The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-10-16
Come, @ardfn and farm
CFrom the Cincinnati Gazet,e5
Produoe-EZports and Prices Of Grzin-
sonething fer the GrangerE.

to use n. As III almost al department
Of industry al.a commerce. lis attention
is diverted from the true use Of ms oP-
portunities TO a fanciful pursuit OF III
affuary remedies for temporary erNS
That the cost of freiglits from the West
to the Atlantic Is high, there Is 10 douo'; /
Int freigrts were vastly higher when 4
.l,ore wore no railroads, and when any 4
c,rea+ exportation Of grain was impossi- l
.bIe because of high freight. What would /
we get By returning TO the old state Of
things? No sane man would. Railroads
have been tenfoId the benefit 10 farmers
u that they have to any other class. They
have doubled the price of meat in every
market of the United States, and they
made land in Ohio, which was sold at
s. per acre, worth $50 now. That these
railroads have fallen into the hands Of
speculators and aGyenturers, instead Of
the real owners, is a great evil. That
their stocks are, in general, the mere
football OF gamblers in Wall street, is a
still greater evil. But t;.ese are not
things to be remedied by political move
ments II the whole Government Of the
y
smiths, it would not make the black
smith trade any better than it Is Nor
will itnIake farming any more profitable,
nor save it from one dollar of taxation,
If every Office in the Unired States was
held by Granger. All legislation and
all opportunities and all trades are in
the United States equal to all classes
s-- of people, aud putting, a particular
class into political Offices viii not
change that fact. But the farmer,
-s as we said, has the whole game of life
in bis own hands. We propose to show,
-l by some great facts, how he commands
the field; what the effect already is, and
- what the future, taking any cycle of
-s.s years is likely to be We affirm the fol
lowing propositions, which, iftrue. illus
trate the whole situation:
FiTst-The civic, or town population, |
is Increasing much faster than the rural |
(producing) population; that is, con-
sumers multiply faster than the produc- |
ers.
Secondly-The demand OF Europe for |
bread and provisions from America; and |
Of has increased, is increasing, and will in
crease
Thirdly-As an inevitable consequence |
the price Of all kinds of food have been |
regularly rising in all cities of the United
States for many years, and taking into
view the differences Of currency, is ris-
ing yet.
Ii +I,,E
= true, which we viii presently show, then
the farmers have been, and are, living
on, and carrying their produce TO a ris-
ing market, which is the one great ele-
tiDelr Of sure reward to labor, and sue
iceSfuI speculation in commerce. That
this is the true state OF things in Ohio
and Indiana, is proved by the Immense,
agricultural Improvements; by the great
advance in the price of lands, and in
the more expensive and more luxurious
mode of living. That there has been
great deal Of new capital intro
duced, is true; but very little Of that
has been applied to agriculture. Nine
tenths of the farmers who came in had
little else than their labor, and to-day
foursiifts of our farm-houses are large,
substantial, comfortable, and even ele-
CANT buildings.
We viii now demonstrate these prop
ositioGs by o<statement Of incontroverti-
BILE facts:
1. The civic population is increasing
faster than the rural, the consumers
than the producers The evidence of
Il.
United States for 1870 1850, 1860, and
1879 1t is useless to ell this paper with
figures; bat any intelligent reader can
compare Tluse censuses and ascertain it
for himself. Independent of such States
as New York, Massachusetts,, and Con
necticut, where not more that one third
of the people produce anything to eat
take Ohio for an example-there are
over 500 coo people in this State, living
in cities and towns. Add to this the
tens of thousands who woxk ia mines
furnaces, etc, raising nothing for them
selves, and you viii see that one-third
the population Of Ohio are already non
producers; and not only this, but the
agricultural counties have ceased to
grow, and nearly the whole growth of
the State is IN cities and mining counties.
The same thing occurs in New Jersey,
Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and
dozen other States The reader will,
therefore find it true, tina the con
SlLaaiatg population is increasing at
a much greater ratio that of the pro-
ducing The same thing is true of
France and England.
2. The second, and probably to far
mers and merchants in grain, the most
interesting proposition, is that the Eu-
ropeaa demand is rapidly increasing.
We know that some farmers have re-
ported the crops good in Europe, and
that therefore there will not be Eu-
ropean demand this year. This is a
great mistake. The crops of all Europe
are only an average, and our exports of
food las not depended upon that; but
more upon the social condition of the
people, which has improved, and being |
(as here) bulked up in cities, Increase
the number of consumbers who are |
not producers. The following figures
viii show the export III values. as
easier TO ascertain OF grain and animal |
food from this country in twenty years: |
Brcads'ufls. Animal rood. |
In lS75 - y GjI. SOP Sl6.Tp5 40 1
In ls.5 - "a s270BI - 97SHt0 1
In lS-A -, -. - - sB5 NO q. 4S2 Gee /
In lS73 - 81 1854 77J2G0J /
The aggregate of the export Of Amer
lean grain and animal products TO Eu- |
rope during these years, were:
N ap
-.- --.- .- lt- saalut' /
T., 3IS-ss1T ~ go. r--'------ 4 'st.'los
- No'".-''' l'5-t':o'7 4
The increase of expectation from 1855
to 1853 was $50 per cent. The increase
from 1868 to 1873 was 20 per cent From
weekly exports from New York it is evi-
dent that the exports for 1874 WIS n1Iite