FARMERS' SUPPLIES CHEAPENED BY PROTECTION. 



Ill 



and with wool protected, woolens were cheaper in 1870 than they 

 were in 1860, making allowance for the difference between paper 

 and gold. This table was furnished at the request of the New 

 York Tribune, some years ago, by S. W. Fay, of Perry, Wendell, 

 Fay & Co., commission merchants in New York, Boston and Phil- 

 adelphia. Since then there has been a progressive decline in the 

 prices of these goods : 



These figures falsify the assertion made by the Chicago Tribune, 

 that, on account of our Protective policy, "we pay an average tax 

 of 46 per cent, on everything we eat, drink, wear, or otherwise 

 consume." It is thus evident that the great mass of the American 

 people, particularly Western farmers, who, despite the depression 

 of general industry caused .by the panic of 1873, obtain higher 

 prices than in 1860 for their produce, have, as consumers, no rea- 

 son to complain of the existing prices for woolen goods. 



The following extracts from a letter written from Iron Moun- 

 tain, Mo., to the editor of the St. Louis Tribune, July 6, 1870, by 

 an old man nearly 70, contain some facts well worth recollecting, 

 and which require no comment. 



I remember that fifty years ago farmers could get only 25 cents per pound for 

 their wool, but had to pay $8 or $10 per yard for their broadcloths. That was 

 because we had but few woolen factories in this country. What is the fact now ? 



