18 The Tariff and the Farmer. 



accumulated stocks to sellwill be engendered, with, a 

 great reduction or annihilation of all profit. ' ' 



So intense has been the desire to sell with American 

 farmers that they are competing to an immense value 

 with the poorest paid ''pauper labor of Europe." 



It is now time to consider the effect of high protective 

 duties on the farmers. 



The agricultural community annually purchases man- 

 ufactures to a vast value, probably nearly $2,000,000,000 

 worth of products, usually entered by the census reports 

 under the head of manufactures. These consist chiefly 

 of clothing, the many articles comprised under the word 

 furniture, /ill the machinery and tools, large or small, 

 required to carry on a farm ; articles of food more or less 

 changed for the consumption of man or beast, and the 

 buildings necessary to shelter the family and live stock. 

 As most of all this is manufactured in this countrv what 

 has the tariff to do with it ? Under free trade the price 

 of a large part of the products indicated was regulated 

 by outside supply. A rise in price was likely to be fol- 

 lowed by an increase in imj)ortations, a fall in price by a 

 decrease of imports. The tariff interfered with this 

 self -regulating arrangement, either by shutting out or 

 largely increasing the price where the article came in. 

 Our home producers then came into absolute control of 

 the American market, as claimed bv President Dolan of 

 the Manufacturers' National Association (see chap- 

 ter VI). • 



Under ordinary conditions this might work no injus- 

 tice, but for the last twentv or thirtv vears conditions 

 have been unusual and extraordinarv. 



The manufacturing industry in the United States is 

 divided into at least from 300 to 400 distinct groups. In 



