ABSTRACT
No more popular sentiments can be expressed at an agricultural gathering than those in which Free Trade is denounced and an import duty on corn advocated. There are Protectionist leaders who argue that the recently abandoned corn duty did not increase the price of grain and its products, and they insist that a still higher tax would not result in any material increase in the price, if indeed the price were increased at all. In the everyday arguments upon the merits and demerits of Free Trade and Protection from the point of view of agriculture there is one paramount question upon which antagonists never agree. Farmers, who are such large purchasers of oats and barley, peas and beans, cotton-seed and linseed, owe more to Free Trade than appears on the surface, because of the frequently large supplies of maize.
