The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1881-11-26

serious opposition from the chair
man of the Committee on Agricul-
ture, yet, a majority of the Commit
tee reporfed it fav orably, and placed
it in charge Of Bro. Aiken, who
was n member Of the Committees
By his Perseverance he succeeded
ii pressing it to final vote, and
I62S members voted for it and 81
agaiustit, lacking butstwo votes Of
the necessary two thirds required
to pass it. NJ
The discussion on this bill was
exceedingly interesting and deserves
special notice. Bro Aiken having
the floor, yielded to give the oppo-
nents of the measure an opportunity
to tell us and the farmers of this
country why they voted against it.
Mr.. Reagan, of Texas, opposed
the bill for the reason that it was
Legislation for the protection of
special interest. If most of the inn
portant legislation of Congress for
the last fifteen years had not been
for the protection of special inter
ests this objection might have had
some force. But / will not do him
an Injustice but use his own Lam
guage: 81 am not unfriendly to a
new Department, indeed / favor the
creation of new Department, but
I do not favor this bill. This bill is
simply an enlargcment,o of the pow
ers of TIE Agricultural Bureau, and
making the Commissioner of Agri-
culture a Cabinet ofieer-The sub
ject is one of very great moment.
The Agricultural, the Manufacture
ing and the Mining interests ought,
it seems to me, to be placed under
separate and independent depart
ment of the Government, which l
would call the Department. of In
dustry, in order to embrace the
whole of them, and doing that, the
bill ought TO provide for transfer
! ring the different Bureaus in the
| Interior, the Treasury and War De.
partment to this new Department
of the Government. With that
done, its great Agricultural inter
ests, its great Commercial interests,
its, great Manufacturing interests,
and its great mining interests would
receive the supervision and the di-
rectlon of a first class man, and un-
doubtedly they deserve the super
vision of such a mani -.-..
Mr.. Dunnel, Of Minnesota, also
favored the bill as the initiatory
step to the creation of such a De
partment of Industry. He agreed
with Mr.. Reagan, but he would go
one step further and include "the
great railroad interests of this great
country"
Is it not quite probable that we
see foreshadowed in the above, the
policy which we may expect to see
incorporated into a bill to answer
the demands of the Agricultural in
terests of the country, as indicated
by the above resolutions of this
body? Would not such course be
in harmony with much of the pre-
vious legislation of the country, os-
tensibly to benefit agriculture, but
really to aid and build up other in
terests at the expense of agriculture,
and fasten upon the country some
of the most oppressive monopolies
that ever cursed any people?
Passing over the inference that
an Agricultural Department, stand
ing upon its own bottom, could not
"be presided over by a first class
man. and admitting that depart
ment for the further protection of
the combined and incorporated in
terests, with Agriculture attached
as ''side show" could be, is any
one credulous enough to believe, in
view of the history of the past and
the influences which generally con-
troll such appointments, that such a
department would ever be presided
over by man either qualified OF
disposed to give agriculture the con-
sideration which its importance de-
mands? Might we not rather ex-
pect repetition of that policy
which ignores the Representatives
of the farming interests and selects
a chairman for the Committee on
| Agriculture in Congress from the
legal profession of a large city,
where agriculture is not supposed
to be extensively practiced or well
understood?
Mr.. Covert opposed the bill, and
standing as he does at the head OF
the Committee on Agriculture, it is
due to him that his reasons for sc
doing should be understood and
well understood by every farmer in
the land. That portion of his re-
marks which seem to apply directly
to the action of this body and its
authority to speak for '.the real
Agriculturist, or of thoughtful and
intelligent men engaged in that bust
ness" it seems proper that l should
quote for your benefit Mr.. Cove ri
says;
eve have here the spectacle pre-,
sented of large class of the people
already strong in numbers, strong
in material resources, and abundant
ly able to protect their own interest
clamoring for the elevation of this
department and for the dispensing
of special favors to them, when with
Al