The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1873-05-23
Correspondence
Cause Of HARD Times.

To the Editor of the REPUBLICAN,:
At the lasi meeting Of the Rochester Township
! Farmers Climb, the following proposition was
, submitted: What course should the farmers
adopt to relieve them selves from the present
stringent times?"
Much has been said and written on this subject
within the hast six months, and sc. but little light
, has been reflected upon IL. tbs too common
,sensi .ucuc styie has been generally rcsorted TO.
ami tile result has beea uniformly The same tina.
Il, a seHsr Of wrong Dut wnere II T.
or tho i tn blame, IL any one, l. not clear. In
fac: the listener or Reader y cer6'in Oh one Thing
only, anu titft II that he Is The injured parry,
and, therefore. etisplt he in fault: Jhe sooner
We look the present difficulties ,iiTect IN the iace,
til . better. Whenever We l.lFe out all sciIin
considerations sal investigate the subject with
an honest derirs To arrive at the truth, We may
have some prospect of success. No one ciuse
has produced The present depression among the
farmers. In Iiiany Instances the iifIlef Is u
blame, ami In. remedy is within bimseif; or
rather under his immediate cvntsole In soHEe IN
stances, however,, he mas been compelled 10 sub
init to the controlling Influence Of the m)iiey ell ill.,
tcrest. In the first instance tbs farmer is Ia
blame; in the second, he Is not.
From 1863 10 1853 W. had war prices, without
the burden OF a war; everyone returning home
engaged IN some honorable ayocation, a tw In
merchandise, some in the professions and others
in the mechanical aris, but the greater portion
in far1ning-it presenting the most inviting ave
nue. to wealth Tor those OF small means. Hence,
not only the old farms, but thousands upon Thou
sands of a-rcs of wild lands were brought unier
cultivation. This raised the products of the
coUntry to double what they were during the
war, with two million less consumers. Again,
in 1865 and 1856 tine total amount of hogs packed
in the West was ] is IA; in lsl2 and lS.i,Jr
millions four hurtrea aud fiy-six Thousand ami
four; in other worlis, We have doubled line
amount of ali farm prUductS to sell, anu more
than three times rs many hogs packed. lie
farmers troubles do not end here. From lsb,t
1853 we becam, mprovidcnt-tie nation ran wild
with speculation; money was worthless, enor-
nous debts were contracted with Il recklessness
which could only be eguaiei by the facility with
which the same could be discharged. Reaction
comes, and with n bankruptcy, almost national.
In u day rich men became .p,or;, The East fell
the shock first; then II rolled Ike a great tidal
wave westward, passing from one class to an
other, until all came under It, influence, and &c,
in all such cases, the producer suffered last and
most severely; ls12 and 1873 finds the farmer still
largely indebted without any aNailabie Means Ia
discharge the same. Misfortune never corlss
single handei.' In addition To o glIfled mar
ket, tie Missouri. nim-r finds competition rap |
idly increasing in the Territories ana facihe
States; that he has not only lost that market, but
to-day -four Is shipped from Utah 10 Missouri
and sold to our consumers; and, as though IN"
fates had conspired againstus, raiiroads nave
been built South and Southwest as by magic,
upon which millions of cattle are shipied 10 81
Louis, Chicago and the great East; thus ;'iinost
entirely destroying the already DIAL and greatly
depressed cattle market. This being ire cFlticai
condition i'm which the farmer il placed, VIVA
course should ne adopt to relieve himself! we
can malign all moneyed Institution $, CAL ITEM
sOulless Interpretations. We cth assail the pro-
ie-sional M "a and the merchant, or even the me
chanic, and call them all kinds of names; but II
is evident that SUCH II course Will b:Ing no relief
the blatant dcmaSosae may cry Justify agsins'
oppressive laws, and shed hyP9critlcil tear
over the many wrongs the fatmer has suffered NJ
the hands OF the las-makers: but he fails in ev-
cry instance TO tell You in what particular he VIII
amend those laws. Ii, then, M am Junt OF hlrsh |
heaped upon Inc consumers (of what
ever class they may belong to), nor state NAH
ship OF q Jefferson or Webster could bring pres |
eut relief to the farmer, he must rely upon HIM
self and find the elements of relief within him
self. Retrencliment in his expenditures AMI va
riety in the products of the firm ara absolutely
nec.ssary-no difference how repu2nant If may
be 10 our feelings to destroy the tlnie-holioreti
mode of Western fnrming. We mTisi have vari-
ETY. of crops, or be driven to the wall rs proda-
GERS. Then let Us in the future have articles IN
our valuable county paper, free of complaint and
iull of good, Wholesome suggestions for The
farmer. MACk. |