Farmers And Tariff

ÍJnlike many oftheirbrethreninother partsof the country, i lie fannersof Washteiiawcounty arenot often misled by tho ingenious assertions of free trade attorEeví-. TMsisevideneed by thefact lliat a speaker at tbe recent institute i ti Tíigheil against the tariff as one of the fcrniers' grievances. It is coming ptamer every day that tlie proteclive sygtein, fostering, as it does, ihe home aarket, is as indispensable to agriculturist.s as it is to manufacturera, and facts nd tíaiires are daily beina addaced tvíi rh prove the truth of tliis ssertion. The following extract i wortli.v the etreful perusal oí every one: Beveral years Bgo, says Kobert P. Porter, Rol-r (iffni, ihe English economit. in :n esaay mi finance, called attenti.jii to the fact thal the popnlatioB ti. the United States waa steadily ovoroúong'its food prodncing capacity. If tfce Democracy intends, ;is announced, to repeal McKinley bilí and reduce totíes to a revenue basis, tbe American iármer should lose tío time in ascertainíng whether Mr. Griffen's statement is trae or not. IL the remarkable derelpmont of nuuaufacturing iiulustries dnring the lust twenty years of Protecfiíon has ohanged Hip Unitfd States froru s. iood and raw material produciag oonntry to a greal industrial nation, wiieh aoiraally demanda for its centers f industrial energy more food and more raw material, then a policy which will bringrruin to the urban population will 'orfollowed with i distress in the rnral ÜStricta which no extensión of foreign markets for food could possibly allay. lew western farmers realize that the gnivrth of the noii-agricultnral populaüon of racfa sutes as Ohio, Michigan, 2ndúina, Illinois, lowa, Nebraska, CaliJbmia and Oregon lia.s not only been aetuallv but relatively greater than that ff rural jxjpulatkm. These states oontain 158 eities. with a population of 30,000 and npward. In 1880 the aggregste pópala tion in these places was 3,669,a; and in 1890 6.305,955. an addition of 3,636.056 to the population engaged mainly in mannfacturiug industries. ThU additional population requires for cangnmption or for its necessary subastenee per annnm 16,000,000 bushels of wheat and 90,000,000 bushels of corn and proportionatc qn&atities of other farm product. The produrtion of corn, increased 382,000,000 bushels since 1880, ttat of wheat 5.500,000 bnshels, that of potatoes 25,000,000 búhete, and the prodortion of other provisious in proportion tothe demauds of an increased industrial population at home. On the other hand, bta eonsuinption of corn increased by 285,000.000 bnshels, tliat of wheat 2"000,000' tnshels, md other produce in acoordance with the home deniands by increased population in cities md towns. 8 a matter of f act the i-ural popnlution in the older western states increased very slightly daring the last decade, in aome üJises reniaining almost stationary. Oltii. for example, shows an increase of Dearly ii per cent. in urban population and ■ only 4A in rural: Indiana nearly 43 per cent. in urban and 4} in the rural: HEnois, 92 per cent. in the urban and lew than 2 per cent. in the rural district.s. In Wiaconsin the inerease in urVanpopulution was jiearly GO per cent. and in the rural districts 151 percent.; loara, 63 in the urban and 12i in the rnral. Missouri, 46V in ihe urban and 17 m the rural; Michigan. 60 per cent. in the nrban and about 18 in the rnral. The rate of iurrea.se, of course. in the rnral districtn of the uewer Btates, snch a Minnesota, EanMa, Nebraska and Oregonr was more satisf aotory , but nevertheless entirely overshadowed by the prowth of towns and cities. In ■eeota the growth oí ui ban ]opulation exceetled 231 er cent.; in Kansas 116 per cent., and in Nebraska it reached d astonishing rale oí oí}8 per cent. Goriouslv enough. the percentage of growth is found to be more evenir distributed in California thau in any other western state. Here Uie total growth of population wa-s about 40 per cent. , the ■ritan growth about 47 ]er cent. and the Toral growth a trifle over 3."i per cent. Tó sum np, we find that the total popiJstiou of t wel ve states referred t-o was in 1880 18.268. 390. and that the increase dnring the decade was iï, 104,253. Of öri mcrea.se 2,686,066 was urban popult:on and only ,468,196 rnral. Yet the raral popnlation in 1880 was 14,598,497 and the nrb&n pupnlation only 3,659,899. If lilis rate of increase continúes Üirou'íli another decade we shall apprccicn verynearlyto the condition refcrred to by Mr. Giffen, and have little r no lood to export, because it will all "fac sold in tho home inarket at a good jrofit- the condition, by the way, set forti i by that famous Press poem. which made gacta .iliit in the lusi presidential czmpaign: Xaamay teil Lim tbat üie farmer feels happier nd oalmor Wben he sella his KtnfF at home thaii hen ior ilistant points lic packs, ft t 'wclory hlring laljor is a profilablc ncighbor, Wut the parrot wilt once more say "The tarilT is a lm "