Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-06-13

| VI 1ts LII CllC OOdUC VI lISlult, WILLIE Uuc
first Alliance was organized in the State
nearly two years ago, it might be said that
the subject has only been prominently be-
fore the farming community generally for
the last six or seven months. 1t had been
very difficult to get the wheels in motion.
Farmers, so conservative, are always slow
to take up new idea and they were partic-
ularly slow to take hold of this one. The
day has passed to tell the farmers that they
must improve their condition by studying
the best methods of farming. In this
Shenandoah Valley, to-day, almost as much
is being produced by the farmer as it is
possible to be, by any method of farming.
There is now no new method known which
applied to this Valley can make two blades
Of grass grow, where only one grows now.
So it can't be said of the farmers either
here Oh in the South that their condition is
due to lack of intelligence in their calling,
OIL want Of industry, OF economy.
ENCUMBERED WITH DEBT.
But Notwithstanding this, the term s'the
independent farmer, has become name
of other days. 1t has been substituted by
the assertion that farming don't pay"
something you hear much oftener to-day
than the old time description of the indie
pendent farmer who raises all he wants and
owes the world nothing. The struggle now
with the farmer is not to make money but
, to keep out Of debt. Some of this may be
seen in the speech of Leslian Stanford in
the Senate recently. In his list of Western
States fighting against mortgages on their
farms, appear Illinois, Michigan, Minneso-
ia and other States, which have been and
still are the granaries of the world. In
only one State, Illinois, the mortgages on
farms aggregate $751;, 900, 900. This speech
of Stanford's was made in advocacy of a
plan for the government to loan the far
mers money at 2 per cent. to wipe out this
mountain Of mortgage-a burden which if
it continues to prevail will make the popu
lation Of this country two classes land
lords and tenants. There must be some
underlying causes for this depression of
agricultural interests, and it is to them
I will briefly call your attention.
MORE MONEY NEEDED.
| First, we have lack of circulating me-
dunn in the country-only few cents over
six dollars and a half per head. This in
creases the value of money and decreases
the value of everything else. A debt made
/ twenty years ago which could be paid then
with one bushel of wheat, now requires two
bushels to iquidate it. We want more
not inflated, but real currency. The free
coinage of silver is demanded by the Far
mers Alliance of the country.
THE GOVERNMENT WAREHOUSE sYsTEM
| WANTED.
Second, We demand that the products Of
the country shall be made the basis Of the
circulating medium. When farmer de-
posits his surplus wheat, corn, &C., with
the government and gets the government IS
certificate for it, that certificate is based
on the true basis of the products of the soil.
This is opposed by many. 1t is said if the
farmers deposit their product with. the
government and get a money advance on it.,
the iron men can come up and make the
|
the same thing. We claim that the far
mer has peculiar claim for protection
from the governments protection that
will give him an equal chance. For on
him depends all the prosperity of the coun-
try. Go to city and find trade dull and
what reason does the merchant give you
for the dullness ? He tells you there is
little doing because there are poor crops
this season and the farmers have nOmOney
Go to Baltimore and ask why this or that
line of business is unusually dull at Ger.
tain season, and you will be told that the
farmers of the great Shenandoah Valley
made little wheat this year and have little
money and that makes trade dull. The far
mer with empty pockets is staying at home
while the merchant is in the city with full
counters but empty pockets. Go from
there to the manufacturer who makes tn,
goods the merchants sell. He is dull to-
: and tells you that the merchants have lit
tie money this season, are selling little tt
the country trade, and that is the reason
that he, the manufacturer, is dull. Go tt
the workman that works for the manufac
turer and he will tell you that he is on hal
time OIL has no work at all, because th
e manufacturer can't sell his goods and il
:. overstocked. The same state Of things pre-
walls when produce is so low that the far
: mers cannot sell it without ruin to himself
: The government warehouse plan would re
move this trouble A farmer could TAX
81 900 worth of grain to the warehouse an
get certificate for so per cent of it's valu
:, $500. 1t keeps the money in circulation
: It enables the farmer to hold off and SCI
only when there is demand for his grail
e and the demand always insures fair price