places. So the present conditions suit
ne the best.
One more comparison. In those
heap days, with low tariff and prac-
ical4y all farm products on the free
ist-no protection to farm products
he farmers manufactured article-Il
lad some farm loans come due and L
:ould not pay them and must renew or
make new loans. (Who could pay loans
With SOC wheat. zoe barley and Sc
voolO To pay the interest on a $1,000
arm loan for one year I had to pay
It that time it took about $50 bushels
# wheat, and say, if had to pay the
interest In those days with wool or
farley the sheriff would have sold the
arm sure. At present rate of interest
hat / am paying it takes only fifty to
ixty bushels of wheat to pay interest
or one year on $1,000 farm loan. Now
could continue to make comparisons
'etween past and present that look