Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1890-08-30
oAPITALlsTlc LEGISLATION.
This, Says Norman j. Coleman, Has Been

Pike county, Mo-, in the town OF Loulsi-
ana recently. Tho following is taken
from !. report of the speech, which ap-
peared i'll II St. Louis paper:
HI asked the cause of the rapid in
crease of farm mortgages in most states,
doubling in many of them in the last
ten years. He pointed to the fact that
no rev farm buildings were going up.
as in days when farmers were prosper
Gus, 9nd stated that while il 1850 81 per
cent. of the wealth of the nation was IN
the Eands OF the agricultural classes, In
1880 but 40 per cent. remained in their
hands. and III 1880 but 35 per cent.
AS .he wealth of the agricultural
classes had declined the wealth of Che
no.Iey changers of ths east had incrct.s-
81. AS the farmers had gone down the
manufacturers ;,,Nl capitalists OF the east
had gone up. ,Iilliorsires i'll that Sec
zion of the country could now be count
cd not only by the thousand but by tens
of thousands 4As the farmer became
poorer the rich became richer.
There must be some cause for this
strange condition of affairs. The farm
ers see and feel that something is wrong,
that the iron hand OF tie opprcssor aud
the task master is uponthen. Like men
cropping in tho dark they arc trying TO
find out who are their oppressors. One
hundred and sixty thousand of them hi
this state have banded together t..:;;it t-acy
may more intelligently, more certainly
find ont who are the factors in bringing
them TO poverty, 70 Bankruptcy, and
wien they Go find out woe unto them.
The speaker said no one would deny
that he had had unusual opportunities
in investigating the causes that had pro
duced this wonderful decline in tho
value of farm properties. During the
four wears he had the honor OF being st
the head of the United States depart
ment Of agriculture he Lad investigated.
with the best lights before him (reeing
his mind as far rs possible from bins end
preluNce,. the cause OF the farmers
downward career. With good crops.
with bursting grauasies. with large
focks and herds feeding upon the thou
sand hills ard valleys and plains. his prof
its diNlinish. his mortgages increase,
Notwithstanding lie gives the best efforts
of mind and body to keep even with the
world liz is Struggling against cur
rent that bears him downward toward
the gulf of despair-and is unable to ex-
tlicate himself.
No such results rs these can come to
the farmer without Il cause, and when
this cause is seen and understood it viii
be removed, unless the farmers power
in controlling legislation is forever de
parted.
There is no time fo,Smincing matters.
The truth must be told il language so
plain that the most unle5te-ed can I'M
tlerstand it. The speaker said he was
speaking from Il farmers standpoint,
and not as i partisan. No one could
deny lis right to speak from farmers
standpoint. for he had been born and
reared upon farm and had been en-
gagged in actual farming all his life.
The real truth in q nutshell is the
dominant power in federal Legislation is
no longer in the interest OF agriculture,
but in the interest of the manufacturer
ana capitalist. Here is the cause Of all
our woe. Since our unfortunate civil
war began the capitalists and manu-
facturcrs of the east have had complete
sway in shaping legislation to their
great interest, profit and advantage, and
at the expense of the far1ners-the
wealth producers of the country. No
intelligens investigator can deny this.
The laws thGt have been passed prove
it. The results OF tho application of
those laws testify to it. While the
manufacturing interests, by the arti-
fetal aids they have received by legisla-
ton. have grown and increased TO %
magnitude to startle people; while their
investments havo proved highly profit
able, and large dividends have been de-
rived therefroln, the farmers invest
lnents and profits therefron lave gone
down as steadily as the others have gone
up, because it was from the farmers,
the real wealth. producers and the con-
Suluels VI ciiS'i k,OO>io' tA1s'e c7rS|S AeA 30
profits have been derived. Thsscountry
cannot long stand this unjust-this IN
natural drain.
The farmer is the sub-stratun of all
business prosperity. When he fails all
other business fails with him. When he
rrospers the sunshine Of prosperity falls
upon all other business enterprises. Bat
he cannot prosper until all class legisla-
ton is banished from our statutes. The
constitution nowhere gives the right to
one class to fatten off the other classes,
and the farmers are compelled to make
u square fight upon this issue, CT this
process of depletion will so on until they
become as poor and umin1uential as the
tenantry of the nations Of the old world.
Perhaps it is now too late to avert the
fate that awaits them. The power that
wealth gives in securing legislators and
legislation is lost to them. While the
farmers had the majority of the wealth
on their side they were invincible. Prior
to 1860 they had that, while now they
have but 80 per cent. left.
Until agriculture again becomes Inc
dominant power in legislation no real
prosperity need be looked for. The mon
ey changers of the east will not release
their grip upon the pockets of the farm
ers. They will pour out their money
like water to keep UP all the class legis-
lation that exists on our statute books,
because they know by so doing it will
come back to them with heavy interest.
They will freely contribute their i'll got
ten gains to all congressional districts
where they have any hope of finding
men who, as representatives in congress,
will keep up the legislation by which
the farmer has been taxed and impover-
ished, during the last thirty years and
the capitalist enriched.
GARNER iloyd's Views.