Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-10-18
THE NORTHWEST
Where are the Rich Farm
erS?

1t is within easy recollection of mel
not yet passed middle age that tn,
farmers were once the rich men of thi
country. Outside of a very few resi-
dents of New York, Philadelphia anC
Boston, conspicuous by reason of tn,
smallness of their number, the pros
porous classes were the agricultural
classes. Everywhere throughout thu
country were evidences of increasing
wealth. The farm houses were large
spacious and comfortable. The most
generous provisions were made fol
stock. The barns and outhouses anC
granneries were large and substantial
The farmers came to the county seal
with we'll stuffed wallets to pay theil
taxes, make their purchases or deposit
their surplus in the bank. If bust.
ness man had occasion to borrow
money he would go to the well-to-do
farmers of the neighborhood and
would rarely return empty handed
Cotton was king at the south, and corn
was king at the north. Agriculture
was universally regarded as the basis OF
Americas prosperity and the guaran-
tees of the future development of the
country. Young men became clerks
only as the result ofover-tlowing farms,
and the professions were looked upon
as luXuries.
During the past twenty years all this
has changed. In traversing the farm
ing districts of the country it will gen.
orally be found that the big houses and
comfortable quarters for man and beast
are not new, but evidently date from
the period of agricultural prosperity
before the war. The movement now
is toward the cities, which are over
crowded. Wealth is concentrated in
the hands of capitalists and corpora
tions. Railroads and "trusts" have the
call. Investment companies are found
throughout the land for loaning the
surplus money of monopolists to the
struggling agriculturists of the west.
The most universal of modern farm
improvements is the mortgage. The
farmers of to-day, as n class, are the
hardest workers, and, aside from few
rich cattle companies and absentee
landlords, they live from hand to
mouth, frequently running behind,
borrowing money when they can, and
struggling constantly to meet the in
terest on their mortgages and to save
their homesteads from being sold out
under the hammer.
What is the explanation of this radi-
cal change of conditions?
The period of agricultural prosperity
was under low tariff. The period of
agricultural depression has been under
3 high tariff. This is not mere coinci-
denee. The cause and effect can be
easily traced.
The great natural resources of this
country are still to be found in its agri-
cultural products. But the price of
these products is fixed abroad, because
the price of the surplus fixes the value
of the crops. Under the system of ex-
elusion instituted by a protective tariff,
the world buys only so much of the
American surplus of grain as it is COM
PEELED to have to avoid starvation after
bending all its energies to grow what
old and worn out land can be made to
produce. The European purchasers
are compelled to limit their purchases
and the prices they pay for Americas
surplus crops because they are hamp-
cred in exchanges. Their own products
are excluded from the United States as
far as possible by the exclusive duties
imposed upon them. While the farm
er is thus compelled to meet the most
rigid terms in the disposal of his crops,
no Is at the same time compelled to pay
the highest prices for everything which |
he needs. He pays not merely the
taxes eXacted 10y the custam system of
the government but the bounties which
the home manufacturers are enabled to
exact from him because they are pro-
tected from competition. He pays
taxes and bounties on the lumber in his
houses and fences, on his window glass,
and on his furniture, on hisagricultaral
implements, on his farm tools, on the
very salt with which he seasons his
food, on his blankets, on the clothing
necessary to keep himself, his wife and
his children from the cold, on pretty
much everything he weares and uses in
his daily life.
The unfair system Of discrimination
has crowded the farmer into a condi-
tiOn of chronic impecuniosity. His
necessities have still further made him
the defendent of the monopolist. He
has become borrower. Formerly he
was not only depositor but stock
holder in the banks throughout the
country. To-day the banking capital,
the trust capital, the investment capi-
tai is furnished by the wealthy manu-
facturers and monopolists who have
been protected" in the accumulation
of great fortunes. The natural yield
and profit of the farmer have been ex-
torted from him by discrimination and
tribute, and now his own money is
loaned back to him at 8, 10 and even 12
per cent. by the barons who have fat
tened upon the richness of his land and
the product ofhis incessant toll.
isn't it about time that the agricultu-
Fists of this country should begin to-
stndy its economic system, and en-
qnire whether they, representing more
shan one-half the population and ener-