The Missouri herald., 1922-09-29
THE FARMER SWAL-
LOWED SOAP CARAMEL

The price of wheat year ago OH
the Chicago market stood around
S1.60 to $1.63 per bushel.
Something happened.
A lot of tariff barons had a plan
to catch fish without going near the
water They would just throw their
bait out into the wheat fields. And
so they put through congress piece
of legislation known as the "emer
gency'' tariff. 1t levied tariff tax
of 20 or 80 cents bushel on wheat
Did any fish come to bite the bait
which the tariff barons threw out
into the American wheat fields?
Yes, the suckers came in droves
and grabbed the bait.
What happened then?
Same thing as always happens to
fish on a hook
The tariff barons figured that II
they could get the American farmers
to swallow the tariff bait by giving
them tariff on wheat-why then
it would be easy to keep the farmers
quiet while the barons were putting
! through congress a tariff bill as high
as cats back. And for while
the tariff bait which the farmers had
swallowed did have quieting effect
and many farmers were heard to say
that the tariff was getting ready 10
do as much for the farmer as it had
done for the big manufacturers. But
pretty soon the hyprotizing effect OF
the tariff bait upon the farmer fish
began to wear off. One by one the
farmers began wiping the chaff out
of their eyes long enough to ask:
Where is that high price which
the emergency tariff was going t..
put on wheat?"
The tariff politicians tried to
quiet the farmers by telling them to
wait awhile and give the emergency
tariff on wheat a chance to show
what it could do. All the time the
tariff barons were working with con-
gress to put through another tariff!
bill which would enable the barors
to collect three and four times d
much for their goods as the people
ought to pay. And now the senate
Of the United States, working under
tn joint conference influence OF
tariff trust valve and the whip, has
actually passed a new tariff bill,
drawn exactly like the barons want
ed it,
Something else is happening.
The farmer still has his emergen
cy tariff of 20 or more cents a bush j.
on wheat, but-oddly enough-the
actual seeming effect of the emt =
gency tariff on wheat appears 10
have been to drive the price OF
wheat down into the cellar, instead
of sending the price sky high, as til
barons promised.
And this is what is happening
right now: The American farmer
is sick, and he is puking up that
nasty bait as fast as he can. Never
again will any farmer with ordinary
horse sense swallow another dose OF
wheat tariff bait. One year ago,
when he swallowed that bait, he
could get $1.60 bushel for hi:
wheat delivered in Chicago. Today
the best Chicago will offer for that
tariff-protected wheat is about dol
lar a bushel. which means price OF
70 to S5 cents a bushel on Missouri
farms.
When the writer was little boy
one of his playful chums gave hin a
little piece of brown soap, wrapped
in paper so that it looked pust liI-4
a butter-scotch caramel. He accept
ed the fraudulent caramel smiling:y
but after he had bitten into the
thing he didn't smile for a week.
The average Missouri farmer feels
about the wheat tariff now just
about the way the writer felt about
that soap caramel.-St. Joseph OBJ
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