12 The Tariff and the Farmer. 



competition can come from this quarter the country must 

 be cleared of noxious reptiles and animals ; water be pro- 

 vided at an immense expense for the stock; the cattle 

 changed for a larger breed; and in place of millions of 

 ignorant, indolent Indians and half-breeds steeped in 

 j)overty, there must be men of a totally different stamp 

 and education, rich enough to provide themselves with 

 the essentials of civilization. Is this change likely to^ 

 come in our dav? 



We now pass from the consideration of spectres 

 created by the lively imagination of politicians to a direct 

 and full exposure of the fraudulent claim that the farmer 

 is protected (see chapter II). 



When the Mills tariif was being discussed in the House 

 in 1888, Mr. McKinley asked this ciuestion, ''Do the agri- 

 culturists want all duties removed and their products 

 driven from this market?" A brief examination of our 

 agricultural foreign trade for any year would show the 

 absurdity of this question. 



In the fiscal year ending June 30, 1900, the value of 

 agricultural imports was twice that of 1887, the year 

 quoted by Mr. McKinley. If there had been danger then 

 of our products being driven from our home market 

 under free trade, much more so in the later year. 



The total value of agricultural imports as given by the 

 Year Book of the Department of Agriculture for 1900 

 was $-1:20,139,288. Before proceeding to a classification of 

 these products we note articles to the value of 5.71% of 

 total that are clearly manufactured products. These are 

 set one side.. The remainder we divide into three 

 classes : 



Class 1. Non-competing Products. These are not 

 produced to any considerable extent by our farmers. 



