The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1891-06-18
HOW THE FAR3IER JARED IN TIL
"GOOD OLD lTIME."


GOOD OLD TIME"
From the Jackson Republic.
S. NJ. Owen spoke in Jackson May
9th, to quite an audience, and to sew
enty-fve per cent of them he told a
very nice story, for the reason that
those seventy-five per cent reached the
United States since 1860, tho other
twenty-five per cent lived i'll this coUn-
try during the glorious Democratic
days between the years 1910 and 1850,
when, Mr.. Owen claimed, the farmers
were enjoying such prosperity and
loan;ng money. We should be sorry
to think Mr.. Owen was talking Of what
he did not himself believe, but We have
a distinct recollection of those good
old days, when we wore tow shirts, be-
cause we sent our cotton to England,
paid the cost of transportation both
ways, and then gave bushel of wheat
for yard of that cloth. And we dis
tinctly recollect in the years between
1850 and 1860 following a threshing
machine for busheI of wheat day,
and selling the wheat for thirty cents,
store pay. Oh, but those were glori-
Gus days for the American farmers
We also remember our mother saving
all the pennies SO that we could have
twenty five cents for the Fourth of Ju-
ly. We tell you that money was plen-
ty. A man went to market with load
of wheat, camped under the wagon, eat
himself, and sold the load for pair of
boots. You gray heads all remember
this. The now Corners to this country
are the only ones that swallowed Mr.
Owens bosh. He also said that in
those days the farmers owned half the
wealth Of the nation. Right, Mr.. Ow-
en-, and they would to-day if the Dem
ocrats could have their way. But I'M
der Republican rule factories sprung
up, mills were built, mines were opened
and we became nation of manufact-
urers, and wheat went up, for we did
not have to pay the transportation
charges both ways, and we feed mil
lions of people here at home. We be-
gan to get rid of our tow shirts and
wore cotton, and instead of homespun
we wore store clothes; and on a Fourth
of July, instead of hickory shirt and
blue denim overalls, and twenty fye
cents in our pocket, we wore the best
the land afforded, took our best girl in
a top buggy and had ten or fifteen
dollars in our pocket, more money
than an average farmer would see in a
year in those Democratic days. How
many of you old gray heads ever saw
a suit of underwear Or an overcoat in
those days? Let's hear from you.
What hustling, saving and scrimping
there was done to save the two or three
dollars to pay the taxes Or the interest
money. But times are changed, thank
the Good Lord, Mr.. Owen. Enlight-
ened and enterprising men took hold
of this government and from 1860 to
the present day has been period of
progress, with to-day, the cheapest
goods in the world are found in Amer
lea, thanks to the tariff. Look at this
one thing Nails. In those good cd
days it took two dozen eggs to buy one
pound of nails. Do you remember
the time, you old men, when you used
pegs to pin on your boards, because
the eggs had to go to buy tea. Now a
dozen eggs will buy three pounds of
nails. No, Mr.. Owen, the wrongs and
sufferings of farmers is mighty good
subject when you are talking to men
who have not been in this country
long, but don't go among Americans
that were born here in those good old
days, and besides, what's the matter
with the times now? A farmer loads
up fifty bushels of wheat on wagon
and starts to Jackson, his son follows
with load of hay. He gets from nine
ty cents to a dollar for his wheat, sixty
cents for his corn and five dollars for
his hay. He takes the checks he get;
for his grain and hay to the bank and
asks for and gets gold coin. He sings
i down his jeans, goes down to Cow
ing's and buys twenty pounds of gran
ulated sugar for a dollar. He buys
muslin for five cents a yard, calico for
four. He goes to Fiddes' or Ander-
sons hardware store and buys barbed
wire for three and three and a half
cents per pound, and other things in
proportion, including tin cups. He
goes to the Boston and buys a sit of
clothes, all wool, for seven dollars, good
enough for a president of township
alliance to wear. There has never been
! time from the foundation of the gov
eminent to the present, when bushel
of wheat or corn would buy as much
as it will to-day, and yet some people
-:5ill get up at night and burn their
shirt to make light to see to curse
the Republican party. But keep cool,
frieuds, they are coming out all right,
and you will find that men who are
telling you all this stuff, are telling
you what they themselves, do not be-