The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1890-12-05


a half century later the rcd man will he a
curiosity and relic.
Senator Daniel to the Farmers.
Senator Daniel made speech recently
to an assemblagc Of farmers at Richmond,
Va, and the following extract is taken
from a report of it:
lie paid = high tribute to the agricu,uralis;s uf
th, country for their intelligence. Why should they
b. poor. The farmer had share IL what j. called
protection. He got protection on his wheH. cori'
&c More farm products are raised In the United
States than we can consume. Sone take1! Of build
ing up = home market. hut home market Cor
surplus agriculture, he declared With emphasis. is an
sb,urdi,y.
1t is hard 10 believe that Senator Daniel
made the statements contained in the
paragraph. as he is at once we'll in
formed student OF politics and incapable
Of making intentional misrepresentation
Of facts. So far from the farmer getting
mo protection on his wheat. corn, &c.
everything he raises. from the apples on
his trees to the patatoes in his ground is
protected. But FOR the duty on his pota-
toes every market in the country would be
filed with the potatoes of Canada. Nova
Scotia and Germany; and but for the duty
on wheat the great wheat producing dis
tricts of Southern Russia and India,
which are now being penetrated by rail-
roads. would soon be able to ship wheat
to New York. sell it al sixty cents per
bushe ami make u profit on it. The con-
sumption Of Europe will soon be amply
supplied from these districts where all
able-bodied farm hand can be secured for
forty cents per week, and We shall have
10 rcly exclusively on our home markets
which have fortunately been built up By
the development Of our manufactures.
Before these home markets. which Scna-
tor Daniel seems 10 consider OF no value
to the farmer, existed, the American
farmer got little or nothing for his pro-
ducts. In 1929 wheat was selling i'll Ohio
at 81 cents per bushcl, corn and rye At ID
and NJ cents. potatoes and oats. 10 cents;
butter cents per pound, and eggs 3 cents
per dozen. In 1882 Hon. Thos. Ewing, Of
Ohio, made speech in the United States
Senate in which he said:
In short, every portion Of the world vas searched
by our intelligent merchants. aud all combined did
no: furnish a market adequate to our surplus pro-
ductiors Ever farmer ia Ohio long knew and f-l'
the pressure consequent upon this state OF thing
Year after year their stacks o: wheat stood nt-
,hrashe! scarcely worth the iuarua labor Of sepa-
rating the grain from the straw: low wES it r.
iuc.d, in comparison with manufactured articles,
that have known forty bushels oi "leat given oT
pair o. boots such was ,l,e Of ding, in he
Western country prior To am. Il, the time OF the -
vision OF the tariff in 1924 $500. oar manufactures
were annilila-d our home market thus cui oil.
The Posr might he filled with similar
extract. down to much later period.
The Mckinley bill increased the pre-
vicuslv existing duties on the farmers
products and Senator Daniel must have
been familiar with It's provisions. We
take it, therefore, that he made no such
statement as that attributed To hiln hy
the reporter; but he must have said much
20 show that he does not appreciate the
value Of our home markets. He has only
TO read Humholdts very philosophic ac-
count of tho Improvement OF the farming
interests in the Spanish American rcpuh-
lies by the building up of mining towns
rs well a. examine into the history or oar
own farm products to remove his present
misapprchcnsi0nS and 10 increase his
estimate of the value OF home markets.
The Senator's standingas student and
statesman. and his high character as Il
man who would scorn to mislcad the unit
formed by any pcrvcrsion Of the facts Of
history demand that he should not allow
such expressions to be attributed to him
without correction.