The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1890-01-24
Raising Raw Material for England


What we have been urging on our farmers
and all others, we find in substance repre-
scented to the farmers in the faraway north.
west in one of their agricultural journals.
This writer says:
american farmers are sure in the long
run to lose money in raising wheat and cot
ton for the European market. When Eng
land demonetized silver at home she did
not do so in India. On the contrary silver
is the standard money in India, and through
all these years has been worth as much there
as gold in England. In 1873 we said to
England: You may use our paws to pull
chestnuts out of the fire hereafter. We are
going to demonetize silver, SO that hence
forth you can take the American dollar
which we pay you for your manufactured
goods, lat 81 per cent discount. ED. JOUR ]
and with it buy 25 per cent more cotton and
wheat in India than here.' A permanent
loss Of five per cent will ruin any producer
of the great staples Of life, and so long as
the rupee of India is worth from 20 to 25
per cent more THE rupee is worth 80 per
cent more. Ed. JOUR. than the silver
money of America. the American farmer
and planter who insists on selling raw
wheat and cotton to the English is simply
travelling the downward way TO ruin"
This writer advises the increase of our
manufacturing industries till the employees
in the numbers employed in the mechanical
and manufacturing industries are sufficient
to consume all of our bread stuffs in this
country. If the manufacturing establish
ments already in this country are run at
their full capacity they will produce
enough of goods in nine months 10 furnish
our consumers the whole year. How shall
we dispose of the surplus that would be on
our hands if we employ enough mouths in
manufacturing goods, TO consume all of our
agricultural products which are increasing
every year? There is but one answer TO
this question. We must increase our COM
mercial marine and find foreign market
for our manufactured goods. We cannot do
so at the prices those goods are selling for in
this country, or the manufacturers would
not have besieged the committee of Ways
and Means last week, at Washington, to
tell the members that they must haye more
tariff upon their goods or they would have
to stop manufacturing.
The first step to be taken to reach rem
edy for the evils which environ the farmers,
and will soon extend to every other class, is
to keep our silver and make use of it to en-
large the volume of our circulation, which
is steadily contracting; and the next step is
that our manufacturers must learn to CON-
pete with the manufacturers of other coun-
tries and be able to sell their goods in every
market on the globe. Our farming industry
has propped them up long enough to enable
them to stand before the world on their own
merits if they ever expect to. If our home
market is insured to them, they should not
ask for an additional bounty from all other
classes on top of that. This is extortion and
not protection in the true meaning of the
word. This is the view farmers are begin
ming to take of the question if the omiHous
muttering which are heard from the differ
eut farmers associations which are becom-
ing so numerous and strong in membership
in all parts of the country, indicate any
thing.