The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-03-23

bSIuusu or Trying 10 DeIuOGF
The Washington Post, out of the depths of a
tender solictude for the American farmer is
moved to throw compton fit at the mere sug-
Ecsuon of putting agricultural products the
free list Free trade in such products says this
esteemed contemporary, would cut prices 25
cents a bushel' and The American farmer and
the United States treasury, regards both of
which congress processes to be very solictous,
would be the first to feel the staggering effect
Of making clear gift of a priceless market priv
iJege" And again. What does 1t profit the
farmer to get few dollars worth of utensils at
a shade off in price If, in turn, rs per cent or
more IS Topped off the market value of his hun
dreds Of bushels of products?"
Is IT possible that the Post really believes that
the tariff duties on agricultural products except
in some minor cases, confer actual protection
on the American farmer? SO to think would
be nothing short of an insult to the intelligence
Of 81 newspaper whose ability is generally and
Justly recognized to be above the average. OF
practically all the staple crops the American
farmer produces not only sufficiently to meet
all the demands for home consumption. but a
surplus for export. This Is of wheat, OF corn
and of the other cereals. to say nothing of cot
ton. Of which our output constitutes NOR than
70 per cent of the worlds total production. To
say that the duties on grain, In such ctrcum-
stances. affects, except, possibly, in restricted
territory along the Canadian border, the prices
in the domestic market, one way or the other.
Is to argue manifest absurdity. The prices of
our wheat and corn. at home as well as abroad,
are determined at Liverpool, the great hopper
into which is pobred all the surplus grain of
the globe To free-list these products would
work no iota of injury to the American farm
treasury would be negligible quantity, for
such is the revenue now derived from that
source.
But the other side Of the picture is something
entirely different While the so-called protec~
ton granted to the farmer on the things he has
to sell is only of the stuff OF which dreams are
made, the burden imposed upon him by the
actual protection afforded to the things he has
To buy is a stern and hard reality While the
former increases the prices OF his products not
one red cent, the latter enhances, from 20 to
40 per cent the cost to him OF everything which
is needed in the planting, cultivation and mar
vesting of his crops for the maintenance OF
himself and his family In relquishing the one
he would give up nothing; in big relieved or
the other he would reap financial gain OF mil
lions OF dollars a year. In the light of these
indlsputable facts to talk about free trade in
agricultural products in exchange for farmers
free list, constituting "a step toward bankrupt
cya for the American farmer is to deal in the
patiently ridiculous. The prosperity OF the agri-
cultural classes in the United States has been in
spite of. not because of the tariff, and only goes
to show how much greater that prosperity would
be, If the tariff handicap were removed-Nor-
folk Virginan-Pilot