The Portland daily press., 1878-01-30
AGRICULTURAL.
The Condition of Farmers.

Out of curiosity l recently attended meet
ing held by one of the soft money lecturers
who are going through the country, and
listened attentively to his artful appeal to
farmers and poor men; and with your per-
mission | will speak of that part of the ad.
dress particularly to men like myself who
are engaged in tilling the soil. The obvious
design was to arouse our prejudices against
men of wealth, and convince us that we have
been peculiarly oppressed, hard used, and
Disseminated against by the government
within few years by the financial policy of
the nation. We were told that we could
formerly pay our taxes with two year old
steer, but now were compelled to take a six
year OK; that the "bloated bondholder'' is
eating our substance; that the prices of every
thing we have to sell are being shrunk by a
fearful contraction of the currency; and that
il we would return to the "good old times"
we must vote the lecturers greenback party
into power.
must confess that felt ashamed to listen
to such diatribe, because the lecturer must
have taken it for granted that he was speak
ing to men of little intelligence, or else he
would not have relied on appeals to prejudice.
/ asked myself. ..what is the basis for all this
fierce denunciation of the government ?''
1t is true that taxes are higher than before
the war, but every man OF fair degree of
sense understands that the increased taxa
ton is due entirely to the cost of the war to
preserve the nation. Why denounce the
government for thatp Why denounce the
men who lent the government to save the
nation. We invited them to lend their
money on terms fixed by ourselves, and we
know that thousands of unpatriotic men re-
fused to lend dollar. We are gradually pay
ing the borrowed money as we agreed to. /
asked myself, "where is there anything in our
government that does not give every man an
equal opportunity to use his God-given pow
ers and enjoy their fruits ?" and could think
of nothing. On the other hand, / know that
there is no other country where the poor
man has so good chance as here.
looked at the lecturer in amazement as
he repeated the charge so often refuted from
the official reports, that the ''hard times''
by an enormous contraction of the currency.
I felt like asking him to turn to the currency
report just issued (page 2S) and find there
that the currency in 1873 was larger
than during the ''flush times'' of war, and
larger than in 1865; but RETAINED. L want
ed to ask the speaker if the enormous de-
struction and cost of the war, and the de-
moralization of the currency and of business
produced by war, were not the real cause OF
the troubles upon US. wanted to ask him
If what he called shrinkage of values was not
simply the result of the restoration of the
currency to its old value. When cut dol
in two, and call each half a dollar, then prices
measured in the half advance; and when /
restore the two halves to their old place and
call them one, then prices measured in the
restored dollar decline. But changing the
unit of measures has not taken away any oil
my potatoes, corn or hay. And this hay,
potatoes. etc., will buy as much of everything
that want as it did before the war,
After went home from the lecture, had
the curiosity to look over my old papers, and
twenty years ago, before the war, with the
prices of each now in the same place, for the
purpose of ascertaining whether it is true las
the lecturer charged) that farmers are worse
off than before the war.
give you below the results of my investi
cations: