Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 March 1890 — HOGS AND THE TARIFF. [ARTICLE]

HOGS AND THE TARIFF.

Judge Baldwin Shows How the High Protective Policy Bobs the Indiana Farmer. Indian tnnlir Sentinel To the Editor—Sir: A gen tleman asked me on the street last Satui day: “Whom does our high tariff hurl?” I ans wered: “The farmer.” Street arguments are always unprofitable, and, accordingly, I will elaborate this answer and take The Sentinel for it To do so, I Belect as an illustration- of how our high tariff affects the farmer—the hog. This is only one of a score of illustrations, but I select this as one that appeals to every Hoosier, and because it is easily understood. The United States is the greatest hog-raising country m the whole world. We raise more than half of all the s wine in North and Souih merica, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia combined. We raised over 50,000,000 hogs last year, and of this number Indiana and Illinois produced over 7, 500,000. The United States ex* ported last year $750,000,000 of products and of these nearly $96,000,000 were in hog products. The hog product exports are over 63 per cent, of all our animal meat, dairy, poultry and game products combined. Now, the bulk of our hog products goes to England. The American hog products are excluded from France, Germany, Italy, etc., as a retaliation for our high tariff laws. In the same way Mexico excludes by a| prohibitory tariff all our dressed beet, pork, lard, etc. The armies of Germany, France, Italy and Mexico number 2.000,000 men, and the population of these countries over 100,00. ,000, all of whom eat pork and con sume lard, hams and other forms of isog meat. The result of these retaliatory tariffs is that there is that much less foreign demand for the Hoo • sier farmer’s meat. The hog crop of the United States for 1889 was worth nearly $292,000000. Now, see the effect upon prices. Hogs to-day are lower than they have been for a generation. Hogs run this fall as low as $3. I believe now the price is a little better, perhaps they bring $4 per hun dred. Now it doesn’t take a very smart man to see how high tariff hurts the farmer. The rea son why Great Britain is our best customer for hog product is that these retaliatory tariffs of France, Germany, etc., do not apply to her. By repacking, she can sell the American product as English goods. This is the controlling reason of the low price of our hogs this spring. If we had the benefit of European, markets, we could easily make eur 5-V 0 ',OOO American hogs worth 5 0/X)0,C09, instead of “'292,- ™ 0. Or, to pi, tit pla ii \ er, with a free foreign market hogs in Indiana would he worth $6 to $8 instead of , 3 to U per hundred, or $lO instead of $6 apiece. With an unrestricted foreign market the $66,000000 worth of hog product

sent abroad in 1889 could e aaily have been doubled; or our farmers could have realized $125,000,000“ for this export alone ins tear of ; 000. Every pig pen in the United States is a protest against this short-sighted high tariff policy. Of course, in answer to this we shall have the standard re marks about the cheap goods furnished the farmer by the protected American manufactures. At some other time I will take up this argument At present all 1 seek to do is to give a simple specimen of how tariff hints the Hoosier farmer. I take the plainest illustration that I can find, so as to adapt my answer to the greatest number of inquiries. D. P. Baldwin. Logansport, lnd., March 11. Accessories to the Eldredge Sewing Machine can be procured of Mrs. Jas W. McEwen