Period. Price. „ 
1857 . 41.75 (currency).$U.w 
1883 . 53.00. 13.50 
1865 . 62.81. 14.00 
1860 . 61.96. 14.00 
1867 . 60.23. 14-00 
1868 . 56.34.%... 14.00 
1869.. 56.80. 14.00 
1870 . 62.82 . 14-00 
1371 . 62.83. 14-00 
1372 . 76.00. 12.00 
From the examination of the above table, 
no relation between the tariff and price can 
be found. In 184-8, with no duty on iron, the 
price per ton was $69 ; and in 1863, with 
$13.50 duty, the price was only $56.84 per 
ton and the duty $14 ; and in 1872 the price 
was $76, with $12.60 duty. 
Dr. William Elder gives us the following 
table of prices in the New York market : 
r Ton. Prime Cost Per Ton. 
$25.00.$36.83 
^ .rv r. A nn 
PB0TECTI0N AND PEICES 
A ct.ass of political economists hold that 
the duty imposed upon protected articles 
enhances the price of those articles to the 
amount of the imposed duty. Farmers are 
made to believe it in some coses, and hence 
they demand free trade. The railway man¬ 
agers of the West have advocated the same 
O, yes, my dear friends of tne nowers, i 
will tell’you as much as I can of my ex¬ 
perience with them. First, I enjoy canng 
for them exceedingly well, notonly to water 
and weed out, if need be, but especially do 1 
love to grow them from slips or seeds. I be¬ 
lieve this to be necessary for success, and, in¬ 
deed, a great secret which many do not 
understand yet. They “wonder why in the 
world plants won’t thrive with them as well 
as Mrs. M- They had forgotten that 
they told Mrs. M-they “ did not care to 
cultivate flowers, but liked to see them in 
bloom: so they would like some slips from 
her best plants” The truth was they 
thought a plant know enough to grow if it 
was stuck in the pot where the earth had 
buried a dead plant before, and of course it 
was handy to have the slips put in the bath¬ 
room because they could be watered handily, 
and were out of 1 ho way, while they were 
unsightly—“would bring them to light when 
t.hev hecame lovable.” Of course such slips 
Date, 
1»44. 
1854. 
1855. 
1860. 
Upon this table he says :—“ Here we see 
that in the first stage of diminishing rates, 
when the duty fell $8.57, the cost rose $17.87. 
At the second stage, when the duty had 
fallen $14.96, the price was still $5.02 higher 
than in 1844; and when the duty had been 
reduced $16.78, the cost had fallen but $2.60.” 
These tables show that the duty had nothing 
to do with the advance in price of iron, and 
that the high rates of transportation are not 
caused by’ protection of iron. The fluctua¬ 
tions in the price of iron are not controlled 
by the duty. Neither is the price of lead, 
salt, lumber, woolen and cotton goods con¬ 
trolled by protection. In practice, the theory 
of free trade has proved fallacious in every 
point. Yet these free trade economists go 
on advocating the doctrine, and insisting 
that though the theory has failed in the past, 
it is the principle to be adopted in the. future. 
If the theory were correct, it would not be 
policy for cur Government to adopt free 
trade. The cost of carrying on tins Govern¬ 
ment is $300,000,000 per annum. Of this, 
$200,000,000 is derived from our system of 
tariff. If free trade was adopted, this amount 
would be raised by taxation, and the farmer 
would be obliged to pay $3 where he now 
pays but $1. Over two-thirds of the duties 
are laid on luxuries, and therefore paid by 
the wealthy. 
In order to divert the public mind the rail¬ 
way managers here in the West have sprung 
the question that the exorbitant freight tar¬ 
iffs are the legitimate results of protection. 
It will be remembered that in 1870 a memo¬ 
rial was sent to Congress, signed by about 
100 of the highest railway magnates in this 
country, asking that, a specific duty should 
be imposed on steel rails. This memorial 
stated that foreign makers charged $225 per 
ton for steel rails imtil American works were 
built ; then the price of the foreign article 
was lowered to $06.33. They petitioned that 
instead of the ad valorem duty, a specific of 
two cents per pound be imposed. These 
memorialists wanted a duty of $15 per ton 
I! 
idXiUKFiJ-.Y" kA.l>IP:S.—fiPage . E*. 
t from the I theory, and have, in many instances, made 
ers are of the farmers believe that the tariff on iron 
is usually was the cause of the high rates of transpor¬ 
tation from the West to the East. A class 
of farmers here in the West is clamoring for 
free trade as the remedy for the procuring 
of cheap transportation rates. 
If this class of farmers would take the 
pains to investigate the matter, the falsity 
or this theory would be apparent. Statis¬ 
tics prove that protection has nothing to do 
with prices to any great extent. 
Numerous instances of the repeal of duty 
in the past show the truth of this statement. 
For a number of years past, free trade econ¬ 
omists in the West advocated the repeal of 
duty on tea and coffee ; and so well did they 
demonstrate their theory, founded upon a 
false premises as it is, that they effected the 
repeal G n these two articles of daily con¬ 
sumption. Time has been given to prove 
whether the repeal of the duty of 15 cents 
per pound on tea and three cents per pound 
on coffee, would lower the price on these 
articles to the amount oi the imposed duty. 
>pposition to the 
PLANTS FOB NAMES. 
W. N.—The small, greenish fruit-like pod 
sent was crushed flat when received, but it 
is probably a species of Dryunojms, belong¬ 
ing to tire eucurbitaeea? or cucumber family 
of plants; but these botanical riddles in the 
shape of immature fruit, leaf, or seed, 
especially of exotic plants, are beyond em¬ 
powers of guessing. It is difficult enough to 
name perfect, specimens, but still more so 
whan they are imperfect. 
A. Kool, Pella, Iowa.—The seeds, etc., 
sent arc very imperfect specimens. No. 1 
we cannot make out ; you should send speci¬ 
men with leaves and seeds in perfect condi¬ 
tion. No. 2 is Scubiora ntdlata, a cultivated 
plant. No. 3, Phnlartx urtuidinaeea or com¬ 
mon seed grass. No, 4. is a small pod of the 
common honey lucust, (Uleditschia trie.(Wi¬ 
th ox.) 
Tea and coffee, in direct O] 
free trade theory, have refused to come down 
in price, notwithstanding the repeal of the 
duty. But this is not all. The Government 
has lost from $20,000,000 to $30,000,000 of 
revenue by such legislation, winch amount 
has to be made up by internal taxation. 
The following table shows the price per ton 
in gold of American railway iron in Pliila- 
deiphia for a period of 25 years, aud also the 
tariff duties on similar imported iron for the 
same period: 
Period. Price. Duty : 
1847. ..$69.00....,.. 
1851.. .. 
1851-54.a3-7a.. 
1855. 62.87.. 
1856-57. o4 - Jo . 
Iowa Aoiuccltl ral College.—' ’The Prai¬ 
rie Farmer says:—As we understand it, there 
was wrangling between the President and 
the other members of the faculty. Presi¬ 
dent Welch tendered his resignation to the 
Board of Trustees. The Trustees vacated 
everv professorship, refused to accept the 
resignation of the President, then proceeded 
to re-elect such of the old professors as were 
agreeable to Mr. Welch, The professorship 
of Pomology was abolished and a professor¬ 
ship of Horticulture and Forestry created. 
Double Painsetta and Wistaria.— What 
has become of the Double Painsetta and 
Double Wistaria which were noiced a few 
years since (— Binghamton. 
We know nothing of the Double Painsetta, 
but the Double Chinese Wistaria is being 
propagated, and wc believe a few have been 
offered for sale. There is no considerable 
