Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-12-11
Special Correspondence of Gazette and journal

DOVER, Dec, 10.-The Delaware State
Patrons of Husbandry, met in annual SEES.
sion in the House of Representatives yes
terday morning at ii o'clock. About 50
delegates were present, nearly every grange
In the State being represented. With the
officers, delegates and members of various
oranges, all told, about 100 were in attend
ance. L. II. Bancroft presided and an
nounced the committees on education,
legislation resolutions, &c.
The hours of session were fixed from 10
to ia. M, to p. m. and to 8 u. M,
for three days, Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday.
Representative-elect' John c. Higgins,
Port Penn, made a short address. 4. J..
Weddenburn of Virginia, made an address
on the benefits derived from the grange.
DIR. A. T. Neal and Professor Beckwlth of
Delaware College, were present and made
addresses giving accounts of station work
Good music was furnished by the grange
choir.
Worthy Master +. H. Bancroft delivered
his annual address as follows:
"Horthy Officers and Members: We meet
to-day after the lapse of another year to
hold our 10th annual session. These IS
years have witnessed wonderful changes in
our oranges, in our families in our several
neighborhoods, in our individual features,
and in the economical and political rela-
tions of the farmer as an element of the
body polite.
During the past year the order has
made rapid growth, but Delaware has not
kept pace with some of the other states
We must do better next year, and the con-
ditions will be more favorable to AN in
crease of membership. There are few
farmers now who do not see in the light of
recent years, the necessity for organization
and who do not realize that Individually
ihpxy aN fptl aartxr aud 1ata nd oti ha
helpless to improve their condition, and to
ward off disaster; while if organized they
not only. feed the world, but secure for
wife and home and little ones a fair share
of what the harvest yields
No year has been more fruitful in ex-
tending the organization of farmers than
the last, and while this organization has
been accomplished under various names,
separate and distinct, it is time neverthe-
less, that they have one common or ut
least one leading object, namely, the
publication of politics and statutory estab-
lishment Of equal rights, equal burdens
and equal privileges for all classes of citi-
zens, including the agricultural class here
toiore recognized by legislative bodies, par.
ticularly by Congress, only as Il bearer of
other mems burdens as the uncomplain-
ing and productive source of unexamplcd
wealth; to be transferred in part to the
treasury of an cXtravagant government,
and in much larger part to the pockets of
the plutocracy of this country What
spectacle America presents to the world,
without parallel in the rapid production
Of wealth and without parallel in the
inequality of its distribution.
Roughly stated, her agricultural peo-
pie for the last few decades have repre-
scented about half her population. AT the
beginning Of the period they had about
half OF the county's wealth; now they take
about one-fifth of it. Like slaves they
have toiled TO enrich their legal masters.
We charge this depressed and deplorable
condition of agriculture distinctly and
positively to oppressive legislation and to
the omission of needed and Just legislation.
'lst. We denounce the robbery in local
taxation that puts so per cent of its bur-
dens upon real estate.
I'D. We ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS robbery of
national taxation, which taxes every man
according to his consumption and not nc
cording to his wealth; and whose burdens
rest ultimately and mainly upon agrcul-
ture.
I'D. We denounce the repeal of the in
come tax as the abandonment of the only
mode Of taxation that could be made to
bear justly upon the great fortunes of the
wealthy, and be so graduated as to discour-
age vast aggregations of wealth.
18th. We denounce fraudulent demOne-
tigation of silver in '73 as a trick accom-
plished by an agent of the money power
of England, the great creditor nation of
the world, with the result of adding SO per
cent to their burden Of national, state,
municipal, corporate and individual debts,
and increasing by so much the value OF
the securities held by the creditor interest.
To this monumental fraud is largely due
the steady decline of agricultural values
as measured by the thus limited circuIat-
ing medium. There is much discrepancy
in the modes of arriving ia the amount
now in circulation, but the most careful
calculations show that the contraction for
some years past has amounted to about
two-thirds, dropping from S56 per capita
soon after the close of the war to IS to 20
in the last few years. With equal step the
values of all farm property and all farm
crops have steadily declined under these
conditions.
For the last 25 years every secretary Of
the United States treasury has taken his
financial theories from the money kings of
London and Wall street, and the steady
policy of our fiscal system has been to
make the rich richer and the poor poorer
Twelve years of agitation of this subject
has greatly enlightened the public mind,
and il is now quite certain that silyerwill
soon be restored to its full measure of use
ftilness by the same free and unlimited
coinage that is accorded to gold, and that
large enough to relieve debt paying in
some degree from its unjust burden. |
Scarce money means dear money, and this |
scarcity, coupled with the peculiar advant-
age our legislation has accorded to capi-
talists, has maintained the interest rate at |
q point quite ruinous TO the plain people,
10Th. We denounce vast aggregations of |
corporate wealth. whether known us trusts
or combinations, They are all designed to |
dissolve themselves from Just and equitable |
competition in business under those laws |
Of demand which govern all other indus |
tries; and sc condemn all such national |
legislation lS invites the formation of these |
a,tocrh'lc ana oppressive concerns. 1t is |
almost forgotten that only few months |
ago senator Shermans antitrust bill be. |
came a law, notwithstanding the obiec- |
lions and difficulties interposed bv some of |
tho members whose acute legal vision can |
SEQ danger to the constitution in any at
tempt 70 secure justice to the plain people |
OF the land. The law is weak an Intellectual |
as II was doubtless intended to he; but the |
farmers have registered vow that their
WAL IN this matter shall not be thwarted. |
II 1t he true that laws cannot be framed |
W prevent the general consolidation of cor |
b0sntions, it is time To consider what mea-
siires can he employed to secure the people |
sJom the oppression that naturally results
Efom monopoly One by one in rapid sue
1ession the com binations are being formed. |
There is virtually but one control of the
manufacture of saws, hand and cross-cut
nnd prices nave been greatly advanced
though the business was previously very
profitable, There is but one axe company |
and prices have advanced. There is now
The American Harvester Company, in
which are merged the individuality and
lhe coInpetltive energy of the principal con-
Germs engaged i'll the manufacture of NOW
ers, reaPers, binders &c., and there is soon to
be similar combination of the manu-
LECTURERS OF harvesting machinery. Rail-
roads are combining in equal ratio for the
control of transportation Docs it not