Show WHY protective TARIFF for the reaper by frank P litschert in a recent editorial on the tariff and the farmer fanner the st louis times points out some of the benefits the farmer is receiving directly from the present protective tariff law and some of the danger spots in which he is apt to need additional help along this line during the next few years the citrus cirrus fruits of california and florida are receiving a fair amount of protection at this time but the cherry growers 0 of f the northern pacific coast are now feeling the effect of foreign competition and are going to ask for some assistance florida and southern california as the times points out are facing increasing competition from cuba and mexico in the marketing of tomatoes and early garden truck while in texas w where here the turkey industry indus tn is a major one the groi growers ers of this american bird bihl are in danger of a deluge of turkeys from south america in fact it is said that prices have already declined and the cold st storage orage plants plant s are reporting a surplus the northern sections of the country where dairying is a great industry now have protection but there are arc indications in the lace face of the increasing imports that even more help from the tariff is to be needed if our dairying states are to continue prosperous of course the deadly foreign competition is due to the cheaper labor abroad here are some instances where the bartner farmer is vitally interested in the tariff and there are many others surely these facts are enough to cause any farmer who has become enamored of the free trade argument about world markets to study the present economic situation and the trend of the times very carefully if the farmer fanner loses or destroys the great home market in which he now sells nine tenths of his products the situation he will face then undoubtedly will be a great deal more serious gonel than the crisis which lie he has gone through since the close cloe of the world war incidentally it may bi be meni mentioned Nned that the duties on imports into the united states made a new high record in the year 1926 the total amount of revenue which the government received from imports was which is the greatest in m the history of the government the total imports for 1926 were valued at 1 1 I 1 this total of imports has only been exceeded once in the history of the country y and that as in 1920 and 1920 was an exceptional year for the reason that wet we then imported pounds of sugar at thirteen cents a pound the heavy im import trade of 1925 was exceeded in 1926 by more than four per cent the figures are taken from report rendit iaz bently issued by the united states chamber of commerce Comme ice the breatt t indrea zes s in the importations bere amre in i l abber collee n newsprint 0 ws print 1 00 oo 0 ad d pil AIN copper tin fin and a d petroleum iii n I 1 in n fact tie 1 imports M in raw materials and bemi benci fi nichea pro ducts broke all records and it is a noteworthy fact that in these great groups most of the imports came from continents other than europe A big percentage of our imports were from south america showing that foreign trade is a worldwide world wide game the free traders told u us that the present tariff law would reduce imports and customs duties and therefore shrink our foreign trade and ruin the country imports have increased rather than diminished and the revenue customs duties last year was the greatest on record our foreign trade is healthy and the country is not ruined after all it is result and not theory which counts |