The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-05-22
The trouble Of rreneh ana EnEII.h

- kUpAlAaUtN lutEllkuHnlEN
Wheeling, W. Va
The Trouble or Preach aud English
Farmers.
The English farmers are troubled. The
French farmers have also held meeting
within afew weeks past. The grievance.
ofboth are alike. They complain that the
Introduction Of American cereals, Ameri.
can meats and the products OF American
diaries are bringing down prices below the
point at which these articles will pay'a
profit to the British and French farmers.
In both cases the respective governments
have been called upon t oprovide remedial
measures. A memorial to the French
National Assembly from the farmers of
the fine agricultural district OF Brie refers
to the high duties imposed upon French
commodities by the United States, and to
the corresponding protection accorded by
France to certain industrial trades, and
closes by asking that the French agricul.
turists, comprising no less than fifty per
cent of the total population, may be pro-
tected to a similar extent. In England
the question OF free trade" Is beginning
to be. discussed with increasing bitterness,
and the demand Is openly made for 'reci.
procity." It is pointed out that, in addi-
tion to the vast supplies Of grain from the
United States, the whole w~heatgrowing
world is laid under contribution; that in
the four years dating from 1873 the i'm
ports OF Indian wheat alone have risen
from 1000 tons to $4,000 tons, while
New Zealand and Egypt are actually COM
peting with the United States and Russia,
Hungary and the Danubian provinces, for
the task Of filling the British magazines
with grain; and that besides the vessels
already in the trade thirty large ships are
now being built in British yards to convey
live stock from the United States to differ
ent British ports" "Noris this all" they
say, "for the already huge supply of but
ter, cheese aud bacon which has come
from the western hemisphere is but an
earnest Of what is in store, so great is the
stock from which the comestibles are
drawn" The French farmers complain
that the United States are underselling
them in these necessaries of life in their
own provinces. The French farmers are
Tor the most part owners of the land they
cultivate. They are thrifty, industrious
and frugal. On the other hand, the great
er number OF British farmers are simply
tenants on lands held by them on longer
or shorter leases, and as q rule they work
those lands with skill and economy. To
the appeal OF the former for protection,
the French Government has replied that
it would not be wise to tax the necessaries
Eof life. To the cry Of the latter for re-
vision Of the corn laws, or the framing Of
new treaties based upon reciprocity, it has
been semi-officially announced that the
principle OF free trade, SO far at least as
Englandis concerned, must be maintain
ed. Statistics running through a series Of
years very clearly demonstrate that il. the
farmers have been losers from the impor-
tation OF breadstuffs and provisions, the
bulk Of the population have been gamers,
and that, although the rates OF wages have
declined, the households, speaking gener-
ally. have been better fed. II is argued,
moreover, that, great as the hardships Of
British producers may be, consumers also
have rights that are entitled to respect.
The British farmers say that when wheat
is soldin Liverpool at one dollar a bushel
it is impossible for them to compete sue
Cessfully with the foreign producers, and
they point in proof OF this to the unusual
number OF persons following agriculture
az an occupation who have gone recently
into bankruptcy. Some demand, as a
partial remedy, that rentals be reduced,
to which the landowners reply that
rents cannot be reduced, inasmuch as
they are getting now less than four per
cent on the money invested in this kind OF
property. In the midst OF this discussion
the venerable Mr.. Machi, SO long and so
favorably known as the enthusiastic apos-
tie OF high farming, comes to the front,
He tells the farmers that the remedy lies
with themselves. II they would compete
with the foreign producerthey must make
two blades Of grass grow where but one
grew before, and where they raise now but
twenty bushels of wheat to the acre they
must grow forty. It can be done, he and
others say, II the soil Is dealt with in q bet
ter and more scientific way. The British
farmer Is told that he must keep abreast
with the progress OF the day, which is
teaching how land can be rendered much
moro profitable at q reduced expenditure,
BY the adoption Of improved methods Of
tiElage It has been demonstrated over and
over again that forty bushels OF wheat can
be raised to the acre as easily as twenty,
subject only to the viOissitudes oi
the season, aud that the doubling
OF the crop is equivalent to doubling
the acreage, with little or no extra
cost for la6or. This reasoning is quite a'
applicable TO our own farmers OF the
Atlantic seaboard as to those OF Great
Britain. Both have at their own doors, al
II were, a market for all they can produce
In respect 10 wheat and corn, they Ganno
Ak the price. That Is fixed by them BY
the rates which these cereals bring wheI
laid down in their market, II the prlcI
for wheat in Baltimore is one dollar pc
bushel the Maryland farmer has in hi
favor the difference between the cost Q
the wheat at the farmers home at tn
: West, and what his own wheat will feteI
when marketed. From Chicago alone th
cost Of transportating Western wheat t
Baltimore 10 thirteen cents q buGhel, an
this is the Maryland farmers margin Il
20 upon. II, then, tie cost OF labor bein
about the same, he can bring up his Ian
ito even the sane point Of fertility. Q
Western lands, hci i, In the best ,postt!o
both as to profits and the Palg9e oi his III
!. proved property.-BalfMore Sun.
Z YouSo RUSSIA AS DESCRIBED BY a MINI
rsr.-lf a Russian Nihilist, who has col
sented to be interviewed in New York,
to be believed, the thing called NihiIis'
is by no means 90 bsa asst is general
snpposed to be. Himself IN associate