PROTECTTON A DEADLY ENEMY. lO/ 



Who now control all our great financial schemes, with 

 their far-reaching social and political consequences, but 

 the men who are secured a profit in their undertakings 

 by government at the expense of such as the farmer? 

 Who hold the balance of power in our legislation, but 

 the men who are secured an abundant reward for their 

 efforts at the expense of those situated as the farmer? 

 Who are able to give to their families the shelter and 

 luxuries of $100,000 homes,, and to their children the 

 advantage of travel and European education, better than 

 those who are subsidized by government, at the expense 

 of those situated as the farmer ? Who sit in higher seats, 

 and in finer churches, and in more costly robes, than 

 thoseVho are permitted to carry on a practice of legal- 

 ized brigandage against the pockets of such as our 

 farmers ? Who travel up and down our valleys, occupy- 

 ing our palace and first-class cars, fill our best hotels, to 

 a greater extent, than the men who are sanctioned by 

 government, in effecting combinations for systematic 

 raids on the farmers' narrow incomes ? 



The result of protection is to destroy the efficacy of 

 the natural powers of soil and climate ; to counteract 

 the rich returns of the earth, and dwarf the efforts of 

 men ; to render their actions futile ; to exact the utmost 

 from the capacity of the producing forces, and to with- 

 hold from them their natural powers as mediums for the 

 satisfaction of wants. It is to pauperize man in the 

 midst of his abundance ; it is for man to see his over- 

 flowing granaries, without power to gain for him one 

 step forward in command of the progress to which he is 

 naturally entitled ; it is for him to witness the magnitude 

 of his flocks and herds, without the ability to cancel the 

 demands of the usurer and the tax-gatherer ; it is, in fact, 



