The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-01-26

MetnouS vi locomotlOn, handsome carriages
and horses and every tenant must he in a
bad way if he has not at least "a horse and
buggy. A pleasant picture.
Are we as happy and contented. are we
as free of debt the farmer of bygone
days. Each one must answer these ques-
tons for himself. Is farming profitable
No. Why?
l. The increased cost of labor trebes that
of 1910. The use of fertilizers too frequently
of no value and for which fancy prices are
paid, expensive machinery, increased cost
Of horses used in working farm and ma
chinery and the low price of all farm pro-
| ducts
3 The outrageous discrimination of the
| great trunk line railroads against all local
| produce and freights. By referring to the
annual reports of the n. Y. Central or
Penn, Railroad you will find % per cent. of
their gross earnings from freight is local, 8
per scent. through, a policy destructive to
| all eastern interests, especially so to the
| farmer and his land.
8. The facility with which by modern
machinery any one with ordinary business
capacity can farm 500 or 10000 acres of land
| Costing $40 per acre improved) according
TO capital, thus conducting to over supply
| the marktt-this refers more especially to
| wheat.
4. The government permitting the use of
the land of the U. 5. by foreigners and for
| great cattle ranges free of cost and taxation,
| rhi i'm ,yit ha Chic, trp
| that compel the farmer to sell his cattle at
such price as tnev may dictate. and then
after selecting the best cattle for shipment
| to Europe. flooding the eastern markets
with the refuse, make stall feeding SO I'M
remeratlve that many have abandoned the
business and resort to fertilizers of whose
value little Is known 10 replace good stable
manure obtained by feeding.
o. Opening of India by England and
bringing cheap land and labor OF that coun-
try in competition with us. Where men
work for 8 OF 8 cents day and live on
straw and grass the cost of production must
be reduced to a minimum. India produces
from go TO 800 million bushels of wheat
per annum.
For full information see Wheat Culture
U. S. Agricultural Report 1884.
6. During the period between 1860 and
1870 initiation of the currency caused high
prices to be obtained for all farm products.
Money being abundant, We acquired habits
OF waste and extravaganza and d taste for
the good things of life. That now, when the
prices of our products hardly pay the cost
of raising, we find great difficulty in over
coming our expensive habits and getting
down to close living and economy. When
IA tiger once tastes human flesh he thereafter
eats no other. A farmer who has lived on
beefsteak and lamb chops, will suffer the
last penalty before returning to corn bread
and nerrings.
Z. Whether this Isl valid reason you must
determine, an old and trite saying is, That
when boy is mentally untitled tor any
other occupation make "a farmer or preacher
out of him.
This last ARTICLES fallacious for the reason
that to be q successful farmer brains are
necessary adjunct. Those members of this
club who cling to the old idea are to be
commiseratej Nothing has been said
about those ornaments on many estates
that eateth as cancer. Enough reasons
without this have been adduced to snow why
farming is not profitable aud why we are
not conGented or happy.
The farmer is now and ever has been for
the amount of c.pital invested and labor
done, the poorest paid toiler on the face of
God s earth. Sitting under your own vine
and fig tree, sounds and reads well, Int there
are many softer seats i'll the world.
This is the age of trusts and pools, and it
is necessary to our salvation that we or
ganize by districts, by counties, by states
and in national council presiding over the
whole to keep the ground under our feet.
We should be represented in the councils OF
the states and the nation. We shCIld have
AN agricultural bureau and it should be a
cabinet office presided over by a thoroughly
educated practical farmer. We should have
the fullest protection for our products, for ii
the manufacturer and laborer need and re-
quire it, we who are the greatest consumers
OF other mems products and are forced to
pay labors demand, we who furnish the
food and clothing for all, certainly have
claims upon our common country and have
right to be, and should be paid living
price for our products.
Farmers when they meet seem to be like
two positive poles charged with electricity,
they come together but to fly apart. This
should not be, we want to cohere, be our
own factors, get as near the consumer as
possible, should buy nothing we use with
out thorough test, take nothing for grant
ed, no formula except certified to by a
chemist of our own choosing, thus avoiding
buying ground oyster shells for bones and
marsh mud for super phosphates.
The most imperative requirement is to
organize in some form for our mutual pro-
lection. We have the Knights of Labor
pointing US the way. We must protect our
selves against these combinations of capital
in the form of trusts and monopolies or die
The ball is now started, let it roll on gather
ing such body that becoming an avail
anche, it will sweep all the vile trusts and
monopolies out of our land.
Your patience ere this has been exhausted
Thanking you Tor your kind attention the
matter is now in your hands to criticise.
Comment on the essay being in order,
Mr.. Kitchener said, that he approved the
sentiment of it, and thought if its sug
gestions were acted on they would result
in benefit to farmers as class.
Mr.. Duyckinck was pleased with the
essay. it's comprehensiveness, however,
preventing him from particular criticism
of it.
MIR. Ewing also expressed his approval
of it unreservedly.
Mr.. Mccullough criticised favorably
the general statements of the essay.
Mr.. Sutton said the Club had expected
something good and had heard it from
| Mr.. Bond.
| Mr.. Noyes endorsed the essay in full,
and at every point, and believed If far
mers adopted the suggestions contained in
the essay they could not 60 amiss. He
| thought a crisis had arrived in the history
of the agricultural interests of the coun-
try, and unless the farmers organized in
their defence against existing combina-
tions and trusts inimical to their inter-
ests they must be driven to the wall He
advocated combination in it's broadcast
sense.
Mr.. Thos. c. Bond thought the essay
comprehensive and instructive, and its
suggestions if acted upon would result