The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-04-21

and yet with each recurring year he
continues to SOW in faith, toll IN nope,
reap in despair. Surrounded by the
most wonderful progress and develop
ment the world has ever witnessed, he
stands appalled, with impending bank
ruptcy and ruin. Is it any wonder
that these suffering and oppressed mil
lions are organizing for protection?
But we are told that all these condl-
tions have the sanction of law. But
we know that there is no tyranny so
degrading as legalized tyranny, and
no injustice is so oppressive as that
which stands entrenched behind the
forms of law.
But the political doctors tell us we
should be less INDECENT, less eXtrava-
CANT and less improvident, and all will
be well. | hurl the insult back with
the assertion that no class Of men
work so hard, or so many hours per
dav, or live so hard and receive such
little reward for their labor, as the
average American farmer. A prOmi-
nent government official says that "dl-
versifcation is essential to agricul-
tural salvation" I point him TO the
1,451 abandoned farms in Massachu-
setts, to the 1,632 abandoned farms in
New Hampshire, to the once beautiful
hills and valleys of New England
blooming in all the glory Of profitable
| Jirorci6od oorTio11l+1ro b11t nOW OivoD
over to the briar and bramble, for an
answer to this assertion. Ipoint him
to that beautiful garden spot in Ameri-
can agriculture, New Jersey, and to
the rich and fertile lands in Michigan,
and other States where the farms have
deprecated in, value from 80 to so per
cent, for a crushing refutation of the
fallacious assumption. Others high in
authority tell us that the meagre re-
turn for the products Of Jul labor is
due to "Overproduction, and we are
pointed to our exports of bread stutfs
for proof of the assertion, when in fact,
if we had used d ounces per diem per
capita more than was consumed in the
year 1889, not one pound would have
remained for export. He fOrgets that
there are 5000, 600 tramps in this coun-
try and 1000, 900 human beings living
in a state of semi-starvatiOn. There
can be no overproduction SO long as
the cry for bread from a single child in
the land is heard. 1t is not Overpro-
duction, but it is underconsumption-
a want of a just and equitable distri-
button of the products of labor. 7
I solemnly protest, and with all rev
erence, that God is not to blame for
our deplorable condition. I protest
that it is not the fault of the farmer.
But I assert and charge deliberately
that the fault is to be found in the I'M
just, partial, discriminating and
wicked financial system of our govern
ment; a system that has imposed upon
agriculture an unjust and intolerable
proportion of the burdens of taxation,
and has made it the helpless victim of
the %rapaciOus greed and tyrannical
power of gold; a system under which,
despite the abmonitions of history and
all the teachings of the past, despite
the warnings of the ablest political
economists Of this and of all countries,
of this and all the ages past, our cur
rency has been contracted to a volume
totally inadequate to the demands of
the legitimate business Of the country
with the natural and inevitable result
-high-priced moneys and lOw-priced
products.
But again we are told that we should
not complain, for "a dollar will buy
more to-day than ever before" But
where is the dollar2 Should we not
buy more with it than ever before?
Does not the dollar cost us from two to
four times as much as ever before ?
But buy mOr of what? Luxuries? In
his terribly depressed condition the
farmer aspires not to the indulgence of
luxuries, but is happy if by any means
he may secure to himself and family
the enjoyment of the absolute neces-
saries of life.
Let us look into this boosted purchas-
ingpower of the dollar from the farmers
standpoint. He buys a dress fabric for
his wife at 20 cents per yard, which
twenty years ago would have cost 40
cents. The broker to whom he sells
his cotton makes his usual profit, the
road which transports it to New York
makes it's usual profit, the New York
broker sells it to a New Hampshire
manufacturer and makes his usual
profit, the road transporting it to the