Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1891 — Page 2

CURRENT COMMENT.

A. CONCISE STATEMENT. As UaanawarsM* Tariff Argument. The tariff problem in the United States should be treated as any other business proposition. It is so closely interwoven with our financial Mid economic affairs that its proper adjustment has become essential to the prosperity of our industries. No administration of the affairs of the nation is now undertaken without consideration of the effect of this or that tariff schedule upon manufacture, agriculture and labor. So firmly are our people impressed with the truth of these propositions that each assembling of anew Congress is witnessed with the most intense concern, and until it has outlined th® policy to be pursued everything is in an unsettled condition. The condition of things in the United States is such that, because of constant changes and rapid strides . made in the advancement of ourcominercial, manufacturing, mining, mechanical and agricultural interests, no tariff schedules will answer for many years in succession. They require constant changes. As well might a man start in business with a certain price onea rh article of merchandise in his store, and attempt to continue to buy and sell at that price without regard to the constantly changing condition of things around him and expect to succeed, as for Congress to fix one schedule of tariff and say it will not change, it. If the merchant would succeed he must change the prices of his commodities —both in buying and selling always having in view the fact that he must make a profit—or go out of business. So with Congress. If it would legislate for the interest of the people, the tariff must be changed to suit the changed condition of things at home and abroad, always, however, keeping in view the protection of American interests. Another very important fact to keep Tn mind is that no tariff which can be enacted into a law can be perfect. The imperfection of human judgment, the fact t hat no one man —no matter how wise he may be or comprehensive his knowledge of the subject—can formulate and enact a law, the fact that there are thousands of interests to be consulted and hundreds of men to be conciliated. make it impossible. Every tariff must, therefore, be , a compromise. If Congress would take into consideration the varied interests of the country as though they belonged to one man jwho desired to preserve each industry for the prosperity of the wliole it would adopt the correct, principle. The necessity of a tariff is no longer a question. It is onlv how far and what shall be protected. Some interest may not receive the protection it should. The trouble has been every man wanted free trade for his neighbor and protection for himself.

Two systems of raising the necessary revenue to defray the expenses of the Government have been advocated by the two different schools of political economists in the United dtates. Theoneisto levy sufficient import duties on the goods of foreign nations imported into the United States to pay the expenses of the Government, having ho regard to the protection of American industries. The other is to raise the necessary —money by import duties laid on foreign merchandise im’ported into the United States, with the double purpose of raising sufficient revenue to nav the expenses of the nation kna the protection of American interestsfrom unjust foreign competition. It is to the latter class that thefriendsof the McKinley bill be* long. Those who believe in the theory of a tariff for revenue only assume to believe, and no doubt many of them do believe that a tariff imposed on the t heory pf protecting American interest increases the costs of the articles in the* protected lists the amount of the tariff to the consumer. No fallacy has been so thoroughly exploded as that. Indeed it has been the universal experience of the people that protection stimulates American industries, increases competition and lessens thejirice to the consumer. I cannot stop to give comparison of prices, but a reference to any trades journal of to-day and before the McKinley law went into effect will prove what 1 have said. We need not worry ourselves much about prices if we will give American enterprise a chance. The energy, push and skill of Americans will do the rest. It is not fair, however, to ask our merchants, manufacturers, miners and farmers to pay from one and a half to three times the wages paid in competing nations for labor and then compete with them in American markets. But some assume that they are afraid that protection will create monopoly. Admitting it to be true for the sake of argument —when, however, nothing is further from the truth than that protection will create or foster monopoly—whom would an American sooner trust to control the markets of the United States. A merican citizens, his neighbors and friends, whose ihterests are his interests and whose success is his success, or the foreign Merchant and manufacturer, who has nothing in common with the people of the United States and no interest in them except what money he draws from them for Ms wares? I am American enough to say that I would trust American market® in the hands of the people of the United BU-tea and to beheve that every trua-

haarted American believes the same thing. Competition is the best antidote for monopoly. That intelligent competition may be brought about it is necessary that the whole trade of the nation should be secured to the man-, ufacturing, mining and agricultural interests. The farmer must be stimulated to push the productiveness of his broad acres to their utmost capacity, that he may be able to feed the millions employed in mining, manufacturing and transportation; the manufacturer to increase his factory that he may be able to supply the wants of the teaming millions engaged in the other pursuits of life in this busy nation; the increase his skill and activity that he may product more and better results to his Employer so that he can receive the largest wages.

At ilie time when none but British" and French calico was to be had in it was 37i cents per yard. It cost the farmer, merchant, laborer, mechanic, &c., allowing eight yards for a dress—by no means enough now-s3.The Lowel mills were started, calico was manufactured in the United Statesand now, thanks to protection, the same quality is selling at from five to seven cents per yard. Now the dress of twelve yards can be had for from 60 to 85 cents. Then chickens were selling at 37 i cents a dozen; now they are selling for $3. Jhe labor could be had at from 50 cents to $1 per day ; now it is from $1.50 to $3. Then it took eight dozen chickens to buy eight yards of calico; now it will purchase 342 yards. This is but one of tho thousands of examples that might be given. If the United States ever abandons protection approximately the same condition of things is likely to occur again. Portugal is a living example of how a prosperous nation may be reduced to poverty through adopting free trade heresies. Let us stick to the protection of the McKinley bill.

It is claimed that prices are regulated by supply and demand. I admit that they are largely regulated by supply and demand. But in order that this competition shall not injuriously affect those engaged in such competition all must be placed on the same footing—must be surrounded by the same condition of things. The producer or mannfacturer who is compelled to pay larger wages to his employes, higher interest on money that he may require in the prosecution of his business and higher rates of transportation .cannot successfully compete with the man who, by his favorable situation in relation to labor, interest, transportation, etc., canobtainullthe.se at a much less rate —more than onehalf less. The result is inevitable; the competitor paying the higher wages must go out of business. The object of the McKinley bill is to put our farmers, manufacturers and others on an equality with those who pay less wages. It is to allow all to enter the markets of the United States on an equality and have equally favorable chances of success. The fact exist that in Europe they pay about one-half the wages paid in the United States. The cost of transportation has been, proved to be not sufficient to make up the difference between wages in the United States and Europe. So the last congress enacted the McKinley law, putting on such articles of merchandise as competed with American enterprise a duty that would in some measure make up for the difference. It is the purpose of that law to Tnaintam for the working man and woman their better condition in the United States than their fellows enjoy in Europe. The fact that the Irishman, German, Scotchman and other peoples of Europe are coming here, and coming to stay, and that the stream of immigration has constantly increased since the adoption of Protection is one of the best evidences that it is a good measure. It is certainly the best evidence that these people know the land that has life in it for the working man and woman. It is not always true that the laboring man or woman receives the full reward for his labor. It is no doubt true that the employer often —too often—shares the edge of comfort from the wages of his employees. All this being true, however, there is more hope and comfort for the wage-earning man or woman in this country than in any other. Can any good reason be given why we should not maintain this condition of things for him? This great and comprehensive law contains another principle that should commend itself to every true-hearted American. The provision which gives the President the power to levy an import duty on articles now placed on the free list coming into the United States from a foreign nation, if that nation shall levy an exorbitantly high duty on the products of this country imported ipto such country. If a foreign nation shall unjustly discriminate against our products or exclude them, the same power is vested in the Prekident. If Germany shall continue to prohibit American pork from her markets the President can levy an import duty on her coffee, sugar, &c. So if Venezuela shall continue to refuse to entpr into commercial relations with the United States import duties can be levied on her products sent to the United States. Then, again, the law compels each hr ported article to bear the name of country of origin, and prevents foreign manufacturers adopting American trade marks. These are valuable to the people of the United States. ' Without going over all the provisions of that wise law, it is sufficient to say that it bristles all over with Americanism. It is full of protection

to American interests from the enacting clause to the end of the last section. There is ro Free Trade in it No Free Trader can extract any consolation from it. But the man who believes in the United States, and is for the success of the people of them, and believes that they should receive no cheek in their march onward to prosperity and wealth can admire its every provision. The man who would reduce American laboring men and women to the level of those in Europe, who would take from the factory wageearners their pleasant cottages and happy homes, can get no consolation from the principles of the Me Kinley law. ' " When the people come to be thoroughly advised of the protection im volved in this law they will set their faces as steel against those who would tear down the walls of Protection. This will not be confined to any class of people, but will be the unanimous voice of all. Protection, as enacted Jin the McKinley bill, has come to stay. The people are beginning to understand what it will do for them and they are for it. ? Frank Swigart. Logansport, Ind. . What Proto, tiun k Doin' The free trade misstatements I'.iiC falsehoods fabricated in the East in the interests of importers, and winch are copied and given circulat ion ay the morning and afternoon Demo cratic newspapers of this city are every day meeting with vigorous refutation. Not only merchants, but all classes of people hare a desire to know the truth, and current literature on the subject is being eagerly sought fbr. “I have never, until recently, paid much attention to this class of economics,’ - remarked a Washington street merchant, •'but now that it has* in. a measure been forced upon me, I take great interest in the subject. I have come to know | that the free-trade articles with which certain newspapers here seek to gull the public are lies which the slightest examination will show to be so.” Here the merchant picked up a good-sized paper with a cover, j ‘■This,” said he. “is the Drygoods Economist, published in New York city, amt devoted to the manufacture material and distribution of textile fabrics. The paper comes out weekly, and was established in 1846. j Much of its patronage comes from' New York importers, and while it shows decided free-trade leanings it never fails to give honest statements regarding American industries. “It appears then to differ somewhat from the local and less informed free-trade papers of this city,” sug gested the reporter.

“It certainly does,’, was the answer. *‘l have been looking through the .current number and have marked a few items which I would like to read to you as showing the material prosperity and business activity that have already been produced by the Mckinley law.” Here is a few of the items read: _ The Gillsum woolen .mills r located at Gillsum, N. H., are again running on full time. • I The Jamestown worsted f mills, Jamestown, N. Y., have made recent additions to the machinery. The Everett Woolen Company at Great Barrington, Mass., is running again. The Binghamton Woolen Company is a newly incorporated concern,with capital stock of $25,000, at Binghamton, N. Y. Various grades of blankets will be manufactured. The Granite mills have been refurnished with entirely machinery and are turning out a finer grade of fabrics than heretofore produced. The output has been increased to. such ah extent that the finer goods are being sold at a correspondingly lessened cost. A new woolen waste scouring mili is almost ready to begin operations in Lodi, N. J. ’ David S. Johnson is about to start a knit-goods mill at Cohoes. N. Y. The knitting company. Little Falls New York, is building an addition to its works. Work is being pushed on the new woolen mill at Oswego Falls, N. Y., and it is expected weaving will begin iii the fall. The hosiery business in and around Lake Village, N. H.. is reported as more than good, and the mills that have been more or less idle are starting up. The knitting mill at Kinderhook, New York, is doing a splendid business. A new knitting business is to be started at Oswego, N. Y. Underwear will be maue and one hundred hands employed. The output of carpets at the mills of S. Sanford & Sons, at Amsterdam, N. Y., during the first week in July, was 1,400 rolls of forty-five to fiftysix yards each, or about 70,000 yards. This is the largest number of rolls ever produced in these mills in one week, and it is an indication of a healthy and prosperous condition of the carpet industries of that city. “Here are some interesting notes on the silk industry,’’ continued the merchant, “an industry that never could have started had it pot been for an absolute protective tariff." Ashley & Bailey’s silk manufacturing concern is about the busiest one at present in Patterson, N. J., the operators in several departments working night and day to fill orders. The McLaughlin Braid Company is busy on extensive orders for fall trade.’ Fifty new improved braiders will be in full operations', in a few days.

FARMS AND FARMERS.

HOG CHOLERA. A. H G., ’of Green County, writes as follows on hog cholera. After Stating that the report of Secretary Rusk has a good deal to offer on this dread disease, he says: I fail to find one word in the report upon which the farmer can rely as a defense against that scourge. This is something that a great many farm ers are interested in, for Jwe read every season of certain sections that are afflicted almost to annihilation. Plenty is written about cattle plague but nothing that will help the hog raiser. In this vicinity last fall many farmers lost all tneir swine from some disease akin,' at least, to cholera. This’year my shoats are taken sick with scours and some with great sores or ulcers on the side of the head. Mouths are deformed by a general wasting away of the muscles. There has been no inbreeding, as the sire and mothers are 2 years old and not of kin. Some that escaped last year are troubled this yearend vice versa. Can you give through The lijtcr Ocean a cQ”jmon,sense talk on this disease,and oblicre, i In answer to A. H. G. we desire to state that we think he has done the very valuable report of Secretary Rusk a great injustice, or else he has read it superficially. From page 110 report of 1890. to 132 we find a very able and exhaustive report of what has been done by the department to obtain knowledge for the prevention of cholera and swine plague. All of the pains taken, investigations and experiments there noted, and the soundest kind of common sense being the conclusions of trained, accurate minds based on common facts. On . thousands of farms, as on that of A. H. G.,, either swine plague or cholera is raging and is doing very destructive work. | The Bureau of Animal Industry, aided by the best volunteer talent in the country, has been hard at work is acopmon sense way to understand these two diseases, the law , that governs their operations, and i the remedy, if any can be found. It is a minute and subtle disease. It takes time, the keenest and besttrained discernment, and infinite patience to get at the truth. Decided progress has been made, considering i What we did not know at the beginning. It has been determined that both are germ diseases; that the bacilli of each can be defined, and that, to a certain extent at least, these diseases can be prevented by inoculation. All this is progress, even if it is necessasily slow. Meantime it becomes the duty of every farmer to consider that he is somewhat responsible. Every farmer should study to know what are the proper sanitary conditions for keeping swine, for he may be aiding cholera or swine plague just as did the farmers of Quantico, Va., by allowing infected animals to roam at large. It is quite clear to us that ■ the future remedy will not be dosing or doctoring, or some cure at all, but the putting in practice of preventive sanitary measures just as vaccination, not dosing, has nearly rid the world of small-pox, Mr. G. gives us no evidence to show that he has done anything vigorously himself to stamp out this disease on bis own farm. Those ulcer-eaten hogs should be destroyed, we believe, and all of the hog range thoroughly disinfected. Cartain it is, that if the cholera germ remains on the farm, it will infect every fresh hog that is brought there.. The idea of preventing contagious disease has not taken firm hold of .the American fanner. We have known, when, hogs had access through carelessness to the excreta of persons sick with the measles. Result—measles in the hogs, spreading often as virulently as swine fever and often mistaken for cholera. Lime is a cheap and powerful disinfectant, to be used in and styes. Absolute quarrantine against infected farms should be insisted on. The

bacilli cannot fly, but it can be carried by men, dogs, streams of water and the hog himself. Theodore Louis well says: “Farmers might as well stop hog-raising unless they are willing to quit the old. filthy way of handling hogs. These dreaded diseases make ’eternal vigilance’ the price of exemption. I know no cure all. My only reliance is in preventives. Cholera with hogs, as with men, is largely the result of filth.” Louis dusts his pens and ground plentifully with lime weekly, and the manure is carefully collected and drawn to the field each week. No new animal is introduced into the herd until it has shown a quarantine that it is perfectly healthy. A constant supply of charcoal made of corn-cobs burned in a pit is kept on hand, also a supply of eoperas, carbolic acid sulpher, etc. Mr. G. does well to pay strict attention to breeding, but these infectious diseases smite the thoroughbred h6g as well as the scrub. THE PRICE OF WOOL. Speaking about the low price of wool, the American Sheep Breeder and Wool Grower of Chicago says: “The wool market at present is dead full; the farmer can not even persuade anybody to make him an offer for his clip. Why is it? The farmer need not trouble himself trying to answer this ,conumdrum. Let him simply lock his wool up in a dry, dark, clean room and keep about his ordinary business, forgetting except when he reads the market reports once a day, that he even has any wool. There is as certain to be a demand for that wool—-if it is firstclass—as the sun is to rise, if not next month, then the month after, or six months latter. Conversing with a woolen manu-

facturer the other' day, we inquired as to the state of the'wool market. He informed us. that medium wools were in fair demand, but that, fine wools were a drug on the market. In explanation of this he stated that in anticipation of the passage of the McKinley law the manufacturer made heavy importations of fine grades, so that for the present they have but little use for the American clip. If this be true the advice of the Wool Grower to hold is. sound. When the manufacturers have exhausted their imported stock they will be ready to offer prices for the domestic. It takes a little business nerve to be a farmer occasionly. The reports of thrashers are to the effect that the yield of winter wheat, rye «and oats in Southern Wisconsin is better than has been known for years. Mr. A. O’Brien, of Cold Spring, Wis., reports the surprising yield of twenty-five bushels of oats from 100 average bundles. This is vouched for by the thrasher. A peck to the bundle is a grand yield. The quality of all the cereals above mentioned is first class, ABOUT SHEEP. Preparing early lambs for market is a profitable business where facility for shipment is had and the farmer understands how to handle them. In March last dressed lambs weighing thirty pounds sold in the Boston market for each. The price indicates that such carcasses were very scared. In this, as in all kinds of animal farming, there is a chance to get good pay for individual skill, intelligence, and energy. There is always room on the upper- shelf of farming. The' year 1893 wilV soon be here and Chicago will be a great market for all the finer grades of farm produce. Don’t try to compete in the production of the coarser products. The men who never think but a profit, but rather starve it, hold that ground, and you can’t compete with them in the production of poor butter, poor- mutton and poor grass. The best profit is made in the production of an article where there is a chance to sell skill. There is a splendid chance for profitable study along these lines. In handling sheep the three prime objects are wool, mutton and lambs. Upon the character of the first will depend the character of the last two. If we breed for fine wool, our mutton and lambs for nfarket purposes will be inferior. The logic of hard events seem to indicate that the best policy is to breed for medium open wool and a heavy mutton carcass. The American farmers have a great many things to learn in the successful handling of mutton sheep. The business needs special study and special intelligence.

Turnips and sheaf oats make a cheap and excellent combination for the winter feeding of sheep. A young man with small capital, starting into the business of fanning, could hardly do better than to get some cheap land, stock it with two or three hundred good mutton sheep, and put in these two crops for feeding. With his own labor he could grow and store enough of this forage to carry such a flock, and would get better pay for labor and better interest upon his capital than in almost any other way. In no manner does system in English agriculture show to better advantage than in the management of sheep. Flocks are restricted to a given area, instead of being allowed boundless range. The sheep are confined within certain limits by hurdles, which are advanced daily.' Thus they are given at one time only so much land in grass as they can eat off clean, and when through with that space they have thoroughly manured it, so there is waste neither of grass nor of manure.—Farmers’ Home.

THE WAY HE DOES. Charles W. Hill, a well posted Guernsey breeder of Wisconsin, gives the following advise: Keep only the heifer calves from the best cows you now have. Take the calf from the cow as soon as dropped, and if it is cold weather throw a blanket over it till it gets dry. Then feed it milk from the dam. I find it needs special care to have the milk warm in cold weather. Put a little hot water in it. We give the calf new milk until one or two weeks old. according to the strength and size of the calf. Then give skim milk once a day for another week; after that our calves have nothing but skim milk. We commence with six pounds twice a day, or a little less if we feed three times. If you have the time it certainly pays' to feed a calf three times a day the first month. Lately I have been giving a teaspoonful of sennet extract with each feed of skim milk and am much pleased with the results. We warm the milk in an old milk can set in a cauldron kettle with a pail or two pf water in it. In that’ way I never have any sick calves from drinking burned milk. Let the calf get the milk at blood heat. It commences to eat hay at two weeks and oats at four weeks. Keep some of the best clover of June grass hay where they can get it, and give them all the oats they will eat up to four quarts per dav. I fed half bran and half oats this last winter. I seldom ever let our calves out of doors all winter, by the way I am raising fall calves now, unless for an hour some very warm, sunny day. Avoid giving your heifers corn or anything that will cause them tQ lay on flesh, as that will surely injure them for making good cows, /I am sure if these details are mixed up with a little gumption you can’t help but have good calves. ’This is just the way I care for mine and I have good success.

VALUABLE EXPERIENCE.

Editor Hoard’s Dairyman: —I hav® sown rye in my corn for several years past. I sow it by hand, and cover it at the last working of the corn, the last part of July. I sow a bushel per acre and use a one-horse cultivator with small shovels Tor the last working so as to leave the ground as level as I think it helps to keep down the weeds, and the land is not exposed to drying winds or hot sunshine after the corn is cut; nor is it so liable to wash with heavy rains. I think the above considerations would pay expenses if there were no Others, The other object are the large amount of feed available for two or three weeks before pastures are ready in the spring, and the amount of fertilizer afforded both by the droppings of the animals’ fed,and the residue of roots, etc., not available for feed left in the soil. Last fall I turned 350 sheep intg fifteen acres of corn and rye and let them harvest the crop and received fair returns for the crop, besides a manifest improvement in the land. S. O. Y. Gurnee. I Dane County, Wis. _ j

FIELD NOTES. T. B. Terry, of Ohio, one of the most successful farmers in America, esays that if he had known as much about clover andjhow to use it profyears ago as he4ogs now, he would have gotten out of debt a good deal sooner than he did. We hope our dairy readers will not forget to sow a few acres of the corn field to rye for late fall and early spring feed. It must be done at once if done at all. Every one who has thoroughly tried it is enthusiastic in praise of the plain Every farmer who keeps cows, and raises young pigs, or calves, would prove himself a wise man if he would grow each year from four to six acres of field peas. Here is the secret of pea growing: Plant deep and sow plenty of seed. As good a way as any is to sow the soil broad-cast on good fall plowing and plow under say four inches deep. Don’t be afraid of planting too deep.

STOCK NOTES. Some cows in the vicinity of Centralia, Mo., have been affected with foot and mouth disease, and Dr. Paquin, the State Veterinarian, has pronounced one of them a genuine Jase of Texas fever. At the Ontario Agricultural Cob lege a favorite food in feeding swine is the following: Two parts ground peas, one part ground barley, one part oats, and one part wheat middlings.

The annual convention of Holstein Friesan breeders will be held at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Chicago, Thursday, Nov. 19, 1891, at 3 o’clock. All breeders in attendance at the live stock show are invited to be present. Fully fifty per cent of the fertilizing elements of manure are lost by throwing out into a pile and left to rot. The Cornell University Experiment Station characterizes it/‘a terrible loss,” amounting to 62 per cent in horse, and 39 per cent in cow manure, in an experiment. The agricultural commissioner of Georgia calls attention to the fact that the castor bean is a deadly poison to horses and cattle when eaten in any quantity. A few sound seed are rather beneficial than otherwise, but when the seed are undergoing decomposition the poison is of such a character as to produce death in a very short time. The opinion prevails widely that the demand for thin cattle will probably be better throughout the coming early autumn mouthsthan at the same season for some years. This is because both of the improved prospects of beef-making and of the unusual amount of feed of all kinds reasonably certain to be on hand for disposal during the coming feeding season. One of the greatest risks attendant u[K>n sheep husbandry is the dog risk. The Southern Planter gives a good plan of a trap that answers the purpose of holding the stray dog when he makes his visits in search of meals that he fails to get at home. And those that value the well-being of their flocks can gain a point by tho advice thus given. The correspondent of the joui nal alluded to advises the building of a pen six feet square at the bottom and narrowing at the top, in order to allow sides to slant so that the dog can easily mount to the top. The sides having been smeared with broiled meat, some of which is placed inside, the dog climbs up the outside and jumps down, but is unable to get out, and is held as a prisoner until shot or released, as the attendant of the trap sees fit. This plan has the advantage over poison, which is always more or less unsafe to use, and is far in advance of the shotgun, as the trap is always ready, set night and day, to receive the first trespassing dog. It takes half of the food in dog days to support the flies. Put it another way. It takes twice as much food to get a pound of gain in Julv and August, when stock are fed all the time in the fields, as It would if they were kept in cool and darkened stables away from the flies. It is worse with little animals with thin skins.—-Farm Journal.

DAIRY MOTES. An lowa farmer woman writes: .The creamery has been the longest jstep out of the old into the new. It has taught us to skim the milk be'fore it spoiled and to have sens* enough to stop churning before w< spoiled the butter.