Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-02-04

engineer that is in charge of the locomo-
tive, as well as the telegraph operator that
announces that the way is clear, are as es-
sential to the achievements and comforts
of society as the farmer.
We do not claim that all these grand di-
visions of society are numerically well
adjusted There are poor lawyers and
doctors, as well as poor farmers: but the
classes themselves are essential to the at
tainment of the highest degree of comfort,
because it is the organization of forces
which enables the least expenditure of Ia
Dor to obtain the greatest number of re-
suits.
Agriculturists are necessary somewhere
in the world, but they are not essential to
any one country thereof. England to-day,
by setting its millions of spindles at work,
and its thousands of steam-engines, that
toll with the concentrated power of mil
lions of human hands, and which is i'm
porting a moiety of its food even now.
can exist, if it continues to have the
markets of the world for its manufac-
lures, so without any agriculture at all
Its miners and manufacturers can set to
work the farmers in Hungary, Turkey and
China, and in the furthest corner of the
globe, to supply them with the raw pro-
| lish manufacturers can supply the peoples
of these countries with the manufactures
of iron, cotton and wool to advantage. its
future is assured, though not Il bushel of
grain grows within its boundaries.
/ In our seabOard cities this same class of
agitators that in the country tell the far
mer " he pays for all make similar asser
tions to the working man. In France, and
particularly in Paris, this long-continued
agitation has produced its legitimate fruit
in the Commune revolt, and the world
ought to be thankful to France that it has
given an exhibition of the ruin and devas-
tation which doctrines like these bring to
the populace.
| Let every citizen who has the welfare Of
the country at heart. and especially every
intelligent OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES the Ameri-
can farmers as Il class possess rare good
sense and judgment-set his face like a
rock against these base attempts to excite
hostility and jealousy between the differ
ent classes of civilized society.
We take it that every main in this broad
land who is not directly pecuniarily inter
ested i'll Il particular railway. is i'll favor
of cheap transportation. We take it that
the masses of citizens of all classes are in
favor of any measure which promises to
result in the conveying to their doors their
goods and products at the cheapest rates.
Why. then, should We not all cooperate
to think out the best possible way?
Another system of denmciation has
been pructiced against what is called the
- middle-man." Far be it from Us to say
that the cooperative association of farmers
for the purpose Of importing a particular
article may not be pecuniarily advanta-
geous, and that the experiment should not
be tried, though hitherto nearly all similar
associations have proved in the course of
time TO be failures. on account of the IA
pacitv of the agents employed. Let this
experiment be fully tried, and if it is sue
ceSSful so much the better; but the indis-
criminate denunciatiOn Ofretail merchants,
and other classes of mercantile men, is
wholly uncalled for.
I Suppose the farmers of particular
county could organize Il system by which
a single store should supply them with all
the dry goods. drugs. medicines hardware,
machinery and, in fact, with all articles
now furnished by twenty establishments.
If this single establishment were to super
scde the others it would drive away the
doctor, the minister, the mechanic and the
laborer, and reduce a city of five thousand
inhabitants to perhaps twenty families
What would the farmer gain? Suppose he
should get his goods twenty-five per cent
cheaper. he would still be the loser. And
why? Where will he have his market for
wood, fruit. vegetables. butter, eggs and
other produce? \ sample of this system
can be seen in the South, where the large
planters used to import everything from
the city directly, and where for many miles
not village can be found. What is land
worth in those regions twenty miles from
any place? Not more than three dollars,
instead of fifty or one hundred dollars
which land is now bringing in Wisconsin.
Michigan and Iowa The first question
which purchaser asks when trying to in
vest is, How far is the land from the near
est town? If the farmers should succeed
in destroying these villages they would be
as wise as the planter at jamestown, Nir-
ginia, who refused to sell Il single acre to
Il company that proposed to build a city
there, because unruly boys would rob his
orchards
When the skilled mechanics are driven
away to seek employment in the cities.
will the farmer find it profitable to send
his machine or wagon five hundred miles
to large city to be mendcd? VIII he find
it of advantage, in case he wants to build
a house, to import the masOns. plastererS
anu painters? IL lIllS system Oh cOHttn-
tratiOn in large cities at the expense of the
village population could prevail, the far
mer would be the severest sufferer in the
end, and be more than ever in the hands
of large moneyed corporations. We con-
tidently look forward to the day when the
sober second thought will prevail with the
farmers inside and outside of the oranges,
and that at no distant date they will visit
with Just Indignation those political trick
sters, who, for partisan ends, have endeav-
ored to array them against their brothers
in other walks of life, and are passengers
in the same ship of state and bound for
the same destiny in the future. Peace and
good will toward all can remedy many
evils and make tolerable those that cannot
be cured, but strife, hatred and jealousy
can only increase discomfort, and bring
; disasters upon the entire nation. The Re
public.