The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-09-03
A DISPATCHES,

WILLIAMS GROVE, Pa, Aug. o.
Gen. Butler arrived to-day. He Was
received by 5000 people. and escorted
to the grand headquarters, where he
held a short reception. At 2 O'Clock
he was escorted to the grand stand BY
a large number of people. There was
q band and a squad of SO policemen.
As he ascended the steps Of the plat
form he was loudly cheered. and .
few minutes later he was introduced
by Worthy Master Leonard Rhodes,
of the state grange. General Butler
in his speech said:
Usually a speech to farmers com.
mences in telling them how happy
they are and how much their lot Is to
be desired before all others; and how
excellent a thing it is to piOw In the
ground, and drive COWS and milk
Them. and to make butter and have
other people eat it. l am not going
to begin nv speech in that way.
l was brought up in my early youth
on a farm-nOt like these-but 50
rocky that when they sent me after
cows, l could jump a mile from stone
to stone and never touch the ground.
l know something of farm life. 1t is
a hard life, if well followed. 1t is q
stern life, if well followed. 1t is an
onerous life, if we'll followed. A
farmer. as a rule. does not
get rich, but he always has
a comfortable subsistence, and if he is
industrious and frugal, he lays up at
competency for his children; II he
has taught them to work with him
and n OF let them get the foolish idea
that the highest vocation a man can
have is to measure off calico wever
yard stick behind a counter. n the
| do that. stay at home, boys, on two
farm. Let me tell you one or you
things, and this is politics. only OF
| don't know it. Ninety-nine OutntO
| every hundred men that 60 l 40
| the city and embark in b~usinessand
| not succeed in a high degree, n
more than 80 out of every lO a. Ut
terly. The successes you hear OF, but
| the failures sink away into Obscur lty.
| Your sons, who have gone into the
| CITY, find their place at last in the
Door house, where history does not
deal with them to any considerable
extent. And 1t IS as much worse for
the girls as you a think. l speak
like an old man to young men, moth
| ers and fathers. Find good, honest
/ machlnist or famers in your neigh
borhe0d and marry the girls to them
: and let them be happy parents OF tine
children, again to marry with that
class upon which the very foundation
| of government rests. i
Now, I say a farm life is a hard
life; but why is it a hard life? Be
| cause you don't get a fair share OF
the profits of what you produce.
| Look at the agricultural implements
| see here. How much has the power
of the farmer been increased by this
improved machinery? How much
has his production been increased?
More than 200 told. You can pro-
duce 200 fold as much In the same
time now. Why is not the condition
of the farmer 200 fold better now
than it was before the good gifts of
God we're utilized to his hand in the
shape of improved machinery? He
ought to get 200 times richer, or he
ought to work 200 less than formerly.
But he don't. Where has this money
gone? Who has got it? A voice in
the crOwd-"The mOnOpOlist."
Not always the mOnOpolist, but he
gets the most Of it. The farmer hasn't
got it; he has got his land either a
little better or a little worse; but all
this great production has gone some
where. 1t has not been eaten up. 1t
has not been burned. 1t has not ia
ken wings and flown away. You
will see it in these immense fortunes
which have been acquired. am not
here to say one word against these
men that acquired them. l am here
to arraign the laws of the country
which allow them 30 to accumulate
the wages of honest labor and honest
production. [Applause.] 1 am here
to say that the laws and legislators
that can be so manipulated as to
make the rich richer and the poor
poorer ought to be changed. OF the
fifty billions OF property in the coun-
try, the farmers OWE more than one
fourth.
Well, why have they not got rich?
Because, first, their riches don't flow
IN piles to them. 1t IS a steady
stream, and then you pay all the
taxes substantially. Why do l say
that? Why, if we could have all
this fifty billion dollars of property
taxed, the taxes would be nothing at
all-Ihey would be a flea bite. But
Mr.. Vanderbilt swears that under
the law he is not taxable at all for
any personal property, and yet by
your laws he held at that time $685.
100000 of the national and other
securities, and the law would allow
him to escape taxation.
DO you say a word about those
laws? Oh no, you get up all sorts of
.quarrels about state rights and old
matters of any kind that were matters
of the long ago, and one will call
himself a republican and another a
democrat and get vexet and angry, |
and yet you are bled every day while
you are quarrellng. Nothing more
and nothing less. Why does the
farmer pay so much? 1t is because
all his property lies where it can be
seen, and the tax ga;herer can't miss
it. Whereas my bonds, if l have any.
my stocks and my notes and my Sc
curities lie away in my safe and the
assessor can't find them.
The farmer is worse of than the
WOrkingman, because he has got
something that can be taxed and can
be seen. The workingman has his
capital, which is his capability of do
ing a days work that is not taxed.
But the farmer having one-tOurth of
he property of this oou ntry, pays :
three-fOurths of the taxes. :
The general then considered the !
of transportation and said
thee railroad companies league to- :
Their and make discriminating rates I
freight, and now without going in
to this matter at length, let me sketch
you one thing. Chicago beef is and :
has been cheaper in Liverpool .
than I'm BOSTON. and thai haAf 4