Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1880 — How Protection Robs Farmers. [ARTICLE]

How Protection Robs Farmers.

[lndianapolis S< ntinel.) Aceonding to the census of 1870 there were 5,922,000 persons engaged in agricultural puesuits in the United States, in round number say 6,000,000. It is safe to assume that in the census of 1880 th® number wiP be shown to have increased to 7,50(‘» 000. It is assumed by those who have given the subject careful consideration that the average annual ■‘xpenditnro of these farmers will reach the sum of S2OO for articles of consumption other than th® products of their farms. But the authority from which we quote, desiring to keep within the boundery of fact, places the number of farmers in the United States at 7,000,000, and esti mating their expenditures at S2OO each for artibles other than the products of their farms, gives the sum total of their annual expenditures at $1,400,000,000. The inquiry then is, for what is this vast sum expended, aud the reply is: (1) Woolen, cotton, linen and silken fabrics, and, therefore, every species of clothing for male and female, as also sheets, curtains, blankets, carpets, etc. (2) Iron and steel manufacturers, therefore, all Iron work,wire, cutlery, tools’ farming implements, farriery, agricultural machinery, as well : s railway conveyances on iron, which cost very much more than it would have cost had it bten imported from abroad(3) fabrics, and, therefore’ bootsand shoes, sadlery, gloves, etc. (4) Earthenware and crockery, tinjyareand glass, and numberless other household necessaries, all of which come under the price inflating influence of the customs tarlfl. It is on these objects that the greater por. tion of the agriculturist’s outgoing is expended. The next step, says the authority from which we quote, is to ascertain what portion of the $1,400,000,000 the Western farmer® would save if, by the abolition of import duties, they were left free to supply their wants from the cheapest market, wherever chat might be, w hethcr in New England, old England, France, or some other country. This question is easiiy solved, as, fortunately, we have the guidance ®f positive facts, supplied by th® official returns of the Government. From these we learn that prices are so high in the United States, and so low in ether countries, that in spite ®f the enormous duties levied on them, consid erable quantities of European goods are imported into the United States, where they must of cours®, leave a profit to the seitdeis, or they would not be sent. Let us ®numerate some of the leading articles imported in the year of 1879. stating the amounts and Jthe rate per cent, of duties which they had to pay:

I 3 "HOft g. £.® 5 ARTICLES IMPORTED. “ <? E 1 & 25 b B “ ~«o - Per Cent. Woolen Manufactures ® 24,004.(®0 54, 57. 8«, 70. 77 Cotton 15,458,009 35, 45, 57, 63 Linen 15.484.000 30,35,40 Silk 30,103 000 50.60 Ifon and Steel 6,554,900 30, 83. 45, 48, 50 Leather ... 6,906,000 20, 25,35. 50 Crockery and Earthenware 3,978,000 40,45 Tin Plates aud Ware. 9,871,000 27 Wemp and.JuteFabric 1,005,000 40 Window Glass 678,000 68, 72 I >103,541,000

What do these figures mean? They mean that the prices which the Western farmers (and the American people generally) now pay fortheir woolen cloths and stnffs are so excessive that the British woolen manuj facturers can afford to pay from 54 to 17 percent, import duties for th e admission of their goods into the States, and still get a profit. That is to say, that (taking the aver&a© duty at 66 per ©ent,) the Western farmer could, if he were allowed to buy Where he could buy cheapest, get the same quantity and quality o f woolen and worsted stuffs for twelve

dollars for which he now has to pay twenty. Eight dollars out of twenty thrown away! They mean that the prices which the Western farmers now pay for their cotton and linen goods are so excessive that the British makers of the same goods can afiopd to pay from 30 to 63 per cent, import duties for the admission of their manufacr tn res into the States, and still get a

profit. That is to say,J that (taking t le average duty at 50 per ceut.) the farmers wife could, if she were allowed to buy where she could buy caeapest, get the §a«ae articles for s x dollars for which she now has to pay nine. Three dollars out of nine thrown away!

They mean that the American railways are constructed of iron which costs so dear that the British masers can afford to pay 30 to 40 per cent import duties for the admission of their goods in the States and still get a profit; so that Railway Companies are compelled to charge the Western farmer a proportionately excessive rute for the conveyance of his produce to a market. The burden of the diffesence, of couase falls on the patient back o! the Western farmer!

Those figures mean, in short, that the same enormous artificial influtii n of natural prices runs through every article —except food—with which the farmer has to provide his family, and they mean that if the American farmers were allowed to buy, as they conid buy, for SIOO what they’ now are compelled to pay $l4O for. it is clear that they could buy for SI,OOO, 000,000 what they now pay $1.400,00C, 000 for, and consequently they would save $400,000,000 every year. In other words, by being left free to buy where they could buy cheapest, they wovld be benefited to thoext®ntof $400,000,000, which they now lose by the operation of the productive duties. In due time the farmers of the West will see things in their true light and vote in accordance with their interests.