Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1914-10-22
FARMER AND TARIFF AGAIN

! The farmers OF America are haV'
: ing 30 many object lessons thrust
] upon them showing the disastrous
! effects OF the Wilson tariff law that
: they ought 20 be cured, once for all,
! OF the idea that q protective tariff
70 not essential 10 their prosperity.
Once this lesson Is learned again
: for II was the gospel OF the agricul-
turalist until the vagaries OF Popu-
lism distorted their perception OF
patent facts-the Republican party
may appeal irreslstably 70 their good
Judgment and their self-interest TO
put a protective tariff back on the
statute books, says the Kansas City
Journal.
One Of the most forceful speeches
OF the present session of the senate
was made by Senator McCumber Of
North Dakota, who showed from the
tables of official statistics that dur
Ing the last nine months OF the fiscal
year ending June 80. 1914, grain
and live stock products worth more
than S4S.000.000 had been import
ed, to the direct loss Of the Ameri-
can farmer. without any apprecia-
BILE advantage to the American con-
sumer. The American farmer simply
lost the sale Of nearly $50.000,00O
worth OF his products In nine months
and the consumer paid about the
same price for them as though the
American producer had sold them.
While the figures dealing with
agricultural products are huge and
run into aggregates of billions, yet
It Is Idle to say that American farm |
ers are not very seriously affected
when they miss the sale Of almost
$50, 100000 worth Of products in
only nine months. II they can look
complacently upon the importation
OF 100000 bushels of Germ, for
instance, during nine months, as
compared with importations Of only
285,000 for the corresponding per-
Tod under a protective tariff for the
previous year; IL they are satisfied
to see 183,O00,000 pounds of fresh
meats imported during the same
period, and 100000 bushels of
oats as compared with $4,000 bush
els during the last nine months of
1851 they can cheerfully allow
the foreign farmer these immense
of course the logical
thing to do is to keep the free trade
act upon the books until the foreign
grower has the whole market to
himself.
That will save the American far
mer all the trouble of raising his
crops and all the worry of disposing
Of them. 1t will of course make a
big difference in his bank account.
He won't have so much to spend for
motor cars and the other necessar-
es of life-and this aspect of the
ituatton ought to make the mil
ions Of people interested in the
industries open their
yes and clear out their brains. But
or the past few years the farmers
lave been fatuously believing that
rec trade was a mere bugaboo, a
traw man set up by the Republi-
an campaign orators to scare them,
"cry of wolf" to make them vote
he Republican ticket. Secure In the
for which Republican
rinciples are alone responsible, un-
er favorable crop conditions, they
ave been voting Republican poll .
les off the statute books and mil 4
ons of dollars into the pockets of y
'reign competitors in the agricul- q
lral and manufacturing industries. X
If the farmers are wise-and the Il
'idences are multiplying that they
q refusing to "falr' for the sophis-
les of the Progressives, and the
emocrats-they will take the nee A
sary steps to send Republican <
ngress to Washington this fall x
ID a Republican president to the
lite house in 1915. The arguments
favor Of this action are increas-
g every time foreign farmers send
worth of grain and live
'ck into this country, to compete y
tn $1.00O,OO0 worth of American
ain and live stock When the fig
es reach $5O,000,OOO the argI- =