Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1900 — PROTECTION FOR THE CATTLEMAN. [ARTICLE]

PROTECTION FOR THE CATTLEMAN.

How It Helps the Northwestern StockRgiser to Compete with Canada. Every oue in Cass County, S. D., knows James S. Landers of Argusville. and he is pretty well known in the State. He has lived here some twenty years, is a most successful farmer, and attends closely to his farm interests. Being of English descent, however, it would be natural that he might favor free trade ideas, but he has evidently been studying the effect of protection and free trade on the farmer, and he sends in the following letter for publication, which is worthy of close perusal by all. Argusville, Oct. 5. I came down to Fargo to hear the Hon. J. D. Scanlan. and his speech was the best argument I ever heard on a political topic; there was no gas and no wind—just solid facts. I can give you a good illustration of his arguments, which I picked up on the train going to Fargo; it was a freight, and on the train was a cattle man from Manitoba, and he was along with 102 head of 2-year-old steers. He had shipped these from his home, eighty miles west of Winnipeg, to find a market in this country. It had cost him SOOO for duty to enter this stock; his freight was 23Vj cents per hundred from Xecbe to St. Paul, and then he had to reship to Chicago. He lyid been five days on the way when he reached Fargo. Now here is the point for my brother farmers to study a little: This Manitoba farmer ships his cattle from the other side of the line to Chicago, pays heavy duty, pays the freight, feed three times on the way, suffers heavy shrinkage, and then sees a better profit at the end than be can get at borne —amVufter paying all these expenses. Here is where we free trade farmera are blind to our town interests, when we want these cattle to come in free, and if this was allowed what would we get for our stock? They would not be worth the raising and we would retnrn to beggary, where* tbonsands were before, under free trade. Now, I am interestedijn cattle, and I bare been considering starting in stock raising in the Canadian Northwest, where yon can raise a steer until he is three years old for about $lO, but what can yon get for him then? He is worth about two cents a pound, and be has to be a good one to bring that. Oh, no. I gueaa I’ll not try that, but I’ll stay in North Dakota and vote for McKinley and protection. That is good enough for me. JAMES S. LANDIS.