Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1876-03-04

ne Editors of ne hrdependent .

cations into your paper-I suppose
you will publish mine-(exc use me,
| know, and perhaps you know, that
many You receive and publish are
more nonsense than interest to the
public.)
What would wish to call your
special attention to now is, do you
understand thoroughly the princi-
Piles and motives Of action of the
Changers ? You have published late
~ a number of certain questions
which, you say, they are to PROFOUND
to every candidate for office. Allow
me to say land | trust the Changers
will forgive mel MANY of them seem
very absurd and ridiculous. Many
OF them show great ignorance-both
Of our State constitution and of
laws over which the State has no con-
trol-and in necessity can not legis-
late upon. But what / wish especial
ly to call your attention to, is the
principle by which they are, las a
whole actuated !? | hesitate not to
say to you and every Granger land /
WAS about to add that you might tell
them | said sol that the grand motive
which is at the bottom OF all their
acts, and even their organization, is
se!fsiness. Think of it, Messrs. Ed
itors = selfShness Am | wrong?
Oh, you know | am not. What is the
object of the organization called
Changers in our country? Is it not
that they may purchase every article
that they may use or consume at the
lore . rate, and sell everything they
may have to sell at the highest? Is
Not this true, and is it not selfish
ness? Can and should such an or
ganiZation be sustained =? And yet
fear unless the minds of the honest
men of our county land thank God,
| believe we have many are aroused
to this fact, we will be troubled by
an element which seems Ito many
to be right. Yet it is the greatest
injustice that man can practice to
his fellow-man.
Oh, would that every Granger in
the country would read this article
and | believe there are many honest
and upright men among them-but /
would ask every one of them, is not
Selfshness at the end of every design
in your organization -? You wish to
sell every article you have for sale
at the highest rate, and you wish to
purchase every article you bug at the
lolCeSt rate. Is not that selfsbnesS :?
And what is worst you exclude from
your organization some of our best
men-Will not allow them to share
the benefits OF your monopoly, for
sooth, because they are not land
owners, and yet in all probability
they pay three fold the tax you do
The writer does not own an acre of
land, and yet he pays $500 of taxes
twice or three times as much as
some OF you Changers, who own two
or three fine farms and yet you would
buy your coal oil, your salt. your
sewing machines, even the bread vow
eat, and the -four you raise at so per
cent less than | can, and you think
this is justice. | have worked hard
like Mr., Sperow, and have accumu-
lated little money-dug it out of
the earth (if you please) and you will
say that for every hundred dollars
have thus made by my hard work, l
shall only secure $6.00-"or less, y
to quote again Mr.. S.-every year,
and yet you come to me to borrow
that 800, for which you reluctantly
pay me $500 "twelve months after
date" You buy with the same
money a horse or half a dozen young
cattle, either of which you sell with
in six months for 1925 or $3.50, and
you censure me if | should ask you
SO for the use of that on which you
had made $25 or $50. Consistency
is q jewel" but the Changers cant
see it.
| can prove to any Granger, (if he
is a farmer and owns the land he
lives on that he makes more than
three-fourths Of the men in business
or the capitalist, if we have any
We in the town have to payments for
our houses, count what yours is
WORTH buy our fuel, chow much do
you use p buy every head of cab
bage, every potato, every parsnip,
every radish, everything we eat-our
beans, our hominy, our "sour krout"
all cost money in town; our flour our
corn meal, everything that we con-
sume-our butter and eggs for which
we pay you city prices-and yet in
calculating your income and what
you make annually, none of these
things are taken into account. All
that you (the Grangers) consider of
any profit is the few bushels of corn
and the fewer bushels Of wheat you
raise; .feeo, because you think there
is more money in wheat and corn
than anything else and you stick to it
in your ignorance, all for the dollars
sake, until your lands have become
impoverished, and from yield of 20
bushels to the acre, you don't aver
age now more than eight bushels.
Changers, confine your thoughts
and exertions to agriculture and
the improvement of your land and