The semi-weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1890-1891, 1890-04-26
WHAT FARMBRS NEED.
Exhaustive Opinion from Secretary
Rask Regarding Causes OF Agri-
cultural Depression.
More Businesslike Methods Necessary
OH the Farm and Less Careless
Cultivation.
Protection to Farm Products and q
Different System Of Taxation
Advocated.

Vh'hiNo1oN1 1hpEA So.-beCEetdTy
Rusk, in reply to hundreds Of communi.
cations from different sections of the
country, appealing to HIM for an ex-
preston of opinion respecting the pres
ent condition Of agricultural depression,
it's causes and remedies, has issued q
long address to the farmers of the coun.
try. The present agricultural depres-
sion, universally admitted, and of which
there can be no doubt, the secretary
says, q be traced to a combination of
causes-so many that probably no one
car eliumerate them all. Those
causes which to the secretary seems more
directly responsible for this severe de.
preston may be divided into two classes:
Those inherent to farmers themselves
and for which they alone can provide a
possible remedy, and those over which
the farmer himself has no direct control
and the remedy for which must be pro.
vided by law. In the first class Of
causes indicated, hs attributes deprecia-
ton OF the productive power Of land to q
variety OF causes. to careless culture,
want of business-like methods, lack Of
cSu0J Va supply uiiA uelLlhuu duu ildE4eU
prices, and the ownership Of more land
for. After alluding briefly 70 the dis
cages, the difficulties Of the trans
p~ortation question, gambling in
farm products, controlling COM
binations, and the depressing effect of
the services of middlomen on the results
Of the farmers honest toll. Secretary
Rusk advances an argument in favor Of
higher duties on agricultural produots.
One Of the gravest eauses for the present
agricultural depression, in the opinion Of
the secretary, il lack Of protection for
the farmer. Few people, he says, rea-
lie that our imports of agricultural
products, estimated at prices paid by the
consumer, are about equal to our agri-
cultural exports, estimated at prices paid
to the farmer, yet such is the case. Our
imports Of products sold in competition
with those actually produced on our own
soil, amount to nearly $115, 900, 900 an.
nually, and as much more could be pro-
duced on u own soil under favorable
conditions. Our imports Of agricultural
products for the fiscal year ended June
30, 1889, aggregated S288, 900, 900, the far
greater part Of which. perhaps $685., O0O.-
900, could. the secretary thinks, with
proper encouragement, be produced on
our own soil.
To protection the secretary looks for q
remedy. Zone glance" he says, lat the
comparative rates of duty levied upon
agricultural IS compared with other
products, n glance at the free list, the
greater portion Of which consists of agri-
cultural products, either grown or which
could be grown upon our own soil, and
q comparison Of these figures with the
average rate of duty levied upon
manufactured articles, ought to
be sufficient to. silence forever,
any opposition to the demand
l have made on behalf of the American
farmer in my annual report, namely,
that by a wise application Of our admir-
able protective system, all Il 9 benefits of
vi home market be secured to him for
everything he may be able to produce"
Our system of taxation, the secretary
thinks, demands improvement in certain
directions. Every corporation created
by the state, and to whom special priv
ileges are granted, either by the state,
county, city or incorporated village.
should be taxed in proportion to its bust
And in all ways the principle Of
taxation should be to place the burden
Of the government, state, municipal or
national, upon the luxuries and comforts
which the wealthy enjoy, and to reduce
it to a minimum in its application to the
hardly earned property of the poor man.