Nevada County picayune., 1890-03-19
WOFUL DEPRESSION.
Cause and Remedy---Cleveland or Whitney for President in 1892.
HE REPUBLIC BrREAr., ! w ,SJI\tTp< March q 1900 {


 WAsHINGToN, March 9, 1890. /,
 The Washington Post of this morn ing publishes the following special dispatch from New York:
 Col. Joseph R. Hickey. of Mis- souri, while surrounded by friends in the St. James Hotel last evening, was prajsing Grover Cleveland and discussing the cause of the woful de- pression in the great agricultural States of the Union. He takes a view of the situation which will prob ably appear startling to Eastern peo- pie. Col. Hickey is not a politician in the sense of seeking office He has not held public position, nor does he desire to. He is, however, a very thoughtful student of political affairs, and not being speaker on the stump, he has rugged, forcible, wellknown way of backing up his opinion with his pocket-book.
 The Press correspondent asked hlm what made him such a strong Cleveland man. He answered: "Be- cause tariff reform is the rapidly growing sentiment of the country, and Cleveland is it's chief exponent, People East, and especially the poli- ticians of that section of the country, have but faint conception of the al- most rabid sentiment of the West, our greatest agricultural region, upon this public question. We have had large crops in the West, and our people are not prosperous.
 "Only last week a depostor came into our bank in Galloway county :; hls name is Jamison; he is what we call grass farmer, man who raises beeves-and wished to borrow money. Our cashier expressed sur prise that he was in need of financial assistance. He had accumulated land gradually until 1000 acres were his own. He had built fine house and was looked upon as one of the most prosperous men i'll our country. He was economical, prudent, indus trious and intelligent. He said: I have owned my farm, or at least a portion of it, for p years, and I ac- cumulated money each year, except the last four, l cant produce a steer to-day and make money on him. The Armour-Swift combine have something to do with this condition of affairs. but much less than is pop ularly supposed. Our great trouble is that we pay more than we should for what we consume
 "'What remedy do you propose" l asked him. His reply was senten- tious; Free trade. That is radi- cal. to he sure. but it simply shows to what extremes our Western agri- cuturalists have been driven by the infamous policy of the Republican party which is intended only to fatten the iron barons and cotton kings of the East.
 "In my State of Missouri we have influential bodies called Farmers Al dances. There are at least 100 of them within our borders. To-day they dominate the politics of Mis- souri. It is a secret organization, The president of the chief council lives in my county and was a Judge on bench. l was conversing with him few days ago and asked him what results he and his brethren hoped to achieve. He told me that they were banded together not to ut ter sentimental theories, but for political relief from the ills which Western farmers are suffering, he said to me: We demand absolute free trade, free coinage, and that our State representatives shall fix arbl- trary prices for carrying freight and passengers on the railroads.
 Are you strong enough to take such a stand:' l asked him.
 He told me that in the next Mis- souri Legislature the Farmers Ali ance would have 100 representatives, which is a majority over all. l looked at him in amazement when he further said: If free trade and free coinage do not give the relief we ex- pect we believe in repudiation, both national and state. We cant pay. The national debt IS mortgage on our property, and we of the West are paying taxes to pay the tariff oi the East and support its manufac- turers, who are robbing us.
 II said in surprise: Are you