Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1873-10-09

m axe new market for all our farm
products. At the Congressional Con
ventlon held at. St Louis in May last,
the necessity was abundantly proved
of opening up and in pro wing all the
river and lake channels Of commerce
as means of competition with rail
roads, and especially because river and
lake transportation is the cheapest that
can be furnished
Farmers want and must have cheap
er freights. Every dollar paid for car
rying products to market diminishes
the price which the producer can re-
ceiYe. An examination of the statis-
ties of our railroads and the business
they have done, shows that in many
instances their charges for freight have
been oppressive and unjust Congress
or the State Legislatures, or all to
gether, have the power to remedy this,
by reducing and regulating and equal
izing freight charges, by opening up
competing lines of water transporta
ton, and by devising new and compel
ing lines of freight railroads.
Congress has already inaugurated
measures to secure these results. A
committee Of the Senate, with Mr.
Window, of Minnesota, at it's head. is
now in session; taking evidence with a
view to report measures to meet the
farmers wants. The Oranges of the
Western States have been invited to
present these wants and the measures
Of relief which they may suggest to
the committee.
The Committee of Commerce of the
last House of Representative render
ed valuable service in the preparation
of measures looking to the same re
suits.
Let these subjects be considered
with fairness, moderation and Justice,
as the surest means of reaching an ad
justment that will be alike honorable
to all, unjust to none, and which will
secure abundant and cheap transpor-
tation.
A year ago, | was in New York, and
there l made the acquaintance of a
-four jobber. From him l learned
more than | ever knew before Of the
number Of hands a bushGl of wheat
must pass through, and the number of
profits it must pay, before it reaches
the mouth that consumes it. A bushel
of wheat is sold to a warehouseman
in the West, and he has his profit. He
sells to the manufacturer, whose labor
and profit is a necessity. He ships to
a commission merchant, who makes s
commission or profit by selling in lots
to jobbers, who sell at profit to re-
tailers, who sell at profit to consum-
ers. Frequently, there are interme-
diate dealers, and of course, very of
ten brokers. At last a scanty supply
gets to the consumer at greatly in
crea sed cost, and the farmer gets only
such price as will allow all these prof
its.
A similar routine follows, to some
extent, every i,tetrcf of bacon, beef.
corn, and all the products of West
ern farmer. That this course of deal
ing is costly, and CONSUMES large
share of the farmers labor, no man
can deny.
If this Republic shall endure the
grand army of farmers whose labor
feed and furnish the material to clothe
the people must command respect, aud
perform their part in controlling it's
destinies. Idlers or drones may flour
ish for a season, but the winter OF their
discomfort is at hand and they must be
banished from the multitudinous hive
of American producers.
I affirm as my opinion that farmers
should meet and organize in some ap
propriate form to consider their wants,
their interests, their rights, and their
duties.
The magnitude Of the interest in
volved, greater, as they are, than all
others combined, renders all this not
only proper but necessary. Accord
ing to tue census of 1870, the persons
engaged in the several general forms
Of industry in the United States were
as follows:
Male persons. Female
| In agriculture .............. s. 525, SOB 1856 SCI
| Trade and transportation. : $40 Is 69{
Manufacturing, mechanical,
mining .....................2 2 353, All 353 95I
Professional and personal .l,6I8.I1 1,OGG 67
The productions of agriculture, in
Guiding betterments, for the year, re.
ported by the census tables, were, il
value:
Farm 50, AT 53S 65
Orchard % a. 81 335 Is Is
| Market gardens .---...-..-- zo 'A''z%
No intelligent man will venture tc
say that these interests require no leg
islation. No just man will say that tht
regulation and care Of these interest
should be left exclusively to thos
having adverse inter ests.