The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1891-03-17

supposed TO be invented to lessen hui
man toll, and bring about great profit,
but with them all had come no lessen
ing of labor. and no increase of profit.
These, with the new system of trans
portation, had brought increased
poverty, scarcity of money, and the
mortgage began to grow, the house be-
come weather-beaten, and the very
roofs moss grown, and desolation,
brooded with wings of darkness over
field and forest
The first question in the train of
''why?" that I tried to answer was,
Is this due to my shiftlessness 9'' and
when the answer came that sixteen
hours a day of labor, and economy
practiced in every branch could not
be the cause, and extending the view
to my neighbor, and realizing that all
burdened with debt (and these were in
the majority were in the same plight,
[ found the cause to be outside the
province of my farm. The first truth
that dawned upon me was the fact that
the farmers were eaten up by trans
,portation and middlemen.
Production and exchange are the
natural conditions of the human race,
and anything that hampers or inter
rupts this natural law throws the bal
| ance out of pOise. One man produces
cloth and another wheat, and they
| desire to exchange and mast exchange.
&c Of 4
| you meet half way Gin theory and
| the bargain is cOnsummated. Both are
| benefited and in equal degree. Your
transportation is your own, and the
| profits are none, as equal exchange is
equal benefit, and profit in the mod
! ern sense is not known. In a natural
government, founded on principles of
| equality, this simple and primitive
method Of exchange begets healthy
| growth in the people both in q moral
and financial sense. Poverty will be
unknown and wealth in a modern
view, unheard of Our own govern
ment for years was a dim reflection of
this ideal state, but soon changed
front and methods and brought about
| by slow degrees, colossal fortune and
abject poverty.
| Go back amOment to the ideal. prim-
| ltiVe state just mentioned and see how
the change comes about. The producer
of grain and cloth, the producer of
nails and lumber, and of food, meet
and exchange their products. Money
is unknown and not needed. In time
some man too lazy to be/a legitimate
producer, and too sharp for his neigh
bOrs, conceives the idea of becoming
a medium of exchange, or middleman,
| 70 &ho fov 40%
busy to take your produce to the fac
tory, let me do it for you and bring
home the things needed. It will be
cheaper for you to keep to the fields. :"
'But, ;" replies the husbandman, ''what
security have I for the load that you
will take away s" and the trader re-
plies, ''see here are some round pieces
of gold that are of great value, and
these you can have until return. !"
And the brightness of the coin dazzles
the sight of the tiller of the soil, and
he parts with his wheat and corn. On
returning the trader says, IT found a
scarcity of the things you wanted and
now return me the gold, and I will
give you of my goods" But the
quantity was so much less than for
merly, that the farmer demonstrates
He is told in return that lack in the
market is one and the traders profits
the other cause The farmer not doing
the business himself cannot dispute
the first statement.
In time the middleman does all the
trading, gives the gold as security and
manipulates both ends, or markets as
he calls them, at his own sweet Will
You see in time that this gold or
money brought into operation as an
| 70 fbo 017SC7r7Ioq11oaa hocriDc @0
measure the value of things A certain
amount of gold affects a given quantity
of goods. If the gold is double the
number of bushels then the ratio of
money to produce will be two to one.
If the former is lessened In quantity
then the ratio will be reversed. AS
the years sweep over this primitive
land that I am picturing the methods
of trade change. Formerly the farmer
said, II will give you so many bushels
of wheat for SO many yards of cloth,
I will give you so many pounds of pork
for thousand feet of lumber, or a
hundred pound of nails, " etc., etc., but
by the introduction of money by the
middleman, the farmer began to say,
ST will gire you so many dollars for
cloth, so many dollars for lumber,
nails, coffee, tea, ETC." The former
products were his by right of labor.
They were the things he could legiti-
mately exchange, the only things he
was sure of possessing, but instead of
changing to the things real, and deal
ing in manner that could bring no
loss, but absolute plenty, he exchanged
them for the things tdeGEthe middle
man and n1O11ey-and thus reduced
himself to poverty.
The danger to the farmer in agree
ing to paw in money arises from the
fact that money and goods will not
maintain a fixed ratio. Any change
IN Tho c11rnrnIrr of either rondnrs thn