224 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



How do the tariff laws affect the farmers of Michigan ? What has the 

 farmer to sell that is in any way increased in price by reason of the tariff 

 laws? What has the farmer to buy that is increased in price by the tariff laws? 

 These are questions that should be considered by every farmer, and every one 

 ought to be able to decide these questions for himself, after giving the sub- 

 jects proper consideration. Aside from the single article of wool what have the 

 farmers of the northern states to sell that is in any way increased in price by 

 reason of the tariff laws. There were 120,000 farms in Michigan in the year 

 1881. Estimating one-half of them to be stocked with sheep, and the average 

 price of wool 30 cents per pound, the average amount received for wool by each 

 farmer would be less than sixty dollars each. Thus you see there could be no 

 very great benefit to the farmers of Michigan from this article alone. What 

 does the farmer buy that is increased in price by the tariff laws? All articles 

 any part of which is made of iron, steel, lead, copper, or nickel ; all stoneware, 

 glassware, and earthenware ; all manufactured woolen goods ; sugar, paints, 

 oils, over 100 kinds of drugs, and a great many other articles unnecessary to 

 mention. Thus you see the farmer cannot buy very many tools used upon the 

 farm, or articles used in the household, without paying out more under this 

 law than any benefit he can receive under the law. I do think a wrong was 

 done to the farmers of this country in reducing the tariff on wool without 

 making a corresponding reduction in the tariff on manufactured woolen goods. 

 Aside from the tax imposed by the tariff laws is another tax, called by some 

 an incidental tax. This is an increase in price upon the home product of an 

 article equal in amount to the tax upon the imported article. This tax is not 

 paid to the government. 



This can be illustrated by the article of sugar. The tariff tax is, on an 

 average, two cents per pound on sugar. The increase in price on the home 

 grown product would be called an incidental tax, and is not paid to the gov- 

 ernment, but to the pro — , I came very near saying the producer. If such 

 was the case it would remove one of the most serious objections to this inci- 

 dental tax, but it is thought that only a small portion goes to the producer and 

 the lion's share to the refiners and wholesale dealers. And I have no doubt 

 that a like result will be the case with any other industry that is stimulated by 

 this incidental tax, a small part will go to the producer and the larger part to 

 those who handle the goods, between the producer and consumer. 



There must be some industry that can bear a reduction in indirect taxation 

 without any detriment to the country. We have the richest copper mines in 

 the world; some of them pay a quarterly dividend of twenty per cent, eighty 

 per cent per annum. Shares of stock, whose par value is $25.00, sell in the 

 market for $225 per share. We have the richest iron mines in the world. We 

 have Bessemer steel works that pay a dividend of 22 per cent, and then have 

 a surplus on hand larger than their original capital. 



As a general rule when any industrial interest gets rich enough that they 

 turn their attention to making governors, congressmen, supreme judges, and 

 the like, it is a pretty good sign that they no longer need protection. As I 

 have said before, our law makers are ranged along the line, from free trade to 

 high protection. I think a very few want free trade, and a very few want high 

 protection ; the majority I think stand on middle ground, and are in favor of 

 raising ample revenue for the needs of the government — no more — no less. 



