The morning news., 1889-04-11
Victims of q Trust.

! dignatIOn meetings and passing resolutions
to boycott the twine trust. Our dispatches
Yesterday contained an account of a
meeting of Indisna farmers. who declared
that they would permit the hogs to eat the
wheat in the fields before they would sub
nit to the extortions of the trust. This
declaration indicates pretty clearly that
they are in earnest, and that they would
rather lose their wheat than allow all the
profits of their wheat crops to go into the
pockets of a combination that has been
formed 10 rob them.
The indignation against the twine trust
is not confined to one state. 1t exists in all
the great wheat-growing states. The wheat
! is harvested by machinery, the machines
! having sef-binding attachments. Twine
/ is used to bind the sheaves Indeed, there
is nothing else that can be used. There is
no known substitute. The farmers, there
fore, are wholly at the mercy of the trust.
The farmers who have only a few acres
of wheat are practically independent of
the trust, because they can harvest their
wheat without binding it, or by using straw
bands. The farmers who have large fields
of wheat, however, cannot do this, because
a sufficient number of laborers cannot be
obtained. They are almost wholly depend
ent upon the self f-binding reaping machines.
The wheat farmers with regard to twiue,
are in about the same predicament as the
cotton farmers are with respect to jute
| bagging The twine trust proposes to
wheat farmers, and the jute bagging trust
has arranged to rob the cotton farmers.
What is the remedy for this condition of
things! The most effective one would be
the repeal of the tariff duties on jute butts
and jute bsgging, and also on manila,
hemp and sisal grass, from which twine is
made, and on twine. If these duties were
repealed the jute bagging and twine
trusts would quickly come to
their senses. The farmers would
never again be robbed by trusts dealing in
these articles. The competition among the
twine and bagging manufacturers in this
country would be very great, and they
would be prevented from demanding un-
reasonable prices for their products by com
petition from abroad.
The farmers of the south are united in
favor of reducing the tariff, but the farm
ers of the west are divided on the tariff
! question. When the western farmers have
had the profits Of their crops pocketsd by
trusts year or two more they~%ill begin
| probably to open their eyes TO the iniqui-
ties of the present tariff. As long as they
cling to the Republican party they will
have to pay for their folly. The great ma
! jority of them barely make a living, and
the farms of most of them are mortgage1.
| How do they expect to get ahead in the
world when they have to pay trust prices
| for all they need in the way of supplies on
| their farms and to sell their crop for prices
| fixed by the lowest market in the world!
1t is time for the western farmers to begin
| to think A few more twists by tie twine
trust will make them wonder whether the
south is not right about the tariff after all.
He Has Changed His Tune.
1t appears that Maj. Armes, the retired
army officer who pulled the nose of Penn
sylvania's governor the other day when the
latter was in Washington, is not so war
like since a court martial has been ordered
to try him for conduct unbecoming an
| officer and a gentleman. A Harrisburg
| dispatch says that the major has written a
| piteous letter to the governor making an
apology for his conduct, and begging him
to make an appeal to the war department
| in his behalf.
The governor has not as vet showed any
| disposition to comply with the request,
though he may do so. He has never made
any complaint against Maj. Armes, and is
inclined to doubt that he could save him
from the result of his unofficer- like conduct.
The war department took hold of the mat
ter Of its own accord, and it will probably
| deal with him as it thinks best, though an
appeal in his behalf from the Pennsylvania
| governor might secure for him a lighter
| punishment.
If Maj. Armes should be dismissed from
the army he would be in a sad plight He
has only his pay as an officer to
live upon, and he has a family to support
| He ought to have thought of the conse-
| quences before ne went into the nose pulling
business, particularly as he does not appear
to have had any good reason for assaulting
the Pennsylvania governor.
| The Cotton Factory.
The cotton factory that was destroyed by
| fire on Tuesday was quite a severe loss to
this city, as well as to those directly inter-
ested in it. There were at least 100 people
employed in it, and they are now without
employment.
The factory ought to be rebuilt at once and
| up on much larger scale. A