Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-05-26

and some farmers say we are being
robbed by high tariffs, trusts, etc.
The Herald says in the same editorial
that Canada is a low tariff country.
If it is, the United States looks good
10 me.
If the Canadian farmer sells flax,
barley or oats to pay for what he has
to buy, he will have to sell much
greater quantity than we do, as flax,
barley and oats are relatively cheaper
there than wheat.
It's still raining and if I was not
writing I would be sleeping, and my
time is of little value today and with
your permission l will try to answer
the following from part of the ed:-
torial in the May list issue of the
Herald and will make some COMPARE
sons as to prices in the past and
present:
"Now, with reference to the re-
mainder of the Tribunes para
graph, let the Tribune explain
in what manner the price of
wheat and corn and oats and pork
and beef to the American farmer
is enhanced by charging the farm
err a criminally high and utterly
needless duty on every yard OF
cloth that enters into his suit of
clothes and every DIT of Bingham
that his wife uses in her dress
and every spoonful of sugar that
he puts in his coffee"
I will start with the self binder, as
that is one of the big trusts that is
robbing the farmer" My first binder
cost me four hundred bushels of wheat
at Hudson, Wis. The last one l pur-
chased last summer at Gilby, N. D.,
and it. cost me one hundred and fifty
bushels of wheat, or seventy-five
bushels of flax. Had l paid for my
first binder in flax, it would have TAX
en- over three hundred bushels of flax.
And had the dealer set up the two
binders and said to me, take the
1878 binder for nothing and I'll pay
the freight or give me $140 for the
1900 binder" he would now have the
1878 binder to look at. My first gang
plow cost me 40 bushels of wheat,
my last one seventy bushels of wheat.
And if the dealers would fill Third
street full of gang plows such as my
first one and say to the farmers,
Come and get them for nothing, or
pay us present prices for the gang
plows of today" you would have to
pay the drayman for hauling those
first gang plows to the scrap heap, for
no farmer with any brains would haul
them home to pillow with. He could
not afford to. Now, l suppose this is
an extreme comparison, but I want
to say that the farmers can buy more
and much more of the commodities
he has to buy at present with bushel
Of wheat, flax, oats or barley, or with
a steer, hog, lamb, butter or eggs
than he could in any period in my
forty years of raising them and buy
ing supplies for the farm. And if I
can't prove it by the market records
Of the past I'll vote the democratic
ticket straight at the coming election.
do not know of any way to Judge
the future, only by the past, and as
we have only had four years of
democratic Glow" tariff and admins
tratioa in my business lifetime, that
is the only period I can make COM
parison with, and I want to take up
some more of your space by making
some comparisons as to that period
If cheap everything but money. You
could not buy binders cheap, that is
sure. But it took from a half more
% double as much of the products of
The farm to buy binder, plow or
wagon or other farm machinery as at
present. 1t cost about six bushels of
wheat to buy key of nails in that
cheap period; about the same to buy
The same commodities and about the
same comparison all along. You men,
toned bingham in your editorial.
Many farmers wives buy gilgham
with eggs and butter (my wife does).
30 ask them if they cannot buy more
Bingham now with dozen of eggs or
4 pound of butter than they could in
hat cheap period. One dozen of
Of bingham then. Now one dozen of
eggs will buy from to 4 yards of
Bingham, and about the same COM
parison with butter. When l was a
boy 1 put in several months behind
4 counter in a general store at ten
dollars per month and board, and
worked Is to Is hours day and II
hours on Saturday. We traded gin
CHAM for eggs and the farmer had to
bring in about three dozen eggs to
buy a yard of bingham and if there
was any robber tariff in those days I
never heard of it. Now l am giving
a boy about the same age was then
thirty dollars per month on my farm,
and he is over at the village, a mile
away, most every night hours before
put up the shutters over the store
windows in those good old days, and
he can buy more of many goods now
for a dollar than I could then.
This letter is now much longer
than I intended it would be, but it's
raining dollars on my farm and l
want to make some more COMPARE
sons. You mention clothes. Every
few years I buy and have bought a
tailor made-to-order suit of clothes.