The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-08-23
From the New Haven Union, Conn.
CAN WE BOAST ANY?

1t is common to Ind American Journals
which are perfectly well satisfied with
our laws, and the tendency of legislation
against the people in this country, pitch
ing vigorously into the laws of England,
and contrasting the condition of British
farmers with our own One is led to be-
lieve from the tone of these journals that
all is equitable and honest in this country,
and that if American ideas were adopted
in England the complaints we hear from
there about the landed aristocracy would
soon die out. @ In t..-fr(
/ y While it is true that our farmers have
the advantage of owning their own land,
and that there is a vast expanse of rich
sol unoccupied, ready for the agricultural
laborer, yet we have not everything IN our
favor The English farmer gets full price
for his produce, while the American far
mers are at the mercy ofspecuiators OF the
Jim Keene rad Jay Gould kin |. The price
Of wheat, for instance, is two dollars per
bushel in England and every English far
mer can loal up his wagon and in an hour
sell it for that price, being close to market
The American wheat grower has to ship
his produce hundreds and often thousands
of miles and has to pay heavy toll to the
railroad corporations and middlemen.
This eats up his profits SO that he realizes
about quarter as much from bushel of
wheat as the British farmer. Here is an
| other point to consider: The average yield
| of American wheat field is twenty-five
| bushels per acre, while the ordinary yield
of an English farm is forty bushels per
| acre. s........
We have the advantage of England in
amount of territory, but land monopoly is
not a thing unknown to us In large cities
we have our Hiltons, Goelots, Astors and
other wealthy families owning and con-
trolling vast estates, while in farming dis
tricts some men own as high as fifty thou
sand acres DR.. Glenn, now running as
the Democratic candidate for Governor of
California, owns a tract of territory larger
than the State of Rhode Island And the
tendency is all toward land monopoly. If
there is no reform in this respect
in this country in one hundred
years America will be great deal worse
off than Great Britain. The trouble is that
our laws do not prevent monopoly of the
soil. They are as Ubiquitous as those of
the mother country. And dow easy Van
derhilt left his vast estate to one heir, cut
ting off half dozen children with COM
paratively small allowance.
| SoullnS " ZIG 4uCSllOil VI ulotIlOullou
we have nothing to boast of over Great
Britain. England supports 800 persons
to the square mile, while the State Of New
York, larger than England, has less pop
ulation than the city of London, and yet
has many people in it that cannot earn a
living. New York, if populated as thickly
as England, would have population of
100000. There must be something
wrong with our methods Of distribution
when, with our vast natural resources, we
cannot give employment to all who desire
to work. The fact is that financial reform
must go hand in hand with land reform, if
we would better the condition of the peo-
pie The soil should not be monopolized
by the few, but owned by the many, and
aisystem of finance should be adopted
which will make distribution equitable,
giving to the producer the fruits of his
toll. We cannot consistently condemn
the evils resultant from British social and
political economy when we have not at
tempted earnestly to escape the same evils
ourselves Let us cease Boosting Of our
superiority over Great Britain, and seek
to remedy the glaring defects in our own
! industrial system. 1865 @4..," -e-'..'