Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-05-24
PRODUCERS AND NON.PRODUCERs.

asked-what can the farmers effect by
cooperation? It might suffice for an
swer, to ask in return, what have the
tyrannous monopolies effected by CO.
operation? They have secured COM
plete control of federal and State gov
ernments and, through them, of all
the leading interests of the country.
The men chosen by the farmers and
mechanics to make laws protective Of
their interests, are bought up by rings
and monopolies and the laws are shaped
to foster capital and make production
subseryient to Its continual accummu-
lation. To break up these dangerous
combinations and bring the govern
ment back to its legitimate purpose
the protection of life, ibertyand prop
erty, should be the aim of the farmers
and mechanics. They have strength,
if they have the will, to do it.
The few honest patriots and states
lnen yet to be found amid the demon
moralized mass Of our population, are
beginning to look to the producing
classes as the only hope for the restora-
ton of the government to its original
landmarks and of giving to integrity
and intelligence their rightful ascend
ancy in the administration of every de-
partment of it. To do this, there
must be active and earnest coop
Grafton, because in union there is
strength, and such union, cemented by
an honest desire and determined pur-
pose to crush out official corruption,
must prove irresistible. That this
strength exists and is available, is de-
monstrated by the fact-that however
numerous may be the subdivisions of
the productive classes-there are but
two grand divisions of the population
ofthIs, or any other country, producers
and consumers. The former embra-
ces every man who fills the soil wheth-
err as proprietor, or hired help; every
mechanic, whether he works in wood,
or iron, stone or clay, hides or fur, cot
ton or wooden fabrics and every miner
whether of coal or metal. The consul
mers are those who subsist upon the
labor Of others and who, as middle
men, spectators, common carriers and
manufacturers of the raw materials
produced by the toiling millions, swal-
low the profits rightfully belonging to
the producer, and thus amass fortunes.
They enact the part of drones among
the working bees, eating honey they
do not make, and the producers ought,
like the working bees, to eject them
from the hive, or limit their rations to
the service they render.
1t requires but little reflection and
calculation to demonstrate the immense
preponderance of the producing, over
the producing class, and the con-
sequent voting strength of the former
which is ample to control the govern
ment in the interest of labor and pub
lie virtue. Yet in the face of these
facts,.we see with what ease those non
producing classes band themselves to-
gether in rings, and actuated by no
higher motive than avarice, control and
corrupt the government, Cypress labor
and grow fat upon the sweat of its face.
Is there nothing in this reversal of the
law Of compensation in the manifold
evils resulting from corrupt govern
ment and the gross decentralization of
the people, to prompt speedy and eff
tective union of producers for the sup
preston of monOpolies Were this
mere question of dollars and cents. it
is of sufficient Importance to stimulate
the farmers and mechanics to a deter
mined cooperative effort to secure
fair compensation for the work of
their hands, by destroying the agencies
through which they are robbed and
impoverished. But when it is remem-
bered that the question involves the
preservation and the establishment of
society upon the basis of integrity
that official corruption and usurpation
and tyranny are crushing out all these
elements of liberty, prosperity and
happiness, the subject assumes an i'm
portance that should enlist the sympa-
thies and aid of all ofevery class, who
prefer freedom to depotism and pros
perity to poverty.
The destiny Of the country, for good
or evil, rests upon the will of its pro-
ducing classes. The politician, the
soldier and the capitalist are, alike,
hostile to the interests oflabor Cap
ital buys the government which, in all
its departments, is composed of poll
tieians, and the soldier is paid by the
people, to divest them oftheir political
rights and to destroy the fruits oftheir
toll. To whom then, can the produ-
GERS look, save to themselves, for pro-
lection against the aggressive policy of
this powerful and lawless combination?
Constitutional guarantees have ceased
to secure their rights; the partizan has
supplanted the patriot and they have
no hope save in their own ability to
right their wrongs, and this will prove
delusive without close combination and
energetic action. The every -man-for-
himself-policy so characteristic of the
farming community, induces a eondi-
ton ofweakness thatinvites aggression
and encourages adverse combinations.
Hence it is that those who produce
nothing are enabled to realize Z larger
profit upon the productions of others,
than is made by the producers them
selves. The only remedy for this state
of things, is to be found in a counter
combination of all engaged in honest
toil-a combination that will be pow
erful enough to break down every
swindling ring, from the administra-
ton down through the whole catalogue
of thieving agencies that are robbing