The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-10-29
Why Farmers Should Interest Them
selves Personally in Politics.
THE INFLUENCES OF MIDDLEMEN---oLD
AND NEW FARMLIFE--TRANs
TON, &C., &C., &c.
Concluded.
THE EVIL OF MIppLEnlEN.

ANuucluupu. ,
THE EVIL OF NnDDLEMEN.
have referred to the comparative over.
growth Of cities. One of the objects, | I
observe, Of the oranges, is to simplify the ,
Of exchange, TO dispense with
mlddlemen as tar as practicable, and bring
producers and consumers more nearly To-, {
gether. In the degree in which they shall j
proceed in this they shall check one of the |
tendencies toward the concentration OF /
capital and population This increase OF i
city population and the aggregation OF cap !
ital is not confined 30 the United States,
but is common 10 the civilized world. Lon {
don is growing more rapidly than ever be-
fore, and the growth of Berlin in the past
few years is as great a marvel as that OF
Chicago. The causes must be sought IN
principles OF universal operation. At one
period OF the worlds history men gathered
in cities, and walled towns for mutual pro
lection. At another, cities were great po-
htical capitals, law givers, in fact making
vast provinces and distant countries tribu-
taries to their wealth and power by con |
quest. Now cities attain their Importance |
rs the centres and capitals Of money man !
ufactures and commerce. Think for one
moment how vastly their Importance as
mere money centres has been increased by
the introduction Of national funded debts.
The funded debt Of the United States is
81 ,T3S, 245, 500 that of the various states
1924 747 $50 of counties and towns,
$429, O75, 54S the last figures are from
unofficial statistical tables and are probably
largely under. The floating debts of the
general government, and those of the states,
counties and cities would add more than
$500, DOC, 900 10 this sum of our public in
debtedness. The funded debt of the rail
roads Of the United States is 81 poo, 645,-
O6l. The total debts of the nations of the
world, compiled on the basis of Hubners
statistical tables, and probably embracing
only such as are quotable at the London
exchange, il $lS,7UO. 500, 75S-more than
quadruple the gold and silver coin in the
world. Add TO that already inconceivabe
sum the debts of states, counties, and mu-
inequalities, and we become lost in a be-
wildering maze OF figures. The interest
upon this vast sum is an annual tribute
paid by the world industry to the world
moneyed centres and capitals. What
happy holiday the world would enjoy, what
year Of jubilee, If it could get out ofdebt
Nearly all the vast sums have recapitul-
ated are the price of wars, and must be
paid FROM the accommodations Of peace.
There is no escape No nation can afford
20 incur the disgrace Of reputation. Cap
ital, when invested in machinery and ma.
terial improvements, adds 10 productive
capacity and 10 the sum Of human happi-
ness, but no national debt is a national
blessing, and their aggregate is silent,
constant drain on the worlds productive
industry. 1t is that much of the world $
stock in trade held by dead hand.
INVENTIONS AND THEIR EFFECTS.
About hundred years ago Watt invent
ed the eondensing steam engine, which has
revolutionized the arts Of peace in as great
a degree as the invention OF gunpowder
did the art Of war. So much has it added
10 the productive capacity that it has been
estimated that with it. and the inventions
20 which il gave rise, the creative power of
Great Britain in arts of civilized life would
be as great as that of the world without
One immediate effect of this and almost
every other great invention is tO strength
en- the strong, to make capital q more pow
erful element in production Hargrave' S
spinning jenny, Arkwrights spinning
frame, Cartwright's power loom, and the
methods of pudding and rolling iron,
which were nearly contemporary with the
steam engine, with the introduction of cot
ton as a cheap textile, iand the application
Of steam to transportation by land and wa
ter, have completely modified the methods
of industry and exchange and the currents
of population. Before that, personal skill
was the mechanics best capital now per
sOnal mechanical skill is worth compare
lively little without the use of large CAPT
tai. 1t cannot compete with machinery
Before that, mechanical trades we're car
ried on as independent pursuits, by men
who learned them as apprentices, to prac-
tice them as masters, with such means as
they could severally accumulate. In fact,
mechanical labor strictly has been largely
supplanted by,manufaeturing labor When
Adam Smith wrote of the division Of labor
as a cause Of increased production he little
dreamed Of the minute subdivisions to
which the principle would be carried. Be.
fore the invention Of pins any Of our ances-
tors could gather thorns or make a skew.
or now pin, / believe passes through n
dozen han1s before 1t is ready for the
cushion. but it is cheaper to buy it than TO
gp 10 the woods for thorn, or even for
Yankee 10 white a skewer Outside OF
agriculture every one who produces is now
working % supply the wants of others, and
drawing upon the labor of hundreds of
others 10 supply his own Now, too, it is
very seldom that any man produces from
raw material au article that any one wants.
He only contributes to it in some minute
degree-and the whole is the Joint produc-
ton Of many hands This makes exchange
more necessary and frequent. All articles
being for sale seek common centres
places where buyers can purchase every
thing they want The volume of commerce
is thus wonderfully increased, its machiu
cry exceedingly complex and delicate
These are great centripetal forces which
constantly draw population and capital to
those vast human lives, modern cities
They are social forces far more powerful
than any legislative enactment
OLD Farm LIFE.
If any of you grew up, as / did near
the frontier you will have observed the
operation Of these forces in your own ex-
perience Thirty-fve years ago in what
was then the Far West almost every
thing consumed on a farm was raised on
IT, There was some barter. Butter and
eggs were exchanged for sugar and coffee
Tea was luxury, kept for cases Of sick
ness, few such state occasions as the visit
Of the minister,o or Of that most august Off
cial--in those days-the circuit judge.
Wool came from the Sleeps back into the
house, and never left ii until il went out on
the backs of the boys and girls. 1t was
carded, woven, and spun by hand. The
fax went from the field to the breaker,
from breaker to hackIe and loom. At the
farm best remember the trough was still
in the farm yard, and the remains Of the
vat we're be seen, where, not many years
before, deer skins and COW hides had been