Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-02-17
The Farmers of Wisconsin.

ed BY Mr. Geo. w. Lee, Of Bloom
ington, on the 9th instant, at a con
vention of farmers held in the Agri
cultural Society,s rooms at Madison
Wisconsin:
The ancient and modern history O
mans civilization ranks your calling
as one of the most honorable and
useful among mankind. In proper
ton as agriculture is developed, VT
End society advanced in improve
ment and in civilization. Turn back
the page of history to all the past and
at no period has agriculture noblel
and brighter record than the pres
ent page of American history pre-
sents Under our benign institutions
and our republican form of govern
ment, agriculture has found ample
room for its fullest development. A
free education Of the masses, with a
wide domain of cheap lands, COM
bined with an endless variety of pro
dlctlons of the soil, form the basis
upon which rests the noble structure.
Under our republican form each
voter is a spoke in the mighty wheel
Of government, and equally respons-
ible for his devotion to the mainten-
auce of those equal rights guaranteed
TO all.
1t is fit and becoming that all
classes of industries and professions
should meet in convention and dis
cuss questions to them of vital i'm
portance in the race of life a too
common neglect of this duty upon
the part of the farmer, has opened
the way, and multitude of evils of
an alarming character, have crept in,
endangerlng his rank, robbng agri-
culture of its reward and threatening
our national prosperity. What means
those cries of want and starvation
that come to us from the factories of
New England, and the hills of Penn
sylvanla? Why are the hundreds of
thousands restrained from work, with
none to give them bread ? What
means this great farmers movement
nov agitating the country from
Maine to California? Such things do
not come without cause. In human
affairs effects follow causes ; results
are accomplished by action. 1t is
folly to shut our eyes and to profess
not to see, and continue to sing
praises over the glorious institutions
Of our happy land, until our institu-
tons have disappeared, and we have
riyited upon our necks the chains of
worse despotism than the one from
which our republic emanated. Is this
an idle and imaginary picture ? Let
him who has followed the govern
ment of the United States in its
helpless struggles with the combined
power of capital, and who intelligent
~ reads the present page of Ameri-
can history answer A nation may
be rich, but the masses a horde Of
half fed and half clothed citizens.
The working masses are peaceable
and long suffering, when justice is
done them. 1t is plain that the rights
Of part of the people are invaded
by the other part. That we, as
nation have greater means of more
prosperous existence within our
domain than any other nation, will
not be denied. TO what extent are
we practcing the principles, "Ihat
the blessings Of government, like the
dews of heaven, should be dispensed
alike upon the high and the low, the
rich and the poor" let me inquire:
1t is All unfortunate state of affairs
that makes bread producing interests
of the country the principal sufferers
from railway extortions. The farm
ers' products must go to market, and
railroads combine to demand what
they please for their transportation.
Then foremost among the questions
of vital Importance to the larmer is
that of transportation. Without fair
and reasonable rates, the farmers
life must he one of labor without
profit Efforts have been made to
protect the farmer against the extor-
tons of railroads, but little has been
accomplished. Relying upon their
great wealth, and immense patronage,
they insolently defy the states that
seeks to control them. They have
become a great power; their inhu-
epce in controlling the politicsand leg
laistion OF the State is decidedly mark
ed Slowly but surely they reach
their hands towards the throats Of the
people, and if they are not met and
conquered they will soon control the
affairs of State. The question Of
transportation is one that must be
met by the farmer, and one from
which he must not turn aside. A gen
eral survey Of the statistics as shown
by the census reports of the three
last decades, and a comparison be
tween the general manufacturing in
terests and agricultural interests
teaches US as class a lesson. In
1850 the value of manufactured pro
ducts, after deducting the coat Of
wages and raw material, was AZ!
per cent. on the capital invested. In
1860 profits on manufacturing
capital after deducting wages
and material WIS AZ pei
cent. per annum. In 1870 manufac-
turing capital yields 46 per cent. The
Scientific American, in an article en-
titled, The profits We pay" says that
the sewing machinery that is annual
II sold for sos to $l25, cost from 81
Sl5 to manufacture. In 1873 the net
profits of three sewing machine man
nfactories, was s6,oo0,ooo each, and
the agents receiving a greater profit
making a draft drawn from the farm
ers and mechanics of the country Of
40 millions, for this one article alone.
l. it to be wondered at when we take
into consideration the hundreds Of
thousands of other articles that we
pay similar profit on, that We as a
class are poor When on again re-
ferring to the census of the U. 5.
we 6nd that agriculture yields only
81 per cent. on capital invested, labor
included. This could not be true
with just and equal laws. Instead Q
a surplus accumulated in our hands