Nevada County picayune., 1890-06-11
SENATOR BERRY'S LETTER
WASHINGTON, D. C. May 1 go.

favor of House bill 1l62, for deposit
 ing agricultural products, has been received. 1 will present the resolu- ] tons to the Senate and have them re- i ferred to the proper committee. That the farming interest is fearfully de-
 pressed and that the farmers of the country are no longer able to earn a proper and adequate support by their labor is, beyond question, true. l 1 think all will agree upon this, but all do not agree as to the cause of the 1 depression. l, for one, am fully persuaded that the principal or main cause is due to our tax or tariff laws. l The enormous expenditures of the Federal government, many of which are unnecessary and without excuse, necesstates the imposition of heavy taxes, and under the protective the
 ory of the Republican party, these taxes are imposed mainly upon those in agricultural pursuits, and there being no corresponding benefits, the result has naturally been to impov erish the farmer and the agricultural States and enrich the manufacturers, and transfer the wealth of the coun- try from the South and West to the East. Another very efficient cause of the want of prosperity is the con- traction of the currency and the de- monetization of silver. The remedy, as l conceive, is the immediate re- 1 ducton of taxation to revenue 1 basis, levied upon. articles of neces- sity; greater economy in public ex- pendhturc; free coinage of silver and the unlocking of a large amount of money now uselessly held In the Treasury by the payment or purchase of intcr2et-bearing bonds. These acts. firmly believe, would restore the prosperity of the entire country, and especially relieve the farmers.
 Now in regard to the bill about which you write and to which the resolutions refer-for dcpositing farm products. think you know, and that it is hardly necessary for me to say, that my course in life has shown that all of my sympathies are with those engaged in agricultural pur- suits, and that l would be glad to support any bill that l believed would be for their benefit, and that l would regret to oppose any bill that the farmers of Arkansas believed would afford them relief Neverthe less. l would no be frank with you if l didn't say that my present opinion is that the bill is wholly impractical
 ble, and that if it was possible to pass it into a law it would prove de- lusivc and would not afford the re- lief hoped for.
 The Democratic theory of our gov ernmcnt, which l have been taught to believe is the correct theory, Is that it was not the intention of the framers of the constitution to lcgis- late for the benefit of any individual or class of citizens, but that all the government could do was to pro- tect each citizen in his life, his liberty and his property, and give each an equal chance under equal laws. As believe, the government, under the constitution, has no power to loan money to the citizens, nor do l be- heve it ever had any right to loan money to bank; and if such power existed the money to be loaned could only be obtained by additional taxa ton. which would intlict additional injury upon the classes. believe that such a scheme as is proposed by the bill would work great injustice and inequality; it would largely in- crease the number of Federal officials at large expense to the government; l the classification and valuation Of
 farm products would be very great and would entail large expense, and
 the liability of the products to delay
 or to Instructions from various causes. would be a very serious ob-
 lection to the bill. Nor can l see
 how any great benefit could come to the farmer or cotton planter by de-
 posting his farm products with the government officer, receiving only so
 per cent. of their value, upon winch
 sum he must pay interest, when he
 niohl sell it for the market price
 and pay no interest. These are
 some of the objections to the bill which occur to me now. Doubtless 1 ,L,r., twill he prpspntcu when