Barton County democrat., 1914-08-07
OFFICIAL COUNTY PAPER
CHEAP POLITICAL TRICKERY.


which the crop starts off to the
= saction of the Democratic congress
. in knocking down the tariff on
swheat, and whenever farmer
. has to take ten cents a buShel less
for wheat than he thinks he is en-
titled to, he will charge that ten
cents to the Democratic tariff law
that cut ten cents off the tariff
on wheat. Maybe your highbrow
students of British arguments on
tariff have something that will
upset the farmers theory, but he
will not take it. Foreign wheat has
been let in to compete with his
= crop; the price of his crop has
decreased at least twenty-five
per cent; it seems plain to him
that the removal of the tariff had
something to do with the low
down price. 1t is going to take a
whole lot of mighty good argu-
ment to convince him that he is
wOng.-Lawrence Daily Gazette.
It is strange that a man as hon.
est and as well informed as the
editor of the Gazette should per-
NIT such stuff to appear in the
columns of his paper. In the
sfirSt place the opening prices for
new wheat are higher than the
average during the Mckinley and
Roosevelt administrations. Thir-
ty-five cent wheat was one of the
blessings that the farmer enjoyed
during the good old Republican
days that are still so dear to the
gentlemen who hold poStoffice
commissions from a Republican
president.
The only country from which
wheat could be imported in any
quantity into the United States is
Canada. A good deal of wheat is
produced in western Canada, not
as much as will be threShed in
Kansas this year, but enough to
have some influence on the mar
ketS here if it were all shipped
intOthe United States and sold for
low prices. The Gazette charges
by inference and not directly, that
the Democratic administration
has given us free trade in wheat
with Canada. The editor of that
. paper is too well informed not to
know better.
Here is the wheat clause of the
Underwood free list: Wheat,
wheat flour, SemilOna, and other
wheat products not especially
provided for in this section: Pro-
vided, that wheat shall be subject
to a duty of ten cents a bushel,
that wheat flour shall be subject
10 a duty of fOrty-five cents a bar
rel OF 1856 pounds, and semilona
: and other products of wheat not
specially provided for in this sec
u0n, ten per cent advalorem,
when imported directly or indi-
rectly from country dependency
or other subdivision of govern
ment which imposes a duty on
wheat or wheat flour or semilona
imported from the United States"
The government of Canada i'm
poses a duty on wheat and wheat
products imported from the Uni
ted States and since the Under
wood tariff went into effect has
refused to remove that duty. The
result is that there never has been
any free trade with Canada in
wheat and no prospect of such a
condition until the Canadian gov
ernment reverSeS its decision on
the matter. This, of course. the
editor of the Gazette must know
as he is well informed. intelli-
gent man who reads all the pa
perS.,
But even if wheat could get in
70 this country free of duty the
prices of that grain in Canada
and the United States during the
past nine months would have pre. |
vented any such importations. |
Wheat is higher and has long
been from a cent and a half to
two cents and a half a buShell
higher in Winnipeg than in St.
Paul. With free trade some
american wheat might have been
exported 70 Canada but no Cana
dom srsI.o.9t ,s..--1I r