Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 May 1883 — Page 3 Advertisements Column 4 [ADVERTISEMENT]

fl ecu as ion, the question comes up, can the Western States be held for protection? Is it to their interest by their assistance and votes to keep in office men who are wedded to a protective policy? In Southwestern lowa the farmers are beginning to organize Clubs for the discussion es this subject, the member* being of both paities. It is the organization of those Clubs that suggests th* idea that the former is becoming interest ed.. And why should be not? The manufacturer of the East expects to sell him all the utensils needed by him inj thej raising of his crop; the woolen mills,in the clothing of hib|f«m» ily; the leather merchant, in his-booto and shoes and harness;Louisiana expects to famish him the necessary sweetness for his daily oup of cqffeo and tea. Truly, then, he is interns.* ed, and he is certain to make bis k>< forest felt in the near future on this question. The first thing the farmer oeeds is, that his farm be fenced, and the only material at his command in lowa is barb-wire. Washburn, Moen & Co. and their allies growl severely whenever a bill is introduced to raise the tariff on the material which they mono the barb-wire from, but so long as tho tariff is on the manufactured wire they are perfectly quiet. . It will take 1,500 pounds of barb wire to fence sigh ty acres of land three wir es. Tho tariff on this at two and a half cento per pound would be $37.50, besideo the patentee’s tax of about seventyfive cents per pound. The State of lowa will undoubtedly during the next five years, consume 100.000,000

pounds of barb-wiio. the tariff on which woald amount tc $2,500,000. Now, this vast amour of money comes out of the bard earnings of the lowa formers, and is riaid as a bones to Eastern manufacturers, that they may live in luxui y. The former lives by the sweat of his brow and honorable competition with his neighbor, but the manufacturer of tho Ea t stands not upon his merit and sue* cess of his enterprise aud ingenuity, but must bo bolstered up and have tho mighty arm of Government encircling his waist to protect and comfort him.

Western men who are plain in speech and rough in thought do lot place such implicit faith in what is said about the cheapness o' English labor aid its effect upon American labor. Trie, it may have been coirect to give as aistanee to our industries in their Infancy, but now, aft* r 100 years-of protection, are they *ti 1 infants? We do aot believe that the English laborer is as poorly paid and thinly clad as Mr. Porter in his letters would lead u? to believe. True, American labor may be 25 per eent., higher than English labor, but the purebasiner power of money is more (hah 25 p« I CO it the other way in England'. What does I' ma ter te rne if I can get $1 per day if I can got sixteen pounds of sugar for sl, or fourteen pounds of coffee; if I can buy sixteen to twenty yards of calico for mt wife, or get 12 per day and get eight pounds of coffee and eight to ten yards • t calico? So long as the purceasiag power of money is increased, so long as everything I must buy is mado nigher, I do not sec where I am benefited It is the same way with the manufacturer. Suppose the tariff was taken off entirely on all raw materials. who would bo benefited? Primarily the manufacturer and secondly the consumer. For every dollar that drops from the purchasing power of the material is a deifitr in favor of the Then e repetition comes in and the manufacturer stands on a true basis of in. dustrial excess—competition. When we look at.it not as the doctrinarian, as the “best Mayor” states,, but in a common sense way, it does not seem right that 5 per cent, of the pop» ulation should receive a benefit from a law and 95 por cent, endure a hard ship. And yet that is what protec-