The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-12-04
THE WAR ON THE FARMERS
TO BE FORCED FROM THEIR LAND.
Declaration OF War Against a surplus of
Farm Products sold Abroad For Foreign
Gocds-1Iill Ownrrs Protected by
Additional Farmer Tax.

On page 6S5 OF the compendium of the
ZENITH census published by the government
the seeker for truth will find the estimated
value of oil farm productions sold, con-
sumed or on hand for 1879" set down as
S2,2l3, 402, 564
On page 20 OF the report OF the treasury
department for 1884 (or any year since
1880 our exports of farm products for the
year ending June 80, 1879, are given at
e546. AT, 703, and for the year ending June
30. 1880. at 1856, 96l, 091.
For the fiscal year of 1879 our exports
were % per cent. for 1880 they were 81
per cent, and if we average the exports,
taking the 1879 half of 1879 and the 1879
half OF 1SS0-the last six months OF one
fiscal year and the first six months of the
other-to make the actual exports OF the
calendar year, they were rs per cent.
Properly speaking. of course, the exports
for the year ending June, 1880, are the
exports of the farm products raised in
1879; but to avoid all captious objections
from the use of the larger figures, let us
take for the purpose of this study the
smaller amount exported for the year end
ing June, 1879, as the exports for that
year.
The total number Of farmers. farm-hands
and dairymaids in 1850 was 1910, 1913, OF
whom 4, 225,9 45 were farmers and 1898, $40
were help, and the average product or
wages taken from the soil was but S2SS
each. This was less than the wages paid
in the Il, O69 mills of the best protected
industries, which employ so per cent. OF
the protected" workers, for the wages OF
the latter averaged $3.50.
OF this agricultural product 81 ,665,9 25,-
S51 was required TO feed the people of the
United States. The remaining S546, 476, 7O3
was q surplus which could not be used in
this country. II we bad not sold it
abroad, we could only have used 1t as a
fuel or fertilizer.
II we bad raised only what we needed
for ourselves, .S97, 4S5 farmers and farm
hands wouli have been out OF work and
compelled to seek the protected mills for
employment The largest estimate made
gives 905,5 $50 as the total number en-
ployed in the protected mills, and there
then would have been two persons out OF
work and seeking the job OF every person
who had work in a protected mill. This
would have been q ''halcyon and vocifer-
Gus time" for the EMPLOYERS, who could
have cut wages down one half, if not more.
So long as 1877, 4S5 persons are per-
mitted by the IA. 800 highly protected mill
owners to work on our farms for foreign
market the protected mill-owners must
pay what he calls "high wages" He must
compete with agriculture to get his labor,
as well as compete with agriculture in the
Is -, N,1,, -, -
1897, ass farmers work for foreigners, they
are paid in foreign goods, and these for
eign goods are the actual product of their
farming, which they sell to their country
men IN place of the wheat and corn the
latter do not want and cannot use.
Between these | ,S97, 4S5 farmers and the
IA, 500 protected manufacturers it is war to
the knife and the knife to the hilt.
In every statement made By protec-
tion1st concerning farming that war is
distinctly declared.
Diversity Industry By driving from
the land they till the 1897, 4S5 men now
working for foreign markets who are paid
in foreign goods. There is no other way
Give our farmers more mouths TO feed"
By driving from the land they till the
1885,, 49, men who now feed themselves
and sell their surplus abroad. There is no
other way.
Give our farmers home markets" BY
driving from the land they till the ,S97,-
AS men who now work for foreign mar
kets, compelling them TO buy food from
those who are left. There is no other way.
The farmers Of the United States now
feed every person in the United States and
export one-quarter their product They
can only make ''home market" for their
product by decreasing their own numbers,
by driving from the soil and into the
protected mills one-quarter OF those en-
gagged in the same misunderstanding Not
a single family can be added to the present
"home market" unless it is that of a far
mer driven from his land by foreclosure OF
mortgage.
The republican farmer has accepted and
voted for protection solely because it has
been adopted by his party as a party prin-
ciple, and be accepts and votes for 1t only
through party lovalty-not because he
thinks protection is right. His party lead
ers have adopted it because they wanted
the "lat" they could airy out" OF the pro-
tected manufacturers to pay election ex-
penses-not because they think protec-
ton Is right Not one man living who has
ever studied the subject is a protectionist
except for some special reason not con-
nected with its correctness as an economic
principle. Every republican member of
congress will acknowledge that his oppo-
nents are right in their theory" as il
any correct theory" could possibly be
imagined by the mind of man which it
was not right to practice. at may be
right, but it is not wise" is their misera-
BILE excuse, and the excuse of every thief
who is told that honesty is right. ''It is
not always the best policy" both whine
When the republican farmers controlled
the republican party protection was not
dreamed Of. When the protected" man.
ufacturers bought control of the republican
party every other issue was swept aside
and their protection against the competi-
ton Of one-fourth the farmers OF the Unit
ed States was made the one vital and over
shadowing issue.
Eighty per cent of the foreign goods i'm
ported into the United States are the di-
rect payment for the surplus product of
our farms. These imported foreign goods
are as much the actual farm product of
the ] ,S97 ,4S5 farmers as if they had been
made on the farms thew till. They simply
exchange the surplus corn and wheat and
cotton they have raised - which their
countrymen do not want and will not buv
for foreign cloth and iron and sugar
which their countryrnen do want and win
buy from them.
Is this theory not fact? Is there a re-