The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-02
THE AWAKENING or THE FARMER

Reld, III
THE AWAKENING OF THE FARMER
Summit county, Ohio, is in the heart
Of rich, fertile and populous region,
with well diversified Industries. Its
farmers enjoy the privileges of as good
markets as the country affords. Com
peting lines of railroads pass through
the county and thus reduce the cost of
transportation to the minimum, and all
the natural conditions are as favorable
to agriculture as in any part OF the
United States. Yet tho farmers OF Sum
nit county are not prosperous They
find that with each succeeding year they
are more heavily in debt and that their
prospects of ever getting out are more
remote. What is the matter? That is
what non-partisan committee of the
Farmers Institute of the county has
been trying to find out. Their report
published in the Western Rural, is a
very full and clear statement of the sit
uation. In part this committee Of far
mers attributes the depression to the
settlement of vast tracts Of agricultural
lands in the west, but it has made
another discovery which is death blow
to the imposture of high protective
tariff. "Besides this" says the report,
"England, that has always bought our
surplus, is now building railways in
India to transport grain produced by
native laborers whose hire costs but six
cents per day, with the certainty of get
ting wheat delivered at Liverpool for
fifty cents per bushel, which, if we COM
pete with, our surplus must go at forty.
The opening up and development of
great wheat producing districts in the
Central and South American states,
with cheap native labor there and high
priced farm labor here, is menace to
our agricultural industry in the near
future. For these reasons our farms
have deprecated and will continue to
depreciate in value. A single case will
illustrate. What was known as the
Clarke farm, of 100 acres, with splendid
buildings and improvements, adjoining
the incorporation and overlooking the
beautiful village of Hudson, this county,
had an offer some years ago of $4,000
Although for sale, it was declined as not
enough. Continuing in. market and
most thoroughly advertised, it was three
times disposed Of, last, within year, at
$1,000. This was not forced, but private
sole A,,o<bor f,r,,, with mod b,,1J,r.,
fruit, water, etc., has been by assignee
twice offered, re-appraised, and at an
almost nominal price goes vainly begging
for bid"
How long do the republican leaders
think they can fool men like these, who
know they are in the sharpest sort of
competition with the worst forms of old
world pauper labor, and are taxed for
everybody's protection but their own?
But the committee has some other
points to offer that will set Mr.. McKin-
ley and other friends of the Pennsyl-
vania barons to thinking. 1t says:
Manufacturers in general have been
protected by congressional enactment
against foreign competition by tariff
laws, and against local or home compe-
tition by combinations in trusts to keep
up prices, and against sharing equally
i in taxation by state, legislative and ju-
dicial exemption Of their products, and
by local officers whose duty it was to
see that their true values were put
upon the tax list" But the farmers
have no influence on legislation. They
must bear, almost alone, the cost of gov
eminent. The report continues: "Our
taxes are constantly increasing. Just
before the war, with more productive
and valuable lands, and higher priced
products, we paid in the state total
tax of about sl0O0QOOO. Last year,
with exhausted and lower priced lands
and cheaper products, we paid s35,OOO,-
600. Then, farm labor was worth So
per month; now, it costs us s25. In
conclusion we are forced to believe, from
what we find, that farmers are paving
at least three times their share of state
and county taxes. This injustice to ag-
ricultural interests is so gross that it
should not be longer endured" The
committee carefully avoided mentioning
politics or referring to the attitude of
the respective parties on the tariff ques-
ton, but it is evident that the Summit
county farmers are going through an
educational process that will make them
very good democrats by 1892.
GO ONE BETTER.
Ara wa IN hayo vo& opo<he, D..A.: