16 The Tariff and the Farmer. 



ord of 1906 is over $975,000,000. And this successful 

 competition in foreign lands, remember, is beyond the 

 guard of our tariff duties in the open field with all the 

 world. Does it look very much as if the foreigner could 

 drive the American farmer from the home market under 

 a free trade svstem! 



Under President Eoosevelt's administration. Secre- 

 tary Shaw of the Treasury Department is following in the 

 footstejDs of Mr. Dingley and Mr. McKinley. He came 

 out as an alarmist concerning cattle and beef in a speech 

 made in the State of Vermont in August, 1902 : ' ' Suppose 

 we take the tariff off beef, and then suppose the herds of 

 cattle from Mexico and South America are brought in 

 here by the hundred thousand. They will find their way 

 to the stockyards, and the butchers will be compelled to 

 bid against the packers then as now. The removal of the 

 tariff on live stock and meat would not restore the butch- 

 ers to business. It might ruin the farmers." ''The 

 farmer as it is has ample reason to be apprehensive." 



Now it is easy to suppose anything. We might specu- 

 late what would happen suppose the moon should come 

 down to the earth. We think Mr. Shaw's supposition is 

 a little more likely to happen than this. 



Was it not a singular time to apprehend danger to the 

 producer of beef, when there was such a scarcity, real or 

 artificial, that there was a general uproar over the land 

 at the price consumers were compelled to pay! 



But we turn to examine the probability of Mr. Shaw's 

 supposition. To ruin our farmers engaged in the pro- 

 duction and fattening of cattle would require a great 

 invasion indeed. A ''hundred thousand" cattle, in a 

 country where there are over 69,000,000, would hardly be 

 more than a drop in a bucket. But where is the immense 



