60 The Tariff and the Farmer. 



cost like the products of over-loaded trusts. Our agri- 

 cultural exports are the products of millions of farmers 

 scattered over a wide territory of many states. From the 

 same territory comes the supply of similar products that 

 are sent to the Eastern States. The farmer receives the 

 same price per bushel or pound for that exported as for 

 that consumed at home; so that the price of our agricul- 

 tural products, whether sold at home or abroad, is on a, 

 level with that obtained by the farmers of Europe. 



That this level is far below that of manufactured goods 

 in the United States is evident, otherwise there would be 

 no occasion for a 50% duty on such manufactured prod- 

 ucts when imported. The farmer, then, is selling at one 

 level and is forced by the tariff to buy his supplies at a 

 far higher level. How much higher the level is is here 

 indicated. In a note, found in the United States Census 

 Eeport of 1900, a prominent English statistician, Mr. 

 Mulhall is quoted as affirming : ' ' The value of American 

 manufacturers is artificially raised by protective duties 

 fully 33% over the real value." The effect upon the 

 farmer is exactly the same as if he received pay for his 

 products in a depreciated currency and had to pay for his 

 purchases with gold at a high premium. The champion 

 of this system is the same ^' Grand Old Party" that prides 

 itself on its maintenance of the gold standard. So long 

 as its pets receive the benefit, it cares little if the farmer 

 is paid in depreciated trade checks. 



