The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1873-10-31
Correspondents.
Another Farmers View of the
Farmers Movement.

Ing a question Of momentous lmpor
lance. Go where you will, in city o
country. at home or abroad, it isthe on
great question which agitatG the public
mind. Yoi can hardly take up a news
paper, political or otherwise that does
mol discuss, with more or less ability, thu
one great question: 1.-The Farmers
Movement" Politicians of the domi'
nant party of course deprecate any poll,
cy likely to result in establishing a thir,
partv, while politicians of the Democrat
ic ~pursuasion think they see i'll it the
means of resuscitation of the corrupt
and d~ccrepid. but once popular and trl'
umphant Democracy Each seeks Il
secure the cooperation of the farmers
party for the purpose of personal az
grandizemcnt anil for the maintenance
of that system in the administration oil
government. which works beneficiall.y
to them. but always injury to the honest
laboring masses, namely: "Io the vic
tors belong the spoils."
In the REPUBLICAN of the 18th inst.
an advocate of monopoly argues the
question evidently with some consldera-
bic degree of satisfaction to himself. and
comes to the very natural conclusion,
from his particular standpoint that the
farmers want to do something, they
don't know what, and then goes on to
state, for the benefit of us clod-hoppers.
the evils which we suffer and the RENE
dies we propose. Now, we think &c.
+. X" is not a farmer, that he does no
understand our wants. He does not
state fairly the evils of which we COM
plain, nor the remedies we propose.
We do not demand that farmers shall
be made equal to other classes by legis-
! lation. We do not propose to remove
middleInen; neither do We expect to
rule the price of produce. sc. +. h"
starts with false premises. and necessa-
| rilv arrives ut false conclusions. That
the farmers us a class do suffer grievous
wrongs: that he has been the scape-goat
of middlemen and of spectators OF
! every description, is Il truism to every
unprecedented, Intelligent mind. the
farming interests of the Mississippi Val
| lev alone pay more than fifty millions OF
dollars annually to support the railroad
! and manufacturing monopolies OF the
United States. above and beyond every
! accruing advantage Consider, If you
please, tariff on iron alone. In 1870.
the amount of iron consumed In the
| United States was about : 1890 tons;
of this amount 10000 tons was i'm
ported, and upon which the Government
| derived 80 per ton. The remaining
1000, 600 tons was. of course, manuii'-
tured in the United States. Query: Who
| got the 81 per ton on that? This, I'M
! derstand. wa the rates IN that class OF
iron known as pig" othe, kinds paving
as high As go per ton. We would ask.
who paws all this? Why, sir, the con-
sumner. Iron enters very largely into
the construction of railroads, and their
equipments. Tariff being Il tax, the
cost of construction and equipment is
necessarily increased, and the burden
in the end falls upon the laboring class.
of which the farmers compose 4 very
large proportion. The tariff on iron,
we admit, has been reduced slight
", but il is still far too high. Some
things are even worse. rs for instance,
salt, upon which the tariff is nearly lp
per cent, and this for what purpose
WHY, TO maintain a few wealthy salt
companies at public expense. The tar
if on lumber is from - to $3.50 per
thousand-this latter, We suppose, t.
clear off our valuable pine forests,
which. it is estimated, will, in fifty years.
at the present rate of consumption. be
entirely gone. These are some of the
evils of which farmers complain. Can
the farming interest expect relief from
legislators who have perpetrated these or
similar wrongs. as for instance the out
rageous system of land donations made,
the infamous credit mobilier instituted,
the salary grab. winks at corruption.
shields known dishonest officials, profits
by the remorselcss greed Of monopo-
lists, and fails every time to lift n grain
of the weight which bears so heavily
upon the producing interests of the
country.
Your correspondent enormously as
sumes that the farmers believe there is
no other interest worth considering than
their interests, and that they propose to
oyerturn every other interest in commu-
nity other than that in which they arc
Immediately concerned. How absurd?
We, rs farmers, claim no special privi-
Ieges for ourselves. Our interest is
identical with that of the laboring class
es of whatsoever calling. We wage
no wal upon any legitimate industry
not even upon the middlemen. We
deem them essential to our success; but
there are too many of them, aud most
of them receive far more than III ado
auate compensation for their labor.
Very many Of the farmers of Andrew
county possess an equal Intelligence.
have an equal amount of capital invested
10 farms, farm implements, and stock,
with some of the most extensive dealers
in your city. They are industrious. pru-
dent and economical in their business,
and still find it very difficult, with the
utmost frugality, to squeeze through the
world, and at tax-paying time make
both ends meet; while your business
men, with what would be to us extray-
arance, can live in luxury and lay up
something for a rainy day. Now, un-
derstand, we don't object to these men
enjoying these good things. We envy
them not their success, but simply ask
to have the burdens under which we
suffer removed in some slight degree
at least. We claim that we do pay too
much for transportation; that the rail-
road companies have watered the origi-
nal stock of their roads, many of them
10 m enormous extent; in some in
stances, to more than four times their
original cost and on this increase of cap
ital, after paying e%xtravagant salaries
to their employees, they demand in
come. We do hold that the Mississippi
river is the great channel which Proyi-
dence has designed as an outlet for the
produce Of this western country, but Or
ganized monopoly has forced these pro-
ducts into unnatural channels. and dc