New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-02-10
TIE FARMERS QUESTION:

COMMISSIONER WELLS REVIEWED by HENRY u
CAREY-MR WELLs's FALSE PHiLosofhi'
The largest importers of food in the world
are the neop,e of these United States Exporting ~ III
the rude towns OF wheat and they
Incorporated with wool, orc, aud other crude niae
and made 10 take the forms OF CLOTH SILKS anu "V
this manner importing dozen bushels ior oa'n oie0
one supped TO the manufacturing countries Oh Iuopo'
Instead OF making market at home for their prouues
they thus make demand for those OF Russian ahu Ger
ar acids thereby retaining themselves In state OF
abect dependepce upon distant and worthless Market
suoh as IA well described by the Commissioner In the ke
mort lust now published. follows the Italics being ny
own;
More wheat and other agricultural produce and must be annually
surplus disposed Of all must ind market 10 foreign %
lion Of selling others nasmucb notwithstanding of mag
I nToD Of b Of the Battle and the
Cnea reduces superiority within very narrow hms no h ~,
S1s him worth Marx Lane London
S s fsI,s ss al S Of ASd sSo%t selling eg;
very wa nsat WheGt area % S
rd ph.at even 0si ne end Of e var nay ne
aS G y sV: not Ss SS 70 Pa agds s u Thousands.
discipline matter. sSPs s r sSd s s:s 1 prog
daee more breaus the demand When sHued
S the 3 "a broad SSa ,pla asS ~" may bring
An ouSry rood crop tbse Uued States cannot Re
orth Gr crptation Of the ho crop oasmae9
as there cannot be two prices article for the home and
another for the foreign market"
That the price OF the whole crop entirely depehoon
ppon that which can be obtained in the British market
for surplus trivial that its destrncuoh' ny ne vi
otherwise would be gain. and not loss 10 the genera
farming interest is fact well known to all VINO nave
given TO the question even the slightest consideration
It would for the farming community con-
lr spsr from the interests whole country mat surplus
5b CpaSy for The purpose Of securing higher price for the re-
msDder but such disposition Of he surplus "n sotsioe to
use hom Illustration and is Of course true that t0s PGaos,
have no choice whether they viii obey the sraop
depend on the In preee the sane way with our
moi sam a, one point It viii sSOtbe Weiss Report xviii
sucb being the case 1t would seem be Of the highest
Importance that all our efforts should be directed
toward maintaining the prices in the regulating market
being directly the Of that which is desired by
British manufacturers who seek underse all others
by means OF cheap labor that is to be obtained only by
cheapening everywhere the farmers products To that
end they desire compel the oodproducers Of America
and Of Continental Europe to compete with each other
for the possession Of market insignificant that 10
meet ITS ohole demand upon The outside cord requires
scarcely more bushels of grain han ecen now pro-
dueed IL, the so recently settled State Of Iod, and not
fourth part Of whG 'nder proper cultivation, a can DC
made TO yeld SO long as happily for themselves our
crops continued short farmers contributed
little toward reducing prices in the regulating
market; but now that have had three sue
cesve favorable seasons. creating surplus fer which
outlet must be sought abroad, we nave the ola result
Russian, German, and Hungarian eatgrowers CON
tending with for the privilege OF almost giving away
their products in the poorest aud most unreliable OF all
the markets Of the world-one that has taken from US
the last dozen years 9OOOO cwts of wheat or an
average OF but 100000 Of bushels per annum Had
those few millions been destroyed British prices through
out most of long period would have been higher by.
at the least 10 10 per cent and the annual money
value of general crop Of food would have been
greater by an average Of at the least S0O00OO that
being the lowest estimate that be made Of the cost at
which farmers retain the prlrie9e OF selling whole
skins for sxpence and buying back tails for shilling"
process that with slight exception has been in opera
ton almost from the day when the country had become
nomnally independent.
Such being the present state Of things, how 1t to be
with our farmers in the future Continental Europe IS
alive with railroad operations looking to faciltaon OF
communication between its fields and the manufacturing
countries Of Europe Russia rapidly preparing for rail
road transportation OF Asiatic well as European
wheat. We. ourselves, making annually thousands
of miles OF roads, nearly all OF which look to the develop
of lands whose products to come into compet
ton with those already cultivated. The Lake Superior
country calls aloud for nm grafton Offering TO settlers
lands capable Of yielding to very moderate cnlva'
ton 40 bushels Of wheat and so OF oats to the The
Governor OF Colorado the same assuring foreigners
that the State advantages for the production Of
food scarcely equaed elsewhere in the world Southern
farmers not only supplying that Southern de-
mand which before the war had made market for West
ern products but already largely supplying Eastern
markets with both animal and vegetable food Prepare
ton ia being made for deuge Of food to be forced
upon British market the like Of which has yet
been known threatening our farmers with damage
greater than any they ever yet have seen.
The extension Of railroad system within the last
few protection years has been most extraordinary and
yet the lines projected promise still more rapid ex
tension IN the future Let them made and farm
ers fail provide for corresponding increase in the home
demand for their products and the result must inevita
bly, exhibit itself in the form Of depression Of the agrl
cultural interests as great as If not greater than
has been ever known. Let them, the contrary. deter
mine that all cloths and all iron shall be made at
home aud the rood.making in progress viH be fol-
lotoed by increased prosperity to a the old farmers aud
the net0.