Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1859-11-04

rhe Hard Times---H0w can they
a be made Easicra
We cannot disguise the fact that the times
re still hard in this State. It is true that
ars plenty and cheap, but money
continues scarce and difficult to obtain. We
,annot see In the financial horizon an imme.
late prospect Of relief Land and town lots
ire absolutely no sale at prices freely offered
two or three years ago, and emigration is
coming but slowly into our borders, while
many mechanics and laborers are becoming
and are removing South and
though, ~ we honestly believe,
they will not by that mesns better their con-
ditions. The hard times cannot be made
easier by running away from them, nor does
= man, - general rule, better his condition
by changing his place Of abode simply because
the times are hard. We have only to appeal
to the readers observation to satisfy him that
those who suffer themselves to be made =
foot ball to be kicked about the country by
every financial revulsion are always poor.
They nay be good workmen-honest and
industrious--bu they lack the perseverance
absolutely requisite to success. Wecontend,
then, that the only remedy for these hard
times is to work through. Stick to your bust.
ness, reduce your expenses within your
income, and keep yourself in cheerful and
hopeful frame Of mind. If you are mech
anic and are unable to obtain employment at
your trade, turn your attention to farming.
Labor in this direction is almost certain of its
reward. What we need in this country is an
increase in the number of producers. The
natural resources of our State are compare
lively undeveloped. We want more capital
and labor invested in farming and manulactur-
ing. Our State has been drained Gifts capital
to pay for products of other sections Of the
Union, and even sent to foreign countries for
articles which ought to be manufactured here.
To hasten "the good time coming" we
must, therefore, sustain our home manufac-
lures and encourage the establishment oil
others. We subjoin from the McGregor Press
few plain, every day maxims concerning the
duty of farmers in making purchases Of wag-
ons, plows, threshing machines, ETC., to pat
ronize manufactures At their own doors,
instead Of sending their money or grain to
distant cities or States to pay for the same
articles. The reasons urged are brief and
simple, to-wit:
The encouragement Of home industry will
furnish home market for the products oil
the soil, which will not be necessarily subject
to the fluctuation Of foreign markets; the
expense Of transportion both ways will be
saved to the producer; the success Of home
manufactures will stimulate industry and
lead to the erection of others, and each new
establishment put in operation will add to the
value of every acre of land in the State; that
competition, division of labor and increase Of
capital will eventually diminish the cost o.
the articles which the farmer must buy.
The reasoning is so direct and palpaple thai
any man who has ten bushels Of wheat to sci
and pillow to buy, cannot fail to give it his
hearty assent. Now substitute cloth and iror
for plows and threshing machines, and thu
people of the United States for the McGregol
farmers, and how does the case stand? Pos
sibly the farmer might say to the pl0w maker
II can buy the articles am in quest of cheaper
at Mr.. So and Sos factory a hundred mile.
distant" Tho proper reply would be, livery
we'll, but you and your sons will have othel
plows to buy, and if you now prefer to built
up factory one hundred miles off instead o
aiding your neighbor to build one at you
own door, all for the sake of beggarly diff
ference in price, you will always be dependen
on the distant manufacture-you will Away!
be paying toll on the wheat you send t.
him and the article you get in return-yo,
will always be contributing to the value o
his real estate while he will contribute moth
ing to the value Of yours-you will always b.
putting him in position to establish price.
both Of plows and wheat, detracting in tn
ratio from your influence on that vital topic
1t is not question of the difference in pric,
between two single plows that should influences
you, but the weightier matter Of these con
siderations which are to affect you and you
children for all time. And the longer 20,
postpone the adoption of this policy the NOR,
formidable will become the difficulties which
stand in the way of its adoption now" Ii
nine cases out of ten this line of argumen
would induce any candid man who felt tina
his interests in the community were not fo
one year but for a life time, to patronize his
neighbor. The seductive theory Of buy
where you can buy cheapest "a theory
which looks to the saving of dime to-day a
the cost of dollar next week-would have
no force with him whatever.
On the above extract the Chicago Pres
and Tribune makes the following sensible
remarks, having wider range of view thar
we have been taking of the subject:
Such, in its simplest statements, is the
commercial policy which seeks to create q
manufacturing industry in the United States
commensurate with the agricultural interest
Every year is adding to the evidence that the
farmers of the North cannot afford to be
dependent on markets in another hemisphere
the value of our products being measured
BY their uncertain wants, and the value Of
theirs by our inevitable necessities they
producing wheat and corn in large quantities
and we making no cloth or iron to speak Of
There are difficulties indeed in the way oil
effecting the desired change, but as in the
case Of the plow-maker, they belong wholly
to the beginning Of the better system to the
artificial conditions imposed by long .ubserv.
iency to foreign markets-and not to the
system itself.
CALEB BALDwM.-As will be seen by the
official vote Of this county, this gentleman,
one of the Republican candidates for the
Supreme Bench, received q very fattering
vote from his fellow townsmen-a vote
which tells unerringly the estimation in
- - L. =. l. IL. k~,k IS