Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-29

| buy land and make 1t pay for itself, they
! cannot do so now ''"worst condition they
have been in for fifty years, "not one
in fifty is as prosperous as formerly,
"majority complaining, - 'more dis
couragemeut than for thirty years, -
"not prosperous OF happy, "not
/ nearly so prosperous as during the later
| sixties and early seventies, (this from
I believer in protection) Hfarms and
crops are mortgaged, they are deeply in
/ debt, and many of them have given up
( the struggle, " "cen scarcely make
enough to carry him from crop to crop, "
"not so many land owners as ten years
ago, "barely making a living, "not
by a devil OF a sight 4" "not by about Al
per cent. - Gin debt and no show to
get out,' "twelVe months behind in
store and blacksmith bills Such is
the tone of the answers received.
Those who say that the farmer Is as
prosperous as he has ever been consti-
tute a very small minority of the whole
number, US some do not answer the
question at all, others answer it with
many reservations, and in some cases
the answers are SO doubtful that they
could be counted as fairly on one side as
the other. 1t is significant that some
thirty of those who are ranged on the
side of prosperity believe that the tariff
has had bad effect.
This widespread dissatisfaction has, as
might have been expected, aroused q
lively interest in economic discussion.
There is substantial agreement among
farmers generally that there Is some
thing wrong. They want to know what it
is. The natural conditions are all favora-
BILE so the trouble must be an artifcial--s
mau-made one. In the discussion many
reasons for the great depression of the
agricultural class appear. Probably the
most popular one is that the farmer is
compelled to sell at low price and buy
at q high one. OF course that means ruin.
There is much complaint about our finau-
cial system which Is HRll IN the interest
of the capitalists. Upon the trusts is
thrown large measure Of the blame. 1t
is said that all classes are organized for
the oppression of the farmer, who al
lows other people to make both his buy
ing and selling price. Some attribute the
trouble to the rapid depreciation of the
land, much of which was bought Ut very
high prices. Nor is the tariff forgotten.
There are but twenty-five out of
the whole number who state positively
that the tariff has had beneficial ef-
feet upon the farmer. With these the
'home market argument is the favor
tie one. The great majority think that
the effect Of the tariff has boon ruinous.
1t Is, they say, the cause of the high
price paid for commodities and the low
price paid for produce; 1t restricts the
farmers market; it compels him to buy
in protected market and to sell in q
free trade market; it provokes retalis-
ton on the part Of other nations; 1t
builds up trusts and uonopolies; it makes
the farmer protect other folks and
leaves him unprotected; its effect is
'bad =" ''ruinous, "fatal, - "de-
moralizing,'' "paralyzingi" it is a
course, E" a'burden, "deadener, "
a "robbery;" it ''raises hell, !" and it
"impoverishss the farmer
Between this very small and this very
s54ne GLASS, there is a class of doubtful
men, most of whom evidently lean to
whom are at least indifferent to proteo-
ton, Some of them "don't know"
others say ''little effect, '''no effect"
"question unimportsnt; still others
balance things, and give a third judg-
ment, now on one side, now on the
other.
The prepcuderant opinion is that
bushel of wheat or barrel of corn will
not buy as many necessaries of life as
thirty years ago. There is grert posi-
tiveneSs on both sides of this question.
It is certnin that wheat and corn have
recently been very low. Many OF the
neoessaries of life which the far
mer buys have fallen in price very
materially in thirty years-that is GER
tain, too. But the farmer has to have
more. Things which were once Injuries
are neoessaries now. Again, il is claimed
that so large proportion of the proceeds
of trade go to commission men and
middlemen and railroads, that there lie
little left for the farmer. The quality OF
the articles purchased Is very inferior,
and so, quality for quality, they are
really dearer than thirty years sgo, Two
suits OF shoddy clothes year at So to $40
a suit are not as cheap as good wooden
suit costing S25 to $50. There Is great
complaint about the high price of sugar.
What specially pinches is, that bushel
OF wheat will not i'pay as much debt
aud taxes" as it would thirty years ago.
From some cause the farmer is running
behind, and so, as 800 Of them vote, he
has "lost social dignity as COM
pared with merchants and mechan-
les. And he has lost dignity because
he Is running behind-suoh is the YER
dict. Knowing oil these thlngs-that
the farmer is barely making living,
that he is being taxed 70 support other
that he always gets the bad
end of a trade, and that he il losing
"sooIaI dignity" rs compared with the
other CLASSES OF his fellow citizens-it is
not surprising that Farmers sons show
=
farmers. What right have people to
expect eaything else? lizard work,
poor pay-or no pay all-and little pros
psct of improvement, such, in brief
are the reasons given for the ''less will
ingness'' that the boys show 10 become
farmers.
On the evidence of these letters, the
outlook for agriculture In the United
which should be ont
most prosperous industry-is not rosy.