Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-06-09

quarter of a century. Now, during
these twenty-eight years the great
wheat raising states of western Min
nesota, the Dakotas, Oklahoma, west
ern Nebraska, western Kansas and
many other states to the west and
south of us, came into being as wheat
raising states, and yet our per cent
of increase in wheat raising in twen-
ty-eight years has been only twenty
one per cent. Now, my friends, d.
verging lines must cross, and when
that time comes, and it is almost
here, we will be importing wheat
from Canada to feed our own people,
and Canada today has the greatest
virgin wheat fields on this planet,
everything else considered"
Jim Hill is a prophet, not only in
his own country, but in every coun-
try. Professor Thompson, of the
University of Pennsylvania, John
! Young, the great statistician, as well
as practically every close observer in
the country, are one On this point.
Assuming to be something of stu
dent of economic conditions, l cannot
get away from the fact that five tim
the American people have made the
experiment of radically lowering the
tariff under the influence of theory,
and five times they have come back,
through the hard lessons OF expert
ence. Now, if there be no operation
OF the law of cause and effect mere.
then the coincidence is the most re-
markable thing in our history. 1t IS
lust such eminently respectable news
papers as the Herald that brought
about the defeat of the republican
party in 1892, because of the Mckin-
lev bill of 1890. I know, of course,
that the Herald in those days could
not be put in that list, but it is there
today Just the same. You say, in et'
feet, "Oh, we are protectionists. we
believe in our national policy; in
fact, no one believes in free trade,
but it is the inequalities of the Payne
Aldrich law. They are monstrous,
etc., etc." Then you are wont to
make an appeal to some isolated fact
which seems to prove your case.
when a comprehensive diagnosis CT
all the facts would prove the reverse
That question of duties on i'm
ports" is today, as it always has been
since the foundation of the govern
ment, the biggest economic issue In
the country. Fundamental principles
ought not to be lost sight of. The
notion seems to have gone abroad
that the revision of the tariff by it's
friends in 1909 is a thing of tricks
;%x This 10 mt tho
for while it is complex, and neces-
sarily so, in order to provide a basis
for treaties of reciprocity, yet there
is no intention apparent to conceal
any provision by ambiguity of express
sion. The undertaking journals OF
the country, controlled to large ex-
tent by the importers, tried to show
this in the case of Canada, but failed
in the effort. Now, while the law is
not perfect, no tariff law ever was
perfect, and possibly never will be
until our unscientific and archaic
way of revising the tariff is itself re-
vised 49, practically everyone now
agrees that a scientific tariff COM
mission like that in operation in Ger
many and Japan and almost every
other modern government, is the rem
edy. The administration of Presi-
dent Taft will see this an accom-
plished fact. And yet the law of 1909
is working out exactly as it's friends
said it would. For the first six
months under the law 81 per cent of
all our imports were free. This is
the best in our history and really
better than was promised. The duty
on lumber was reduced one-third:
everything the farmer uses in the
line of machinery was reduced; the
tariff on coal was reduced; oil is free;
hides are free. There were many
more reductions than there were
raises, while practically all the re-
auctions we're on necessaries and a
majority of the raises were on lux
uries.
We, here in North Dakota. as I
figure it out, produce one thousand
per cent more than we consume. The
price at which we can sell is of much
more importance to us than the price
at which we can buy, and taking into
consideration the things we can buy
with the products we can sell, we
were never so we'll fixed as we are
today. Our people, in fact, as the
Herald knows, get and use more of
life's comforts and luxuries than ever
before has tecn The c2sa 18th :.ry
other portion of the worlds popula-
ton at any time in all history. Our
lands are constantly rising in value.
We are getting the largest average
price for our products that was ever