The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1891-07-16

body Of the people and persists in
its demands is sign Of the times
and the Farmers movement is
certainly a phenomenon Of this
kind. 1t indicates that the polit-
zeal conditions Of the country are
unsatisfactory and that the vast
body of the people engaged in
tilling the soil for a living are dis
contented. The country, as a
whole, is prosperous. Iu the last
decade the population has in
creased 12,5O0,OO0, and six new
States have been added to the
Union. One bountiful crop after
another has added its incre-.
ment to the general wealth. The
railroad mileage has increased
from 5000 to 10000, and the in
ternal traffic of the country is es-
timated at $25, 700. OOO, 900 fig
ures SO vast that they can only be
stated, not comprehended. We
produce more gold and silyer,than.
=anythree othepeuntrie silthe
world: we make more iron than
Great Britain, or any, other coun-
try; and Hon. VIM. Mckinley, Of
Ohio, told nothing but the truth
when he said: 1--WE lead all ma
tions in agriculture !; we lead all
nations in mining, and we lead all
nations in manufacturing"
But Why are the farmers dis
contented in the midst of this
penomenal prosperity? Why is
it that the largest class of work.
ers in the land, and the class
which contributes more than any
other to the general wealth, finds
it necessary to organize in ALI
ances, hold conventions and
thrust its grievances before the
publics Never before in the his
tory of the country did the farmers
as body talk SO much about
mortgages, low prices of crops.
scarcity of money, the pressure of
debts, the difficulty of finding a
crop that will pay for raising it,
the impossibility Of selling their
farms at any reasonable price,
and the general hardships Of their
condition. Why is it they do so
nowg What ia the matter with
the farmersa
1t is not that the railroads are
owned by corporations instead
Eof by the Government; it is not
that railroad property is assessed
at too low a valuation; nor that
there are too few Union veterans
receiving pensions; nor that the
President and Vice President are
chosen by electors instead of by
the direct vote of the people-nor
all of these together, as some of
their conventions appear to i'm
agine; and when the Farmers
conventions humble about these
things they give painful evidence
that they do not grasp the situa-
ton.
The real cause of farmers hard
ships is to be found almost in one
single word-protection. Other
agencies have something to do
with the trouble, such as extrava-
gance at Washington, excessive
land grants to Eastern corpora
tions owning railroads in the
West, and manipulation of the
national debt and finances during
the last twenty-seven years in the
interest of the moneyed section
and the creditor classes. But the
pre-eminent and overshadowine
cause is that the Government has
exalted manufacturing over all
other interests and fostered it at
the expense of other producing
interests, particularly that of agri.
culture; that certain kinds Of
manufacturing, found chiefly il
the Northeastern States, have
been favored and protected by
the Government by a system Of
tolls and exactions that fall mosl
heavily upon that class which, be-
ing the ground-sill of the social
structure, is incapable of charging
them against class next below
1.-THE tillers of the soil.
! Somebody must pay for the pro
tectiye favors which. have mad,
the manufacturing interest ani
the manufacturing section s,
enormously rich, for it is impossi
BILE to protect one class except .
the cost Of others. 1t has beef