Rock Island Argus., 1911-04-28
The Tariff and the Potato.


islation has come into the nmelight
again during the debate on the Cana
dian reciprocity measure through the
protests of growers Of the succulent
tuber, who declare that they will be in
the condition of OtheIlo. with their
Occupation gone" should potatoes be
placed on the free list.
The contention is absurd. It is true
that the Mckinley bill placed a tariff
Of % cents per bushel on potatoes, and
that the Wilson-Gorman bill lowered il
20 10 cents. but under neither tariff
was there the least interference with
the production, the importation nor the
price of potatoes, although under vary
ing crop conditions the price fiuctu-
ated very widely during those years.
Europe, il must be remembered, is a
great producer Of potatoes, raising IA
times as large a crop as all of North
America II would seem that if protec-
tiCn was Of any value at all II ought to
be against Europe and not Canada,
which exports only limited amount of
potatoes. With a Is cent tariff against
the pauper potatoes of Europe it would
seem that We are in no danger from the
free potatoes Of Canada.
The New York Tribune, a republican
paper, II discussing the tariff on pota-
toes, says the statistics gathered by
the agricultural department do not sus-
tain the argument that the reduction
OF the duty on potatoes made by the
Wilson-Corman law reduced produc-
ton in the United States, On the con-
trary. in 1885, the year after the Viii
son-Gorman law was passed, produc-
ton here reached the largest total on
record up to that time-297. .237 900
bushels. a gain Of 127,000,0 600 bushels
over the total for the previous year. In
1896 the production was 252, 100000
bushels In 1897, when the Dingley
law was passed, restoring the 25 cent
rate, production fell to 164 100000
bushels, and in 1898 II was only 1922
C00,O 900. The agricultural departments
crop tables show conclusively that the
price a bushel in this country has var
led according to the size of the crop
production, and that changes in the
tariff duties had nothing TO 90 with
those variations. During the four years
in which the Mckinley law was in
force our importations were about g.
900 bushels. During the three years
in which the Wilson-Gorman law was
in force the importations were less
than 1000, 900 bushels
The notion that the domestic potato
industry was affected by the lowering
of the duty between 1894 and 1897 is
fantastic. Almost equally so
is the notion that the free entry of
Canadian potatoes under the reciproc-
ity agreement will injure the potato
grower here. 1t may slightly enlarge
the sources of our supply and tend to
moderate excessive fluctuations in
prices due to irregularities in produc-
tion. But, as Representative Hill of
Connecticut pointed out in his speech
in the house last week, Canadas pro-
duction of potatoes is only $4,000, 900
bushels a year, while that of the Unit
ed States in 1909 was 376, 900, 900 and
averages about $50, 600, 900. Labor con-
ditions are practically the same in the
great potato belt along the northern
border, and freight rates TO the Ameri-
can markets give an advantage to
nome growers. Canada may have a
surplus of 2O.OOO,O0O bushels to send
here. but that contribution would be
only one-hfteenth of the American crop
and could not control in the adjust
ment of the American market price.
One by one the arguments against
reciprocity have been destroyed until
il would seem that the opposition had
not a leg left TO stand upon The edu,
cation Of the people under protection
has not been in the line of mutual ben
efits in trade, but in the direction of a
selfish grabbing out at the expense Of
everyone else. II was the doctrine of
each one for himself and the devil
take the hindmOst." II is time that
commerce were placed on a safer and
more humane basis.