Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-01-12

the country" Now, in q government
, like ours, where the popular will is the
basis of our institutions, it could be on
ly by the most monstrous injustice thai
the claims and interest of class 81
, strong in numbers, so indispensable II
usefulness, so important as citizens, anC
so largely supporting the public burdens
as the American farmers, should be ig
nored or disregarded. But is it not trut
that it is so?
assert and challenge refutation, thai
there is not in America to-day public
organization or Legislative body whers
the rights and interests of the 27,000,0OC
of people engaged in agriculture in the
United States are represented equitably
either according to numbers, interests
taxation, power or standing. 1t has moi
been long since the Premier of aristo
cratic England declared in Parliament
that "interests" as well as numbers
should have consideration, and that eve
ry interesrshould be represented. Does
any man here suppose that if the farm,
ling interests was fairly heard in the leg
Iislation of the country, it could be rob
bed as it is of large share of the price
of its labor 10y despotic and anti-repub-
lican monopolies, which have u3urped
and now WELD the imperial powers OF
the state? And yet legislative bodies
state and national, filled with legal lu-
minaries. many of them the salaried
agents of these monopOlies, year after
year declare that there is mo way by
which they can be curbed or regulated.
Don't you think if the law-making pow
er was in the hands OF a Farmers club
or of this Institute as it sits to-day, that
way could be found which would fair
ly divide profits and do justice to both
the farmers and the railroad?
During the railroad riots of 1876,
speaking of these corporations, our late
lamented President Garfield, who spoke
always with thoughtful moderation,
most truly said, There is a power that
has risen above all legal control and
made their own selfish interests, not on
| ly a law unto themselves but a govern
ment for u.s." How will this ever be
remedied so long as the paid agents of
these corporations largely WELD the law
making power? Shall these mOnopolies
be brought into subsection to Law and
compelled to work in harmony with
Labor, or shall they become our modern
feudal barons, and then our masters? In
his first message, just twenty years ago
this month, Lincoln graDdly said, "La-
Dor is prior to capital. Capital is the
fruit of labor and could not exist unless
labor had first existed. Labor, there
fore, deserves much the higher consider
ation;" further on in the same message
he says, "the object of government is to
elevate the condition of man, to remove
artificial burdens from all shoulders, to
prepare the paths of laudable pursuits,
and to afford to all an unfettered start
and fair chance in the race of life"
Much of the power of government is
perverted to do the exact opposite of this
just grand object. The time has fully
come when government organized to
protect should exert its control over cor
porate monopolies, organized to Cypress
and plunder the people. In this long
impending contest, American farmers
should assert themselves and make their
associated power felt. The defense of
their own interests, and their 0uties as
citizens alike, demand it. But it is not
in this regard alone that the rights and
interests, Eof this great class are too
little recognized. They never will be
until American farmers as an order ab-
solutely demand it and resolutely stand
by their claims. The English Parliament
appropriates 30 per cent more to agri-
cultural purposes than the American
Congress. Millions are voted to railroads
forts, arsenals and ships of war, while1
agriculture can scarcely obtain as many
thousands. The proposal for such ap-
preparations as the Importance or the
needs of agricultural industries demand
is met with derision. 1t Is true there is
not quite so much derision, not quite so
much talk of "hay seed in the hair, as
there was before this associated action
looked so formidable. Stand resolutely
by the rights and interests of this great
industry and you will soon be astonlshed
to find how it has risen in the estimation
of men in power.L Last yearCOngress free
ly voted $9,56O as pay for the Band at
West Point and hundreds upon hundreds
nf thousands more for the support of
that nuisance of aristocratic snobbery,
where almost everything is taught ex-
cept patriotism and the art of war; but
it was only after a fierce struggle that
an utterly Inadequate pittance was OBJ
tanned for purchasing choice seeds to be
distributed among 27,000,00O agricultu-
ralists in the United States.
The attempt to make the National
Agricultural Department, which has
been of such incalculable value in our
marvellous national development, real
executive department of full rank and
equal in rights and dignities of those |
which have for instance the control of |
three or four dozen of second and third
class vessels and by figure of speech |
called "the navy" or that which is SIM |
ply heavy mail contractor, meets with |
stubborn opposition even from Repre-
sentatives whose constituents are MAIN
ly engaged in this great agricultural in
dustry which is the underlying basis of |
all our wealth and prosperity. The |
Chairman of the Committee on Agricul- |
ture in the last Congress was a New |
York lawyer, who hardly knew blue |
grass from pole beans. He opposed the |
elevation and enlargement of the agri- |
cultural department, and with an inso- |
lence which has no excuse unless ignor-
ance furnishes one, said to the intelli-
gent farmers of the county that their |
agricultural papers and their local
Oranges was all they needed for the ad- |
vancement of this industry. In the
present Congress, the appointment of
the Chairman of the Committee on Ag- |
riculture is not recognition of the |
rights of the farmers of the country as
such; their claims have so long been ig-
nored that it is only stubborn demand |
which will compel justice. Let no
American farmer forget that his duty as |
citizen, no less than his interest as a
farmer, imperatively demands of him
and his class that they see to it that no
man shall by their consent, hold power
small or great, who will not fairly repre-
rent this largest, noblest and most i'm
portant industrial interest of his coun-
try. 1t is more to the farming and pro-
ducing class than mere party theories
however Just and cherished. There is