The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-01-03


honor, integrity and fidelity. Ii was this almost
universal industry, connected with small com
merce, which enabled an economical and pru-
dent people to set an example of financial honor
which has not yet been forgotten. When Mr.
Jefferson closed his Career as President OF the
United States he was congratulated by the LeglS-
ature of Virginia, through the mouth. of the
INDUSTRIOUS William Writ, that he had succeeded
in paving $50, 900, 600 of the national debt. The
mower to do this came largely from the land
Manufactures then had no existence. The rivers
washed down their falls and rapids unhindered
to the sea Cotton manufactures were unknown.
WOODEN cloth woven by the industrious
mothers and sisters on looms, for which room
was always provided in the wel-organized
household. Flax was grown and linen made,
out neither manufactures nor the mechanic arts
gave employment to our people nor revenue TO
the State. The power of the nation consisted IL
the stout hearts of the farmers, and the wealth
OF the nation consisted in the successful applca-
ton of their skill to the soil. They farmed under
great advantages, it is true. The soil was fer
HE and thu harvests were great In my own
state, in my own county of Essex, SO famed for
early and late activity and industry, one of the
most reliable and powerful and faithful states
men and soldiers of the revolution, Timothy
Pickering, tells US that in his day the soil OF that
county yielded to the acre % bushels OF wheat.
III bushels OF corn, So bushels of barley, 5lS
bushels of common potatoes, 900 bushels OF
carrots, ,O34 bushels of mangel-wurzel, 6SS
bushels Of swedish turnips, 983 bushels
OF beets, 654 bushels of onions; 80 toue of hay
grew on six acres, and the yearly average of
forty acres for many years was more than 100
tons. To the fertile lands of the West these
crops may not seem extraordinary, but to the
East they were and are far beyond what
now he reached by the most skillful fertiliZing
and the highest cultivation. In own day the
soil may have lost Its fertility, industries may
have multiplied, the paths to wealth and com
fort may have become more and more varied,
but agrlcul ure holds its former place still, and
taxes our ingenuity and secures prosperity In
the great trials that have befaen our genera
uion-trias in which not only the wisdom of the
WISE but the fruits of the industrious are needed
to sustain and Develop the country, which the
valor OF the faithful saved from ruin-the
soil has enabled to maintain our
nnaholal honor and solved many
vexed financial problem. The position
held by us in the commerce of the world was
watched with interest and anxiety during all
those years IN which the power of the people to
bear the great war debt was matter of doubt.
AT the close of the war the financial facts of our
country were against us. Gold was at a pre-
MUM. Our exports were comparatively small
Inc balance OF trade was AGAINST us, and our
supply of gold was constantly drawn on 70 pay
our foreign bills. Then 1t was that the Thought
1ul AMI patriotic American citizen turned TO the
growing Industries or his country for the eOlu-
ton of the financial Question, which uni
versally discussed aud seriously considered.
Mot to our vast revenue alone did we turn, but
which might find foreign market and
hx exchange in our favor. The men
who vi i,.ni mad fought bravely now toied
rapidly, gold removed as q commodity
from the III arket, the balance of trade III
our favor, and the American people ranked
among the large exporting nations of the earth,
Inc solution OF our financial policy had begun,
and 1t has continued until we are of one heart
ami one mind OF this ALI important question.
once more has agriculture contributed vast
share of that which has been sent the mar
kets of the world. AS IN early avs of the
public, so In our day has the So enriched and
supported our people. Besides feeding laviShly
fifty millions of people, the agriculture, of the
country has continued TO supply a large amount
of our exports of domestic merchandise. In 1850
the exports from this country rose in one
year from S635,o42 ,07S to 1888, 915,941 and
1924, 4S9,4l 81. 90 per CENT of the whole
amount The imports amounted To 1867 3d.
TAG, leaving balance of S2l 1851, 1875. The eff
feet of this contribution to export trade is
incalculable, and il has done SO much toward re-
storing TO that financial stability and prosper
ity and honor of which, as IA nation, we ought TO
be proud, and for which every prosperous man
ought TO he so grateful, that turn with prlde
and satisfaction to the record which American
agriculture has made for itself. But not only
are the years of agricultural prosperity instruct
i've, but the Dad seasons also leach lesson
which we should not forget III 1881 the great
crops OF 1850 were greatly re'iuced, and the
change in cur commercial affairs striking
and significant. In 1881 the cotton crop fell off
100000 bales, wheat llS,269778 bushels,
corn 322,31S,543 bushels rye 3, $3.50, 900 bushels,
oats 4,0O4016 bushels. As QUE result of this,
the exports over imports fell from S259,712,71e
in 1881 20 S25, 727,956 in 1882, the fiscal year
ending June 30, THE effect OF which is manifest.
G RowTH OF AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES.
Mark now the growth of this industry in a
decade, during which it has made this great con
lribution. In 1870 the amount of Indian corn
raised in this country 756,944, $40 bushels;
in 1880, 754,449, $50 bushels In 1870 the
wheat crop amounted to 2s7, 745, 626 bushels; in
1880, to 459 .667 ,043 bushels. In 1870 the oats
er',p reached 2S2, lO7.l37 bushels; in 1880, 10
407, S59.O33 bushels. Ia 1870 the tobacco crap
amounted to 1862, 49,, 34l pounds; in 1880, to
473, 1o7, 573 pounds Tue increase of agricul-
turaI products was large and universal, aruount-
ing in many Instances to 100 per cent. And in
the last year of This decade, from 1879 to 1880.
out of the vast Increase of products our ratfie
export rose from SI3 5000, 900 TO S14,O00OOO:
corn, from 100 1000 20 $4,000, 900; wheat,
from $l6 COS, $40 tn S19O,54d,0 900; flour, from
$3.50 5000 To $40 900, 900; cotton, from $780,
$4,000 10 S245 534, $50; nerf, frnm 81, 900, ~
to 81, 900. 900; lard. from 10000, 900 10 $780,
226,O00; rk, from 5000, 900 TO IS, 900, 900
This unusual and extraordinary prosperity is
due undoubtedly 10 many causes, MAJ ural and
artificial the natural causes being our diversity
of SOL and climate and the variety of our crops
and The economy with which new and fertile
lands can be cIltivattd-the artificial causes he
ing the advantages of local and general markets,
and the relations established between the farm-
er and the soil he cultivates by the independent
ownership of lands under tine laws of our coun-
try. To the last cause NAV be attributed much
of that elasticity ami energy which the AmerI-
can farmer Hanlfests i'll occupying new lands,
and in the cul tivatlon of crops adapted TO the
market which they can reach II were not easy
to tell the strength aud stimulus which came
through the ownership of the soil, TO him who
occupies II, has fixed his home upon it, ana looks
TO IL rs his means OF subsistence. 1t is
TO bne DIVISION ana SUBDIVISION OF the lana,
almost a. much as their devotion to the institu-
tons of learning and religion AMI their deter
minalipn To secure all social and civil rights,
that our fathers owe their success in establish
ing free government on this continent. They had
the Aug o-ShXon love of land, bur above all they
had the Angin-SaXon love of independence; and
land monupolies, entail and primogeniture, were
especially odlous TO them. They established in
the earliest colonial days system IF land-hoid-
ing so simple S exact, so easily managed, that
it has become the example which all republlca II
governments follow. They established Il public
registry of deeds, and provided for an easy and
recording transfer OF landed estates from hand
tn hand, as easy the transfer of personal
property. The state which they formed became
not only the home of civil and relgious freedom,
but of small landed proprletnrs also. When they
struck for freedom they struck for the sacred
right of their home, which had he
come scattered throughout the length and
breadth OF the land. and were the nurseries of