The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1874-02-28
FROM MlCHI6Ah.

PONTIAC, Feb. IL, 1874.
To the Editor Il the woESrSsxAS's ADVOCATE.
1t cheers the heart of the earnest re-
former to see the oppressed millions yearly
occupying a more advanced position. and
gradually approaching the ultimate Of all
reforms reconstruction. While the
trades, wearied and partially demoralized
by the unsatisfactory battles of half a cen
tury, are slowly realizing that there are
more vital points Of attack against the
common enemy than any yet contemplated,
patient ally is coming forward In the
Farmers Oranges. And the oranges, in
regard to contemplated results, are ahead
of the trades for awhile he trades in
general look only for less labor and higher
wages, the oranges have commenced a war
upon the very classes which enslave and
impoverish the trades. The oranges do
not yet realize it, but their war against rail
roads ard middlemen is a war against the
very constitution and usages Of existing
society. Many Of the public prints which
owe their success to the patronage Of mid
dlemen are coming to the rescue, and de-
nouncing the action Of the oranges as fool
ish and revolutionary.
Now, while 1t is fact that middlemen
are as essential as any other class in the
existing arrangements Of society, yet the
crusade against them naturally excltes the
,.,,Illa,,..,,
to the welfare Of labor on the farm or in
the workshop, what other classes are nee
essary or essential If the middleman has
no right to exact twenty or thirty per cent
for his services, what better right has the
wholesaler to has twenty per cent Or the
banker to has twenty per cent Or the
railroad, mining and manufacturing incor-
porations to their huge percentages
These queries are all to the point, and
the farmer must consider them all, In esti-
mating his losses Where do all these
percentages come from Clearly from
those who labor 1t ,s moi simply the
middleman's profit that keeps the farmer
and workingman poor it Is the whole,
vast, aggregate profits Of all those other
classes that keep the farmer and working
man to the everlasting grIndstOne. II the
profits Of one useless class be an abuse,
what other useless 81 ASS is sacred
What we need Is a more equitable DIS
tribution Of profits. The farmer and
workman receive too little, and other classes
too much profits. In all reforms begin
ming must be made somewhere. If The
farmer gets rid Of the middlemen, he will
next turn his attention to the wholesaler,
manufacturer and banker, because one
class is naturally as obnoxi Gus as the other,
if it is unnecessary, or receives too great a
value for its services.
The farmers movement, therefore, nee
essarily runs to social reconstruction, and
the more equal distribution Of benefits.
Why should not farmers and workmen
have their o,rn Wholesale and retail stores,
manufactures, hanks, and other appliances
for creating and distributing wealth This
question will naturally force itself upon
them, because the abuses in society are so
connected together that one cannot be re-
formed without reforming others.
The cause Of labor is one. no matter
what the conditions under which it tolls.
The whole subsidized press denounce the
efforts Of the workman to improve his con-
dition ~ communism" whatever the
term may mean. Is MT the farmers
movement precisely Of the same character
Can the uprising Of western farmers be put
down by the clubs of policemen, as work
men professions are This Is move