The Opelousas courier., 1885-11-14
OPELOUsAs NOVEMBER IA, 1885.
what Farmers Have to Bear.

It has been truly said that agriculture
is the pivot upon which all other trades,
industries, vocations and professions
turn and having The weight and fric>
ton. of all these to bear, it is no wonder
that this balancing power is always un-,
der a great strain and at times loses its
proper power of adjustment and equili-
brium.
This being the close of the year when
the crops are gathered and the staple
products are offered for sale, suggests
!. to us the many burdens the farmers
have to meet in realizing the remunera-
ton of their labor. and in paying their
debts.
Very few farmers cultivate their crops
on cash basis, and their necessities
under the present system compel them
to buy. their supplies from the mer
chants atau enormous rate of interest
on credit. While we do not deny the
legitimate right of merchants to charge
an Increased price for advancing sup
plies on the faith of the crops, and that
! In so doing their capital is locked up
for months, with many risks to run
in securing their ultimate payment. &C.,
ret we must say that the planter who
buys on such terms is lettering himself
with corresponding liabilities which be
would not incur on cash system. he
has necessarily to pay much more for
what be consumes. He cannot always
have choice Of the kind of articles he
would prefer, and often has to take lrr-
ferior goods at rates higher than the
best of it's kind. When lie sells his
/. crop he lie compelled to take what is
offered in the market at the time, hav-
ing no discretion or legal right to hold
his products for future rise in prices.
The merchants have reciprocal Habili-
ties In their business, and arc Competed
to insist upon prompt payments 10 or
der to meet their own responsibilities
Incurred by tile credit system. II the
! farmer falls behind it hurts the mer-=
chant as well J. and if he pays up, the
farmer finds that he has paid dear
price for supplies, while he has recelv-
ed unremunerative returns for his own
work aud risks Even granting good
crops, it is poor venture to raise cot
ton at eight cents per pound to pay for
meat at 10 nr IL cents per pound, when
the farmer could raise his own at home
by planting more grain and less cotton
But take the farmers under the best
circumstances, yet their burdens are
numerous and heavs. fhey may pay
cash and five economically, still tpR1r
RESPONSIBILITIES and expenses are great
er than any other class of people. His
business is necessarily ultimate. The
sf.,ot kIan rail-
roads, the professional men, all other
classes indeed, mas throw the bulk of
their burdens back upon the farmer.
His class constitutes the great body OF
the consumers nf the country. What
ever tax the merchant pays is added TO
tile price Of his goods, whatever tax the
manufacturer pays is added to the cost
of his wares, aud So it goes all through
tile list Of other classes. But the farm
er, when he purchases the gsods, must
paw for all this increased taxation. he
does not fix the price upon the goods he
buys, nor upon the produce which he
sells. Capitalists combine and use their
wealth and influence to reduce the price
OF agricultural products until they get
out Of the hands Of the farmer Wise
legislators, therefore, should, ID shaping
their laws aud policy, look primarily to
the interest Of the agricultural classes.
This ii not demagoguery, as some OF the
pulitieai leaders Of our own day would
have us think, 1T is stategnansllIp 1t
Is sp recognized in every great nation
of ancient and modern times. It is SO
Ia England, where the landed interest
furnishes the prepunderating influence,
Notwithstanding the millions OF men
and hundred of millions of money en-
gagged in nanufaetures Il Is so ~
France, where the rural peasantry forns
the back bone Of the nation. 1t is so IN
Germany where protection TO the agri-
cultural classes has been pushed even
to the cruel expedient OF tarlH on
breadstlffs. It is so IN Russia, the
mighty empire which has spent ,nillions
of noney and thousands Of lives in her
South Asian conquesss during the past
twenty years, and seems now to he pre-
uarinr to make war upon Great Britain,
simply to gain M outlet for her great
southern wheat belt ItWas so IN every
considerable nation of antiquity, many
of whom paid such honors to agricul-
ttsre as are unknown ID this day Il
IL well for this country that she has
still left surne public men who are old,
fashioned enough to believe chat tbs
agricultural interest il the life-blood y
the nation, aud who study the econo,
mics of public finance primarily with
reference to tile welfare of the tiller ol
the soil. z
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