The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-11-26
I'm, n,grrp WIRE Trust.


Eichmond. va.
rur nAgBEp WIRE TRUST.
conspiracy Of cracksmen 70 roo "
hank could hardly fiji with more bof'o'
the mind Of bank president than oo's
the conspiracy of the manufactures q
harbed wire to fix the price OF thei'
own product the minds OF he Amer
can farmers. No sooner IL the ohOi'
made 10 cut off one Of the heads OF the
HYDRA. the jste trust. than another
spripgs up in its place and no Hercules
is at hand to throttle the monster
With corn at AZ cents and wheat al
Sim New York. and tobacco az "h
average of SO or "a per hundred TN
American farmer may well be compd'
ed TO a drowning man, who b3tties ~
vain with the waves, for remorseiess
enemies line the shore to bar every
avenue of escape.
Can the full significance of the forma
ton of this barbed wire trust u lhe
agricultural interest, already SINKING
under its burdens. be known 20 the
public, and is it understood "ha'
means TO that interest the ad-
vance of barbed wire from the re
cent price, three and half cents per
pound 10 probably four and a half 1t
means that a farmer running mileoi
wire fencing with FIVE strands to the
panel will have TO pas au additional ~
10 satisfy the demands If the trust oX
tortion. The arbitrary fixing OF the
price Of this article, in universal USE al
a higher figure than would be the result
of heallhful competition. bears WIN
peculiar hardship on the prairie states
of the West, which are comparatively
destitute Of. timber. but Of course will
be felt less severely in the South.
It is not always easy to foresee how
good can be wrought out of evil. bul
this new oppression Of the farmer viii
not be without ms benoficent results II
il shall give new strength and extension
to the political revision so manifest III
Iowa. and in the end draw to the ranks
of the Democratic partyrhe agrlcul'
tural States of the Northwest. The
interests of these States are so man
ifestly opposed TO trusts, corporate
monopoies and high protective tariff
that their adherence hitherto 10 the
Republican party can only be accounted
for on the ground Of the sectional
hatreds eDgendeTed by the war. ana
the support which the South has always
given to the Democratic party. They
have been unwiirag to think Of act
with the South, but suffering as they
now do from the low price Of then
products. and a general agricultural
depression hitherto unexampled, We
have reason e. hope tna5 the law of
self preservation will begin 10 assert
itself in these States, and that feally TO
interest will prove stronger than fealty
10 party.
There is powerful factor the Ma
tioual Farmers Alliance already extend
ing through every part OF the South.
West and Northwest. which promises to
unite these sections not oniy IA the puf-
suit of common objects pertaining to
their interests, but IN the close ties If
common brotherhood Recently THU
body Of representatives farmers at
jourped at Mont gomery, Alabama. TO
ms ct next IN Iowa and what a soften
ing of sectional aspeIities must flow
fsom an organization like this. when
farmers from the Gulf of Mexico TO the
great lakes OF the North meet each
other in their own homes to take cOun-
sci together for righting their mutual
wrongs and promoting their common
good.
We think there is a fair prospect that
through the influence of this wide
spread oIgauiz alton in the Northwest
the Democratic success so ausplciously
begun in Iowa will embrace a larger
area of States. and the evils Of trusts,
monopolies, and high protective duties
viii then have a Democratic settle
ment. We hardly think 1t possible that
great agricultural communities can
much longer continue so blinded by
prejudice, or so STUPID as to believe that
they subserve their own interests IN
giving their support to party which
deliberately legislates TO increase the
cot of every thing they consume. and
in the language Of MIR. Blame, regards
trusts as private affairs with which the
public has nothing 70 do.