Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-01-01
fHE GREAT NORTHWEST.

Governor eoies, of IOWA, Iiscussee che Rec
cent Upheaval in the Agrieult States
democracy the Party II the People.
Xhe following is Che address o. Hor.
ace Boies, Governor OF Iowa. at the Re
form Club dinner, held in che banquet
hall of the Madison Square Garden,
New York, Tuesday evening, Deem
Der %, in response to the coast, Our
New Allies in the Northwest: What
Our Farmers Have a Right 60 Demand:''
Mr. PRESIDENT: Che sentiment of the toast
20 which am invited to respond is of sur
passing interest from both economic and
political standpoint
dts Importance when considered with refer
eace to the Nation at large, is intensified when
applied to the prairie States of the Northwest
which are to a marked degree the food -produc-
ing districts OF this continent.
A brief statement OF the situation IN my own
State will as well present the condition in the
district referred to as can be done in the time
at my command
According to the most reliable statistics aS-
tainable at this time nearly fifty per cent. of
the male population over ten years of age in
Iowa are engaged in agricultural pursuits
while less than three per cent are employed in
manufacturing enterprises of all kinds, pro-
tected and unprotected.
Years ago that State had attained che first
rank in this Union q corn-producing State
and this has carried her to the head of the col
umn of States as producer of the hes. quality
OF beef pork and dairy products; in other re-
spects she Is not behind the most favored of
her sisters in nearly everything that pertains
to agricultural pursuits in that latitude.
Statistics show that the average wages Of
able-bodied men upon the farms of Iowa are
eighteen and one-han dollars per month, or
about seventy cents per day and board, the
lowest price paid any class of like laborers in
the State; and yet out OF nine hundred farmers
reporting to our Commissioner of Labor Sta
tistics during The present year more than eight
hundred claim that this help at these wages
has been employed at loss instead of profit
during each of the five years last past.
Out OF the SAME number an equal portion as
sert that the actual cost Of producing this
cereal, the most profitable of all that raised
within that State has, during the same period
exceeded the entire value Of the crop when
harvested, saying nothing whatever of income
from the capital invested in the land required
to produce it.
1t Is estimated by those making these reports
that the cost Of producing an acre Of corn ready
1or market is $500; that the average crop for
nve years has been 333S bushels, and statistics
snow that the average price of this corn in our
local markets, soon after harvest, during such
period. has been % cents per bushel making
the entire value OF the crop when marketed
$7.3S or sixty-seven cents less than the actual
cost OF production at market rates Of labor
What is true OF the production of corn in
Iowa is equally true of all the great staples
raised on her farms. When we consider the
immense capital invested in the farms OF q
single State and are told that for five whole
years it has not paid enough to compensate the