Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-04-24

OF laborers, except farmers, nave their
unions, their compaots and methods Of pro-
lection, aud just in proportion TO the bene-
fits they receive thereirom are they aggres-
sive upon us. Not a strike made by the min
ers Of Pennsylvania or the shoemakers Of
Massachusetts, but hits the farmer IN YER |
mont. Every hour taken from the artisans
day of labor adds two TO ours, aud every |
dollar added to his wages takes as much |
from ours. Can we afford to stand idle
spectators Of the consolidation of every inter-
est but ours without an effort at self defense :
These combinations must be resisted with
their own tactics or we must succumb, as
does every disorganized force when coping
with organization and discipline. While we
are feeding Others for less than half former
cost, they, by their compacts, are compelling
us to pay as much or more. All the con-
cessons made to the exigencies Of the times
are made on the cost Of raw material. We
pay as much for clothing and agricultural
implements as we did when it cost the work.
man twice as much to live as now.
1t is stolidity to suppose that no one is
concerned in these things bat the corpora
tions Their trouble is only to adapt them
selves to the altered circumstances. Either
the consumer or farmer always pays the adj
ded cost. We sometimes congratulate our
selves on living in country where we do
not have to pay A per cent tax, or 5000,
for paving 30 feet of street, but in fact we
have to pay it. An assessment is laid on
the business that we dc in these villages to
pay expenses. The real estate owner charg-
| - 10, h.. .han ~ tha Of
his goods aud so with every stately edi6ce
public building and pleasure ground, We pay
the whole bill. Officials, professional men
and tradesmen are the shearers and farmers
the sheep. But, says one, do they not pat
ronize us as well2 Are they not as esseu-
tial to our support as we to theirs Is not
the thing mutual Mutual it may be, but
not equal We may need cities and towns
out not at ruinous rate. We need middle.
men, but aside from their business expenses,
there is ne good reason why they should be
better paid than ourselves. That they pat
ronize us is true, but not as we patronize
them. Their whole system is based on prot
its while we rarely ever get cost. They Five
by traficking in the products Of labor we
by labor alone. Profits flow as naturally to
the city as streams to the ocean. Every
thing is higher there and has to be we'll paid
for. The producer of anything there finds il
expensive to live aud adds the percentage to
} what he sells. The purchaser pays the bill
and so the wave rolls back until it strikes
the farmer aud there stops, as it must, fol
} when all these extravagances are referred To
the committee on agriculture, where shall
: they refer them2
1t is wholly wrong when farm products dc
, not bear Just relation to the products o
! other labor 1t caa therefore be remedied
! for right, not wrong, is omnipotent. The
: cost OF the table is two.thirds the cost Of tn,
household and there is no other standard SC
! proper by which to adjust scale of price
: as agricultural productions. No matte
6 what the price is, if we make a fair exchange
But when the odds are from two to twenty
+ against us-when we give bushel OF corr
r tor box of pills, rs they do in the West
t and the pills cost Eve CENTS the joke is to-
r severe We have to sustain ourselves b.
working more hours and enduring create
: privatons. or depicting our capital, as W
: are now doing, for our farms are wearing GU
, aud we are getting nothing but the value o
4 our own labor. Now let US soc what kind 0
e bargains we are getting with others. w
: give the mechanic from four to six hours 10
: one of bis. School teachers, many of then
educated at our expense, protected from tn
1 weather in q house that we furnish an
: warm, buy with six hours labor forty-eigh
Il hours of our toll in snow and rain. Th
h priest, physician and lawyer get all the wa
l. from ten to twenty for one. Estimate thes
e prices in grain aud we shall find that man
d Of them ean our corn, oats aud wheat y
u fast as man and team can gather aud de
l. liver them. The brick mason, who get
l. $3.50 day, buys with that days work ha
l. an acre of our oats, and the taking to hin
D, with man aud team, is equal to his days Ii
d Dor.
s. The farmer complains that he has bee
i aud is yet the newer Of wood and the drawt
= of water Why is it, that while we pay a
l. other men their prices, no man pays us our
70 or rather that we have no prices Of OF
- own Agricultural labor is the only fire
3 labor that has no voice. no stipulations of il
g. own, in relation to its prices The importe
i Chinaman is party to the contract whiC
N binds him to his labor, and he knows thu
the price thereafter cannot be altered at Il
y caprice of its owner. But farmers prize
t are constantly changing at the option of Il
ID buyer, and we as constantly follow him
D. the prices of what he has to sell. When Il
butter buyer offers so much that settles
e. The hard working farmer complains that !
At is not adequately paid for his sore hands al
ID aching muscles. 1t might be some consol'
Id ton il we thus benefited the toiling cousuu
L er, but he will never establish the price al
e, more than we. We invite another party
70 do this-the very party who has his fortuI
to to make out Of the difference between VIII
lS he pays and what we pay him. When
to farmers 90 into the market to sell, we as
Or softly, What will you give2" and wh'
K we buy, we say, What do you ask :" A
at our lives have we done this aud have con
he to regard it az legitimate, but it is actual
OF AS ridiculous as it would sound TO Us to heI
to tho merchant say to US, Sir, have son
r. dry goods | must sell and they are ready /
IL the market. | am anxious to dispose
On them. What are you giving to-day
he prints and jeans ?" We'll, sir, | ha
ly been giving from 10 to l21c for prints Al
ay 60 to SOC for Jeans; but have been loo
, ing through the mbIAet 9uu h"u 'h"'"
he stocks-more than this community will wal
cannot offer you more than eight cents {
to prints and forty cents for jeans "B
IL my goods cost me more than that; how G
ar sell them at such figures =" 4" dol
at know, sir, but know that there is lar
run stock in the market, that you are owing a
L must sell to meet your bills-even for. VIII
nc you can get Others will sell me all wa
oh at cost. 4" Very we'll, Mr.. Farmer, ia
ng them-perhaps can live by dressing 1
we family in calico and feeding them on co
u meal and bacon. " Now if this scene "
OF everyday occurrence, We should thi
ourselves in bedlam, but can any one h
why it is fitting for farmers aud not for Of