OCR Text |
Show PROTECT THE ONION GROWERS While the government is casting about for some means of helping agriculture in its larger aspect, there appears one particular case in which the remedy is as apparent as it is necessary. This is the case of the American onion growers, who annually raise thousands of acres of small onions for the pickle trade The center of the onion business is in the Middle West. These onion growers are about to be put out of business by a recent decision of the board of general appraisers, which lowered the tariff on pickled onions between $7.30 and $1 1.30! a cask. In effect, the! appraisers said that pickled onions might come into this country as onions, at a tax of 1 cent a pound, instead of as pickles, aa formerly, at a 35 per cent ad valorem tax. '. It is estimated that from 75 to 90 per cent of the cost of raising pickle onions iff paid out for the labor which grows, peels and packs them. The American grower, paying American wages for labor which works European hours, without! the protection of a high tariff. As a matter of fact, say the growers, a, 35 per cent tax was low enough; a 50 cent tax would have been fairer. |