Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-04-30

chiDery of their naked hands, and will
bloody fingers and thumbs they have re
fiected upon the price of binding twine, en-
hanced to IS cents pound by tariff and bj
trust. It is true that party prejudices are
stubborn and hard to remove, but surely i
is not too much to suppose that between
these same sore fingers and thumbs Re
publican ticket will not be found this year
] The very house in which the farmer lives
is a monument to unnecessary, unjust, vi
cious, wicked, and criminal taxation. His
barn is the same. There is not an inch o
lum Der, or single nail, or pane of glass
in either of them which has not cost the
farmer an average tax of more than so PEI
cent, paid, not to the Government, but al
a naked subsidy to the manufacturers Of
lnmbar, iron, and glass. His table, spread
~ith dishes and with his daily food, ia ar
altar to taxation, On which he sacrilees
three times day to the unholy god OF
Mammon now controlling the councils OF
the nation and devouring the enforced of
feripgs of unpaid labor. His bed is not a
place of untroubled rest; it is lined and
stitched and quilted with dishonest taxes,
which he is compelled to pay before he can
draw his blanket over his weary frame and
sink down to sleep.
| But in discussing the effects of high
| protective tariff on the farmer, and or his
struggles for prosperous home, there re
mains for consideration another page OF
startling statistics and agricultural disas.
tiers. In high-sounding phrase, and with
the swelling note of bugle proclaiming
victory in advance, the advocates, the ora
tors, and the essayists of protection are
constantly boasting of the growth and de-
velopment of the country, and citing its
wealth as an evidence that their policy is
sound and just. But is it true that there
has been healthy development of the true
interests of the American people, and an
honest, beneficial accumulation of wealth
in this country under our present policy,
and more especially by virtue of the present
system of tariff taxation?
The prosperity of huge corporations, the
accumulation of vast fortunes in the hands
of few, tho swollen bank accounts of
trusts, syndicates, and protected manufac
turers, are no more evidences of peoples
wholesome growth and greatness than were
the riches of Dives when he refused crumb
of bread to lazarus, nor than the ill gotten
possessions the Scribes and Pharises who
devoured wi, vs. houses and made long
prayers in the sys of our blessed Saviour
on earth. The only genuine strength, prog
ress, and glory of nation.must arise from
the increasing value of its agricultural
lands, and in the yearly incomes and sub
stantial gaius of its laboring people, thereby
as a consequence securing their contentment
and their happiness.
Sir, our present system of protective tar
iff taxes was enacted twenty eight years
ago and [ deny that the farmers of the Uni
tod States have been prosperous under its
operation; deny that they have fair profits
on their labor; deny that they have had
reasonable yearly incomes, or, on an aver
age, any income at all, after barely secur-
ing the necessaries of life. On the contrary,
I assert that while farmers have been COM
PEELED to continue the payments of war
taxes in time of peace, there has been not
only no increase in the value of their lands
during the last quarter of century, but an
absolute loss of not less than 80 Per cent.
Reliable statistics warrant me- in saying
that the improved farm lands of the United
States, if put to sale to-day under the most
favorable circumstances now possible, would
not upon general average realize more
than two-thirds their value of twenty-five
years ago. Take the lands of the State of
Ohio as an illustration Of this startling fact.
Ohio is one Of the most favored States by
nature in the American Union, and yet
three years ago Gov. Foraker, in an official
address, comparing the value of real estate
in 1887 with what it was in 1880 in that
great Commonwealth, sad:
There has been a heavy decline. Farm prop
erty is from 25 to so per cent. cheaper than it
then was.
But the rich and productive lands of Ohio
have been not only rapidly diminishing in
value, but their owners have also been fore
ed to mortgage them to most alarming
exteut. It is estimated from official statis-
tics that the mortgaged Indebtedness of the
farmers of Ohio reaches the enormous sum
Of $500, 600, GOO.
In Illinois, that empire of natural re-
sources and vast cultivation, the showing as
to her farming lands and farming interests
is still darker and more disastrous. A recent
number Of the Bankers Magazine, COM
menting on the report of Mr.. John S Lord,
chief of the Illinois bureau of statistics,
points ont the fact that the private debts
secured by mortgages of record in that |
State exceed $402, 900, 900.
1t is also shown that of this mortgage in |
debtedness S1S1, 100000 is outside of Cook |
County, the farm Indebtedness, exclusive |
of mortgages on chattels and town lots, be-
ing S142, 900, 600, with an annual interest of
Sd, 919, 900. Taking the entire average of
the State. 90 per cent. of its whole face is |
under mortgage. The Bankers Magazine |
these figures as stupendous
and alarming, and yet there are other States
with even worse records of debt and inan-
cial distress than Illinois or Ohio. Accord
ing to the last report of the Labor Bureau
of Michigan, over AZ per cent. of all the
farm lands within her borders are under
mortgage. Daring the last Congress thu
able aud accomplished Representative of
the Harper's Ferry district of West Virgin
ia made the following striking and uncon-
tradlcted statement on the floor of the
House:
do not wish to make any statement that is
not sustained by the facts, and SO 1 have OBJ
tanned the last report of the labor bureau of
the State of Michigan, which covers an inyes-
tigation into the mortgagesion Michigan farms
and which presents some striking gures. l
stand here to day and say that have not the
slightest doubt that the Michigan farmer is as
the farmer in any other section of the country,
and yet this official volume shows that AZ per
cent. of the assessed valuation of the farms is
mortgaged. Compare the conuition of the nn-
protected Michigan farmer with the condition
of the protected owner of the copper mines in
Michigan, the latter piling up dividend upon
dividend, million upon million, out of the prl-
yilege granted him by Congress to tax the peo-
pie of this country, while the farmer is working
early and de!ving late and piiing up mortgage
have neither the time nor the money to come
here and besiege Congress about these matters.
They are chained to their plow. to their daily
labor. They cannot come here to look after
their own interests; but the owners of the cop
per mines and the other industries that are
protected and subsidized are here at all times
in your lobbies. urging measures for their own
bened5.
In Indiana, Kentucky. Missouri, Kansas.
Iowa, Nebraska, and indeed throughout
the Whole Northwest, from 20 to so per
cent. of the improved farms are covered by
mortgage liens at such rates of interest as
farmers can never pay out of the proceeds
of their crops, much less also tbe principal.
They are thus brought face to face with the
loss of their homes, with ruin, and hun
dreds of thousands Of them are standing in
that attitude this day and hour. If, how
ever, it is retorted, as we constantly hear,
that the deplorab!e condition of Western
and North western farmers is local, excep-
tioual, peculiar to themselves. growing out
of their lack of thrift and skill, and not due
to tho general policy of the Government, it
will only be necessary to turn our inquiries