The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1912-09-05
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Special Washington Correspond
ent of The Times.
By CLYDE H. Tayenncr.

By Clvde H. Tsvenncr.
Washington, D. c., Aug.-Gov.
Wilson has indicated in the speeches
he has made thus far in the campaign
that he attaches a great deal of i'm
portance to the question of the tariff
as it affects farmers. The Democrat
ic candidate put this whole question
into nut shell when he said:
'The farmer does not derive any
benefit from the tariff when he goes
to market to sell his products, but on
every thing the farmer buys there is
an artificially high price due to the
tariff tax"
High protectionists in Congress
have for many years deceived the
farmers into believing that because
tariff is kept on wheat and corn the
farmer is necessarily benefited there
by. That this is false logic is appar-
ent to any student of American inn
port and export statistics. This
country produces more wheat and
corn than the American people con-
sumo, which obviously makes it i'm
possible for any country of Europe
to sell wheat or corn here. Europe,
which is the great market for surplus
grain, uses all the grain produced
there for home consumption, and in
addition, the European countries have
to send over here for more.
If there were no tariff on grain,
therefore, the American farmer would
not be menaced by the possibility Of
foreign competition, for the reason
that foreigners have no grain to sell.
But the situation is vastly different
with the farmer when he comes to
buy the tools, machinery, clothing
and other necessities of life. He finds
every article that he uses in produc-
ing his crops taxed higher and high
er, until, as Gov. Wilson says, 1T is
getting to be next to impossible for
the American farmer to make legit-
innate profit. The farmers imple-
ments, his smaller tools, wagons,
household articles, clothing, lumber
and harvesting machinery has steadi-
ly risen in price.
That this rise in prices has been
due to artificial causes is proven by
the fact that the identical articles
used by the American farmer are
sold abroad for from Is to 40 per
cent. less. B. D. Townsend, in his
report to President Roosevelt on the
harvester trust, reported that the
same harvesting machines that were
made by the trust in Chicago and
sold to the American farmer for $l25
are sold in Russia for $50 and $50.
Nothing but the tariff thus enables
the trust to rob the American farmer,
because, if it were not for the tariff,
the danger of competition from Cana
da would force the American trust to
sell its machines for one price to all.
Gov. Wilson has shown a deep
grasp of the tariff question as it af-
fects farmers, and it is certain that
before the campaign is much older he
will have some Illuminating things to
say to the farmer on this vital SUBJ
iect.
Sugar Plums.
The ownership of one-half inter-
est in the Western Sugar Refining
company netted the Havemeyer in
terests $l2,95O,OOO in 2l years. In
one year, 1892, this concern paid the
Havemeyers six hundred thousand
dollars. When the company was Or
ganized the Havemeyers put in a
million dollars capital, and the
Spreckles people another million.
Two years later this money was re-
turned to the investors, so that all