Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-02-04


All our lives have we done this and have
come to regard it as legitimate, but it is nc.
tually as ridiculous as it would sound to US
to hear the merchant say to ne, Sir, I
have some dry goods | must sell and they
are ready for the market. | am anxious to
dispose Of them What are You giving to.
day for prints and jeans ?" " Well, sir, |
have been giving from ten TO twelve and
half ccuts for prints aud sixty to eighty
cents for jeans but | have been looking
through the market aud fnd immense
stocks-moro than this community will
want cannot offer you more than eight
cents for prints and forty cents for jeans"
" But my goods cost me more than that
| how can | sell them at such figures p
don't know sir, bat | know that there is a
large stock ia the market, that You are owing
aud must sell 20 meet your blls--aven for
what you can get Others will sell me alb
want at cost" Very well, Mr. Farmer.
take them perhaps can live by dressing
my family in calico and feeding them on
corn meal and bacon Now if this scene
was Of everyday occurrence we should
think ourselves 10 bedlam; but can any one
toll why it is fitting for farmers and not
for other eiasscs2
What shall be done to remedy this eyjl2
United action Of farmers will do it--sui is
it possible that farmers are the only human
beings who cannot act inauuitei cipaciiy}
Farming is wholly indiviluiilsd. which
accounts for its prostration at the feet Of
every other craft Ii is not crcdtablc TO
farmers that they should thus plol along.
when they own a larger portion Of the
country than all other classes combined.
They have been willing to be controlled 10y
artlul schomors in legislation, reaping
priuccly revenues. For want Of orgluizl-
ton the farmers are taken 10 detail. Those
who own the country should rule it, Gen.
Banks said in Congress, 10 1872 There
are men in this House who would be glad
to have all the legislative powers Of the
country thrown into the hands Of blukers
merchant princes, spectators, mouopoists,
robbers aud thieves Mark we'll and IL
that is true, let US send better men, All
great human achievements are the result Of
union, aud for farmers to gnore the agen-
cies that are moving the rest of the world
forward, is more senscess than to attempt
the cultivation Of their fields without the
pillow If over-production is the trouble,
let US DO less hard work; but when coudi-
tons are normal, the whole world ourselves
included, will be benefited by all we eau
produce. We want union to protect our
interests as farmers to elect legislators
who are honest, and pledged to see that ex-
pouscs and salaries are cut down to a farm
ing basis; to exercise what little power Is
left US over railroad charges, so that roads
that we have mortgaged our farms to build
may be compelled to recognize that they
exist for US as well as We for them.
Farmers complain that they are in bond.
age. We must be free Some one ha,
said that Hell hath no fury ike a womla
, scorued, and il can toe said with equal
truth that there is no fury equal to that Of
the great industrial masses when they arc
once aroused in earnest Farmers arc
honest, orderly and quiet Their highest
ambition is to build churches educate THEN
children, and perform al the duties Of gooi
: citizens They are az still as the breeze
n but when once aroused they may become
as terrible as the storm king. Like a wei
behaved pack horse, they endure all th'
r burdens plundering demlgogues pilo upoI
, them, but when they begin to stagger undo
e the load, their voices sweep over the Iau,
. like a mighty and awful tornado.
r The speaker here paid an eloquent trib
q ute to the patriotism and public spirit o
$ the farmer and the necessity Of his ayoca
ton to the existence Of other classes II,
has no one to blame but himself for no
!. giving au exalted dignity to the profession
=. upon which all the world depends. tn,
r man who respects himself will be respected
q by others. But the humility of the avoca
q ton has become so proverbial that if pol
IL itician makes stupid speech, nine in te
,r will say he had better 90 back to tn
MI plow," thereby acknowledging that info
n rioriiy Of talent is sufficient for the grea
u science of farming. But an organized pol
10 icy will give dignity and that power whic
I the farmers should long since have wiolde
"A everywhere. Why is he not successful
No Because he has not harnessed science to hi
IL pillow because unjust laws have discrimr
&. ated against him and diminished his mean
n of support nearly one-half This shrink
rs the entire business Of the country. Tia
lr laws and the monopoly power they Great
~ and protect have been sent to impoyoris
at the people, and now he hoped they woul
nj begin to feel that they have killed the goo.
g. that laid the golden egg. When will farm
sc ers begin to consider the operation of the.
be nelo s2ares laics
II. Here the speaker followed with a stat
no ment of the actual cost and the soliir
an price of many patented articles, such
ey sewing machines, costing sl2 and sellr
r for SO, the same being sold in Europe I,
If. S32 reapers costing $50 and selling Z
IN 5000; threshing machines costing SIC
be and selling for 500. Now we pay Il
no difference for being the most patient at
as gullible fools that ever pretended to
If. freemen and farmers too. Let US agree
Ms send honest men to the State aud Nation
IRE legislatures, ignore all party politics, al
N. put the right men in the right place.
nm Farmers need union because capital
? being steadily and surely concentrate
,ts The few who hold it use it to make NOR
sis and they often look upon the farmer
le- their laborer servant, slave. 1t exemp
nj itself from all taxation wherever it ca
ost and the farmer pays the expenses of d
IN. government, which are constantly increa
of ing The products of the farmers ha
at labor should be the means of happiness
*. him, but it is grappled, 6lched and legl
wo lated away from him. The maker shou
he'll rule, and not that which is made; 4
he farmers own most Of the country, and
Ike course should rule it, BY a union of farl
mr.. ers we can exercise more than blal
mo opinion as to the value of our butter al
nj. cheese, and can protect ourselves bett
IRE from public and private plunderers v
me- have been patient till it is no longer a Vi
ow tue. The farmers Of the West are movi
ct. as one man, and we ought to here b
ON some old ioges may say that nothing C
Dol be done, or that these wrongs will rig
ok. themselves; or, in other words, that t
monopolies will repent and adopt libeI
itb policy. This is about as reasonable as
our is to suppose that large fish will quit eat
nj. small ones. Some say these societies do
Zen good. | say they do all sorts of good IL
ces attend to them. The professions are crowd
of with second-class men, and the farmer su
IN