The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1889-02-01
WHERE ARE THE RICH FARMERS ?

THIS country. Outside OF very few
residents of New York. Philadelphia
and Boston, conspicuous by reason of
the smallness of their number, the
classes were the agricultu-
raj classes Everywhere throughout the
country were evidences of increasing
wealth. The farm houses were large,
spacious and comfortable. The most
generous provisions We're made for
stock. The barns and ont houses and
granaries were vast and substantial.
The farmers came to the county seat
with well stuffed wallets to pay their
taxes, make their purchases or deposit
their surplus in the bank. If a busi-
ness man had occasion to borrow mon-
ey he would 90 to the well-to-do farm
ers of the neighborhood and would
rarely return empty handed. Cotton
was king at the South, corn was king
at the North. Agriculture was univer-
sally regarded as the basis Of Americas
prosperity and the guarantee of the
future development of the country.
Young men became clerks only as the
result Of overflowing farms, and the
professions were looked upon as luxu-
ries
During the past twenty years all this
has changed. In traversing the Farm
ing districts of the country it will gen.
errally be found that the houses and
comfortable quarters for man and
beast are not new, but evidently date
from the agricultural prosperity before
the war. The movement now is to-
wards the cities, which are overcrowd-
ed. Wealth is concentrated in the
hands of capitalists and corporations.
Railroads and the trusts" have the
call. Investment companies are found
throughout the land for loaning the
surplus money Of monopolists to the
struggling agriculturlsts of the west.
The most universal of modern farm
improvements is the mortgage. The
farmers of to-day, as class, are the
hardest workers, and aside from few
rich cattle companies and absentee
landlords, they live from hand tc
mouth, frequently running behind
borrowing money when they can and
struggling constantly to meet the in.
terest of mortgages, and to save their
homesteads from being sold out under
the hammer.
What is the explanation of this rad
ical change of conditions:
The period of agricultural prosperi
ty was under low tariff. The period
of agricultural depression has been un
der high tariff. The cause and ef
feet can be easily traced.
The great natural resources of thil
country are still to be found IN its ag
ricultural products. But the price o
these products is fixed abroad
because the price of the surplus fixe
the value of the crops. Under the sys
TEN of exclusion instituted by Il pro
tective tariff, the world buys only 81
much of the American surplus of grain
as it is compelled to have to avoid star
vation after bending all its energies t
grow what old and worn out land Cal
be made TO produce. The European
purchasers are compelled to limit thei
purchases and the prices they pay TO
Americas surplus crops because the,
are hampered in exchanges. Thei
own products are excluded from tn
United States as far as possible by tn
exclusive duties imposed upon them
While the farmer is thus compelled t
meet the most rigid terms in the dis
posal of his crops, he is at the sam
time compelled to pay the highes
prices for everything which he needs
He pays not merely the taxes exacte,
by the customs system of the govern
ment but the bounties which the hom
manufacturers are enabled to exac
from him. because they are protecte'
from competition. He pays taxes AM
bounties on the lumber in his hous
and fences, on his window glass, on hi
farm tools, on the very salt with whicl
he seasons his food, on his blankets, OF
the clothing necessary to keep himself
his wife and children from the cold
on pretty much everything he wear
and uses in his daily life.
This unfair system of discrimina
ton has crowded the farmer into
condition of chronic impecuniosity
His necessities have still further mad
him the defendant of the monopolists
He has become borrower. Formerl,
he was not only depositor but a stock
holder in the banks throughout tn
country To-day the banking capital
the trust capital, the improvement
capital. the investment capital is fur
nished 10y the wealthy manufacturer
and monopolists who have been ''pro
tected' in the accumulation of grea
fortunes. The natural yield and prof
of the farmer have been extorted from
him bv discrimination and tribute, an,
now his own money is loaned back t.
him at $, 10 and II per cent. by tn
barons who have been fattened upol
the richness Of his land and the pro