Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1890-04-12

." "'uVi " huu lndI the decay OF
values In farm lands ana in farm
products has been even greater and
more ruinous in the older Eastern
States than in the West.
Sir, New England is the home Of
high protection; the busy brains of
her people have been engaged from
the beginning of the Government in
devising tariff duties for other peo-
pie to pay to the manufacturing
classes, and she has placed her priv.
legged few at the head of the money
OF this country, if not of the world.
But like the boomerang as a weapon
OF war, New England's high protec-
tive tariff policy is at last
returning against her own bosom,
and carrying widespread destruction
to her farmers in their homes, in
the lands and in everything they
possess. We are informed by Brad.
streets reliable journal, in an article
on statistics, "that depopulation in
rural New England is something to
create wonder. Recent Investigations
by the State authorities of Vermont,
New Hampshire and Massachusetts,
show that an alarming number of
farms in fair condition and once own
ed by thrifty farmers are abandoned
entirely and turned over to the bram-
BILE and the thistle, untenanted and
unrented. "Ah
With the depopulation of the agri-
cultural regions of New England and
T their abandonment to the bush and
bramble; with a home market for the
farmers of the United States general
ly for nothing at active rates, except
mortgages on their lands on terms as
to interest, amount and time which
! render payment impossible, and fore.
closure, sale and dispossession swift
and inevitable, surely it is not diff
cult to discover the character of the
highway we are travelling or the end
5 we are approaching.
: This highway is not new; other
: nations have trodden it before, and
I have reached the overthrow of pop
ular government and personal liberty,
: as we will unless the people speedily
rise and rescue themselves from the
awful condition in which they are in.
volved. The improved lands of the
United States, the nome of the farm.
{ ers, are passing under mortgages fore
a closures from occupant freeholders to
e loan associations, to nonresident
I money lenders, and becoming tenant
rookeries, paying rent to the landed
aristocracy. The meaning of all this
is obvious in the light of history.
I Ill fares the land, TO Fastening ills a prey
Where wealth accumulates, and farm.
10 decay.
y In the strong language of a gifteC
l. writer on this subject
When darkness settled over Egyp
and she lost her place among tn
IS great nations of the earth, 3 per cent
# of her population owned 81 per cent
of her wealth. When Babylon wen
down, 2 per cent. of her population
owned all the wealth. When Persi
al bowed her head, | per cent of he
re population owned all the land. Whe
n the sun of Rome set in black despair
1900 men owned and controlled a
III the then known world. For the pas
80 years-more particularly since tn
t. close of the civil wharf.-the Unite
8 States mas moved rapidly along tn
path followed by these old nations
Vi In 1850 our capitalists owned 374 pc
cent. of the nations wealth. In 1871
es only 20 years later, they owned
per cent, having almost double
> their accumulations. They hav
more than kept up this ratio sine
t. 1870, and probably now hold fully
#. per cent. Of the total wealth of tn
country. What proportion of tn
population holds this large per cent
es it is not easy to determine, but
lg does not proably exceed 10 per cent
.st the $1,000, 900 who inhabit this cour
try, and this per cent, so small i
=, numbers, but so omnipOtent j
us wealth, is using it's immense powt
ne in every department of business an
,es of government in the developmel
nj and prosecution of schemes for NAL
ing the rich richer and the poo
er poorer.
'" Sir, the inquiry as to the cause,
causes, of this appalling condition
earnest and universal among the
y, boring classes, and especially amor
no the farmers, at this time. the ma
answer is easy and obvious; it is
be found on the very surface of OF
affairs. Living under a plutocrac
ri, the farmer does not own his full tin
and labor; he owns a part, but n
st, all, He needs all the six days of Il