The Rock Island daily Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1872-1873, 1873-08-14
Something Wrong About II.

The story Is not new as Farmer Smith,
the Secretary and organizer of the State \
Formers Association Of Illinois, related it .
H. the correspondent of the Tribune the .
other day, or as he has told it in a public .
address % the farmers themselves Not .
new, but world-old every day in one |
form or another repeated, always full of
pathos and pain, but as true as preaching
and as simple as the curse Of labor and
sweat. Told between the handles of the
pillow, or amid the smoke and CRIME of the
forge, in the sitting air Of the loom and
the spindle, or down in the darkness and
damps OF the mine, over the last and over
the anvil and under the hOd, il is always
the same; full of infinite variations
never ceasing change of color, time, and
circumstance but always and everywhere
the eternal discomfort of labor with its
lot and the Immortal yearning for the rest
and repose that seem always so easy of
attainment, but that no man ever reaches.
For the past three or four years, says
Farmer Smith, speaking for his guild, the
conviction has been gradually forcing it
self upon us that something was wrong in
our affairs, for while every other industry
was being fairly remunerated wehaye been
steadily going behind, until poverty, if not
bankruptcy, stared us in the face And
then going deeper in his investigations he
says-and we beg very careful hearing
and thoughtful consideration of his state
ment.
we found that while we labored hard
er and more hours than the artisan and
workmen in other pursuits, we were forced
~ content ourselves with poorer food and
clothing, with fewer social privileges, and
than they. We could not help seeing that
If they were as steady and industrious as
we, they were able 10 live in better houses
and had more money to spend their adorn-
ment than we had that if they had the
taste for such things, as most OF them had.
they had more pictures books, and news
papers, and more leisure to enjoy them,
than we, aud that they often INDUCED in
such luxurles as lectures, concerts, excur-
sious, and festivals, while it was rare, in
deed, that we could afford to give wife and
and children one Of these treats Then
we began tn see that the men who did
nothing but handle the products Of our la
Dor were still better off, and were getting
rich while we were growing poor that
those who supplied Us with the implements
for our work added from ~ to 50 per cent
ma that The merchant and grocer wbo
supplied MS with necessaries i'm their line
meyer forgot their profits that the law.
ver who spent half an hour in drawing mn
The mortgage upon our farm. charged n.
what would be equal 10 four days Of our
labor that to the doctor who came five
or six miles into the country 10 cheer the
coming or speed the departing member Of
our family, we paid the price Of an acre Of
corn or FIVE DAYS labor with our team
that the teacher for whose education w,
had paid earned as much in six hours a,
we could in six DAYS of IL hours each
and so on through all the branches o.
trade, professions or productions. we foun,
all getting fnir. and some an exorbitant
profit on their commodities and service,
with which our own would bear no com
parison.
Is il any wonder that the men VIII,
turned from their hard labor and profitles
crops 10 see these features of their sur
rnupdiugs should put up the cry
There's something wrong about al
this?"
And the story is not much exaggerated
from the farmers point OF view not at all
but on the contrary very mildly stated
You may say some OF these things tina
seem 80 unjust and harsh are but tn
natural and inevitable, accompaniment
Of the profession OF agriculture; tina
men take up and follow farming know
ing all the disadvantages and risks of tn
business: that they 20 into il with thei
ewes open. and that even with these draw
backs the business is oyerdone, and 10,