6 Introduction. 



tion at Washington. There the farmer is conspicuous 

 by his absence. Advantage has been taken of this, and 

 laws passed most injurious to his interests. For this 

 our agricultural leaders are responsible. They have 

 always assumed that all that was necessary to make the 

 industry prosperous was a scientific knowledge of pro- 

 duction. President Eoosevelt truly says, ''Our atten- 

 tion has been concentrated almost exclusively on getting 

 better farming." ''We hope ultimately to double the 

 average yield of wheat and corn per acre . . . but it 

 is even more important to double the desirability, com- 

 fort and standing of the farmer's life.'' 



The President sees what apparently our agricultural 

 leaders have never perceived, that doubling the ^deld per 

 acre, in other words "getting better farming," does not 

 necessarily greatly benefit the farmer. The one surely 

 benefited is the consumer of such products. For the 

 result may be so large a surplus that the money return 

 per acre will be less than before. To benefit the farmer 

 the crop grown on an acre must command a larger sup- 

 ply of tuhat the farmer buys. 



Now the farmer is a large purchaser of manufactured 

 products, and in the exchange that takes place between 

 the individuals of the two industries, legislative enact- 

 ments have a most important bearing. Chief of the laws 

 having such a bearing is the tariff system. As most per- 

 sons well informed concerning foreign trade know, the 

 laws relating to the tariff are practically made by our 

 manufacturers. It is the object of this little book to 

 show that the effect of these laws is to greatly lessen the 

 exchange value of farmers' products. A repeal of these 

 laws, or, if that is asking too much, a large reduction in 

 rates of duties on articles imported which are similar to 



