OF AMERICA. I 7 



CHAPTER II. 



WHAT BECOMES OF THE $400,000,000 YEARLY TAKEN OUT 

 OF THE POCKETS OF THE AMERICAN FARMERS ? 



The amount of Customs revenue which the United States 

 Government derived in 1878 from duties on foreign goods 

 imported was $130,000,000. To this amount, the agricul- 

 turist, being rather less than half of the total population ot 

 the country, contributed about |6o,ooo,ooo. This was, 

 therefore, the proportion of the $400,000,000 overcharged 

 to the American fanners on their annual expenditure, that 

 went to the legitimate purpose of national revenue ; and, 

 so far, $60,000,000 of the total is satisfactorily accounted 

 for. But what of the remaining $340,000,000 ? Who are 

 the lucky men whom this mighty sum, drained year after 

 year out of the farmer's earnings, goes to enrich ? Strange 

 and incredible as it may appear, careful exami'' ation and 

 analysis will show that all this money has been, and is 

 being, absolutely wasted, squandered, and spent as uselessly 

 as it would be in hiring an army of men to dig holes and 

 fill them up again. It has neither enriched nor even 

 benefited anybody. While it has to that extent impover- 

 ished the farmers, it has only served to fill up the gap and 

 make good the losses occasioned by the misapplication of 

 capital and labour in the Eastern States to the wrong kinds 

 of production. 



Let us trace where these .5340,000,000 go. They form 

 the extra sum paid annually to the r.^.anufacturers of the 

 Eastern States over and above what the farmers would 

 have had to pay for the same articles were they allowed to 

 make their purchases from abroad. If the Eastern manu- 

 facturers were ::;ble to produce their goods as cheaply as 



