The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-08-04

hOhuu--Ano SA@AhN - ---sNA~~~ | q
In. d
A special correspondent Of the New =
York Tribune had conversation with 5. h
NJ. Smith, Of Kewanee, on the 25th ult, Il
which is reported In the Tribune of the
3lst as follows;
SIN. Smith, Secretary Of the State !
Farmers Association, and himself plain :
hard working prairie farmer, resides about /
two miles from this village. A native OF
Connecticut, and descended from one OF /
those frugal hard-working New England
farmers who leave the marks OF their en-
terprise wherever they 20, he came to Hi
nois seventeen years ago, gave up his bus.
mess of WOODEN manufacturer and hired
Willow Farm, which he now owns. The
place, though situated in the midst OF one
OF the richest prairies of Illinois, had then,
after nearly twenty years cultivation, been
little improved. A very small house, such
as one may see upon the poorer farms OF
the Fast, a few apple Trees and some
straw sheds TO shelter the stock in the
winter, were all that the owner had been
able ~ add 10 the place 10 promote the
comfort Of his family or increase the value
of his farm. Mr.. Smith has enlarged the
house, though it is still very unpretentious
and far from modern in its appointments,
planted trees, ditched the land in the low
places, and placed the whole under very
high state Of cultivation. His barns are
still of logs. matched with straw, but his
stock is in good condition, and everything
about the place bespeaks the thrift as well
as the good taste Of les owner. MIR. Smith
himself Is past sixty years OF age, though
time has touched him rather lightly and
left him all the energy and enthusiasm OF
young man. A great lover of books, his
well-selected library is about the only lux
ury In which, as n farmer, he has been able
10 indulge himself and family, and, of all
his books, he prizes most highly complete
hound file of Mr. Greeley's NCto Yorker,
for which, rs Mr.. Greeley afterward as.
sured him, he raised the first club. From
that day to this The Ne,c- YORKER, The JET
fersonidn, Thc Log Cabin, or The Netc
York Tribune has been constantly read by
Mr. Smith and his family.
In one corner of the apartm snt, which
serves as the farmers dining room and
the family sitting room, Mr.. Smith has a
table covered with letters documents, and
newspapers and here, between the inter
walls Of farm labor and assisted by wife and
son, "a had about IL years of age, he has
NOuuutNtN Aut correspondence MhANlA hae
united the farmers of the State, and pre-
pared the speeches that have reused them
from their apathy. Mr.. Smith met me al
the hotel and invited me b Willow Farm
remarking that we should have much
better opportunity 10 talk there
and that he had some letter,
and documents which he desired to show
me. ! think that | have before said in one
Of my letters that the farmers of thi,
State have two distinct organizations The
Grange is a secret organization extending
over many Of the States, non political ii
its character The initiation fee Of tn,
Grange is s. for men, and 80 for women
and a tax of 10 cents a month is cOllecte,
from each member. Entirely distinc
from the Grange is the Farmers Club, al
open society, which, until the formation O
the State Association was entirely indie
pendent
FORMATION or THE STATE ASSOCIATION
In October last, Mr. Smith who wa
then Secretary of the Farmers Club q
this place, called meeting TO be held il
Kewanee on the 10th and 18th Of tina
month, and about 80 delegates from farm
ers oranges attended The sessions wer
held in large hall, and a few of the cit
zens occasionally dropped in, saw sma
knot of people in one corner of the room
laughed and went out. But those FEY
men formed the State Association, appoint
ed State Central Committee, and a CON
mittee of one from each county. The Ez
ecutive Committee there chosen issued tn
call for the Bloomington Convention Of las
January, probably the most importau
farmers meeting ever held in this Stat
IL is Of this State Association, composed {
delegates from both clubs and grange
that Mr.. Smith is Secretary.
THE FARMERS SAVING NOTHING AND RUN
MING IN DEBT
Until met Mr. Smith. | had been una
bic ~ get any very clear idea of the exac
grounds OF the farmers COMPLAINT,
Railroad Extortion,' Unjust Discrimi
nation Monopoly are general term
freely used by the farmers, but Just whs
constituted them ! was unable 10 find on
One of my first questions, therefore, WI
whether the farmers Of this State wei
not prosperous | told him that Il
people OF the East hearing OF the wonde
tul fertility Of Illinois soil supposed II
farmers who had been here for any lengt
Of time, must be a well-to.do, comfortab
situated class Of people Mr. Smith r.
piled that this was O very erronoes ide
The majority of the farmers of tn
State, he said, have hard work 10 SUI
port their families. Year by year ne
mortgages are given 10 pay new debts an
II is the exception rather than the rule fl
farmer TO be saving anything. At lea
one-half of the farms in this part of tn
State are mortgaged for money borrowe
at ten per cent interest, and the majorit
of them will never be redeemed You L
il be known that a man In this village ha
thousand dollars % lend on tirst-clas
security, and he will have a dozen apple;
tons before night
Have these mortgages been given f.
balances due on farms purchased, or I,
money borrowed after the farms have bee
pad fUr?' ! asked
In some cases they represent part
the purchase money Of the farms, but
m1s, Ca.ss the farmers have been oblige
~ b0rrUT because they have been runnir
behind. NOBODY can make anything farm
l1g here unless he has a large farm, al
] tel yOu yand By why. with plenty
land a man eau make a little but ev,
then he can seldom realize ordinary int
est on his Investment Now have here
good farm, aud you can see what | ha,
made Of IT, But ] never could have pa
for IT in the iG years ! have been he
from the profits Of farming ! was success
full in little speculation and made enoui
10 buy the land.
''The railroad men say that you are c
travagant in your living that during yo
years Of prosperity the silk dress got in
the family, and that you have never be-
able 70 get il out--in short, you are iudul
ing in a style of living wholly unknoy
among you few years ago
1T is not so, was the reply. IF y,
will notice the little boxes Of houses
which the most Of our farmers live, wi
almost nothing about them to make The
attractive, aud then If you could go il
them and see how meanly they are furni,
ed, and how the inmates have 10 ecol
mise and count every cent they exper
you would see that the assertion is
true Take the farmers who live witt