The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1921-07-21

Whatever else Is to be said of the
Fordney tariff on hides the claim
that it is proposed in behalf of the
American farmer Is barefaced hum
bug. Neither the small farm, where
grazing live stock is an incident, nor
the great ranch, where it is the whole
industrial operation, raises cattle to
sell the hides. All these cattle are
bred. raised and shipped to be sold
for beef.
In the nearby village market the
butcher, or in the distant live stock
centre the packer, buys the animal
On the hoof as a meat product only
and the hide goes with the steer. 1t
becomes by-product not for the
cattle raiser, little or big, but for the
slaughter pen or packing house.
Two-thirds OF all the American
hides that go to the tannery come
from the slaughter pens Of the pack
ing concerns. The remaining one
third, even IL all divided among the
hundreds of thousands Of farmers
that kill their cattle in very small
individual quantities for their own
meat supply. would form an entirely
negligible per capita item so far as
concerns the farmer himself. But
he doesn't and couldn't get any no.
ticeable fraction Of the hide business
in the other one-third. He wouldn't
and couldn't afford to bother with the
little he did get
Furthermore, only half the number
OF hides, in round numbers, required
to meet the American leather de-
mand can be produced in this coun-
try. This means that, even il the
American farmers could get and did
get their full share Of the hide tariff
loot out Of the public-and of course
they never would--it would be only
one-sixth for all the thousands of
farmers put together Of what the
few great hide operators would get
for their superb swag.
The most conservative estimate of
what this duty on hides would cost
the American public in added shoe
and leather costs is $100,000,000 a
year. Out of this the United States
Government probably would get
S2,000,000 year in customs revenue
il possibly might get S2,500,000. If
the farmers, as mass, got every
penny OF their full share of one
sixth Of the hide tariff raid on the
American public's pocket book, and.
as matter of fact, let it be repeated,
they would get virtually nothing, it
would amount to about SIG, 100000 for
some 100000 farmers as a whole, OF
an average of some one dollar and
sixty cents apiece. And every farmer
would pay an added price of many
times that amount on the first set of
harness he bought. not to mention
the shoes for his family. The few
great hide operators would get the
colossal annual booty of eighty odd
millions Of hard dollars.
Rather than be bled for that hun.
dred million dollars of hide tariff
graft the American people could far
better afford to submit to an out
right head tax Of S5,000,O00 to go
directly into the United States Treas
ury and of s50,000,O0 to go directly
into the pockets of the farmers. Then
the Treasury would be twice as well
off as it could possibly be from the
tariff on hides. The participating
farmers would be three times as well
off as they could possibly be from
the tariff on hides IL they all got the
full share they never would get. And
the American public would be s45,-
100000 a year to the good-as COM
pared with the cost to it OF the
monstrous tariff on hides.
But, in any event, the thing to do
with this unshirted fraud OF duty
on hides "for the benefit of the
farmer" is to nail it in it's tracks as
a butcher in the slaughter pen would
fell steer with a poleaxe.