The morning call., 1890-04-01
FARMERs. PROJECTS.

As might have been expected. the long
prevailing depression in agricultural prod
ucts is rousing the farmers to consider
whether the evils from which they suffer
can be traced to the laws under which they
i've. Farmers leagues, State oranges and
farmers alliances all over the country are
studying the question of prices and search
ing Tor plans to raise them.o Upon their
success IN the search the profit of agrieul-
ture may somewhat depend.
Q Farmers in Marshall County Minnesota,
having given exhaustive consideration to
the subject, agree that the price of wheat
would be raised if the Government bought
or built railroad for the conveyance of
farm produce from Minnesota to the sea-
board, and if, in addition, any surplus
moneys in the Treasury were i aned TO the
farmers on tie security of their land and
their crops, instead of being lodged in
banks TO the credit of the Treasury. Other
farmers IN Iowa. noting that corn in that
State Is selling at 10 cents a bushel less
tBan last year, while the Liverpool price is
only cents less, and the charee5for trans
portatlon from Iowa to the seaboard is the
same, call upon Congress to subsidize lines
OF steamers on the Atlantic in order tosen-
able them 10 carry freight at rates below
those which now rule. Other farmers
III Kansas propose to organize a receiving
depot in Kansas City, to which al grain
grown in the State shall be consigned. the
depot to hold the wheat until "a favorable
moment arrives to market it. These and
other schemes of the like nature are being
recommended III conventions and discus sed
in the newspapers. They rather tend to
create an impression that knowledge of
agriculture is not invariably accompanied
by an acquaintance with political economy.
1t very rarely occurs that it is in the
power OF governments to sustain n falling
or to check n rising market, Prices rise
and fall in obedience to the law of supply
and demand : and that is n law which no
Congressional statute can override. If the
price OF wheat and corn is unTemuneI alive
1t is because there is more of both than the
world is prepared to consume, al current
prices, and neither the embarKati0n.of the
Government in the railroad business nor its
assumption of the functions of a-banker
nor its interference in the ocean-steamship
business would mend the matter, Whensin
the past crops have failed and famines have
resulted governments have often attempted
. to keep bread cheap by enaeting maximum
laws, and furnishing foresta1lers and re-
graters, but the device always failed and
made matters worse. There is nothing TO
be done but TO wait patiently until the turn
comes and equilibrium is restored. IS e.
The trouble with agriculture in such
States as Iowa and Kansas and Minnesota
is that their chief products do not command
on the averaged price which enables them
to stand much transportation at.the ordi-
nary market rates. Thew are too far from
their market. The late Commodore Van
derbilt used to say that farming at such a
distance from the great eenters of distribu-
ton would never pay because. the carrier
would charge all the farm produce was
worth for hauling it to theoconsumer Rail-
way competition has to some extent falsilied
the. prediction. The Dakota farmer; does,
once in a way, make money. by growing
wheat for sale at Liverpool But he; is
handicapped all the time by: his freight
bills. And this would continue to be the
case If the frelghting business were taken
out OF the hands of companies and trans
ferred to the people at large, as represented
by the Government. There is no reason to
believe that the Government, which is in
stltuted for totally different purpose,
would be able to carry wheat or corn more
cheaply than the railroad companies or the
steamship companies. On the contrary, as
their agents wSsld lie unskiHed in the bust
ness there is every reason to believe that in
their hands the farmer would fare worse
than he does now.