126 BOAHl) OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



goods consiimocl in this country are manufactured in this 

 country ; and forty or tifty years ago he would say that 95 

 per cent were manufactured abroad. That shows that the 

 protection we have had has hel})ed us along. I am in hopes 

 under the next administration that the thing is to l)e changed 

 about; that we are to start where we left off in 1<S92, and 

 go ahead. I think we are on the proper line. Let us use 

 it the l)est we may ; let us put brains into it, if we have 

 them, and put in energy. Talk about blacksmiths in Europe. 

 There they do not expect to shoe over four horses a day ; 

 here we expect to shoe ten. A Polander at home will lie 

 still six weeks and do nothing, — be sick ; but come to 

 America, they work every day in the year and are never 

 sick. 



Mr. Russell. What is the difference between the price 

 of wool now and the price in 1892? 



Mr. West. It is worth al)out half as much now as in 

 1892. Of course the United States o:oino; out of the busi- 

 ness has encouraged all the nations of the earth to increase 

 their wool product, because they were going to have the 

 American market. You may ask a Boston dealer what pro- 

 portion of the wool cloths sold in Boston are now manufact- 

 ured abroad, and he would tell you a large per cent. You 

 ask him what per cent under the McKinley law were manu- 

 factured al)road, and he would tell you a very much smaller 

 per cent. 



Mr. Russell. Mr. West has given the idea that the 

 farmers can grow rich by increasing their taxes. That is 

 what I understand, 



Mr. West. No; I did not say that. 



Mr. Russell. The farmer pays all the taxes, gentlemen. 



Mr. West. He pays more than his share. 



Mr. Russell. He pays all the federal taxes, because they 

 are on consumption, and every man except the farmer can 

 shift his taxes onto some one else. The lawyer can charge 

 a little more to his' client for lying awake nights and think- 

 ing al)out his case. A doctor can add a visit or two to your 

 bill when you are sick. The merchant can add to his profits. 

 And the farmer is the man upon whom ultimately all taxes 

 must fall. He has to buy at retail and sell at wholesale, and 



