The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-11-12

We. 4lllS - ouI CcuuIIy, We ulst'te ~
and we will manage it. We will not
trust to the piecrust promises of this
or that clique of spoilsmen to do us
justice, to remove the burdens that are
pressing US to the earth; we will at
tend TO that little formality ourselves.
But, say the sophists, your theory
| of economy is all wrong. No country
can flourish under such industrial reg
| ulations as you propose. Some of your
propositions are clearly unconstitu-
| tlonal.
Hold! For many years the economic
dlalectlcian has been on deck. The
press has been filled with his subtle
ties; convention halls have resounded
| with his thcorems and theories, yet
labor has in no wise received its due
rewari-tha burdens of the farmer
| have grown ever heavier and heavier
We may make some blundcrs, but it
were impossible to make matters much
worse than they are. We may not
| know much about the Malthusian
theory of population. of the tleorems
/ of pro luction and distribution, law Of
rent. law of wages, and what not: We
may not know what the Manchester
/ school thinks of this or the French
| physiocrats thought of that; but We
do know that logic chopping does not
| lift Mort cages, that scientific demon
STATIONS of what would happen under
certain imaginable conditions that 10
not, never dill, perhaps never will
exist. puts no pie in the dinner pail of
| the mechanic. Constitutional" be
| hanged! If what we propose loes not
tit the Constitution, we will make the
/ Constitution fit it. 1t were a queer
/ idea if after SO many amendments
| tackled on to that time-lonorel. instru-
ment for purely political purposes we
could not add one or two in the inter
| est of industry. Do not worry about
the blessed Constitution. Besides, if
our economic theories should run the
Ship of State into the shoals, whose
business is it? Is it not our ship, and
cannot we spread all sail, set helm
hard up and send it to the devil if we
like? Better blundering honesty than
deliberate rascality; better an ignorant
pilot, who, with the favor of the gods
may miss the reef, than skillful one
whose object is to drive upon the rocks
that he may get at the treasure chest.
Tie perturbation of our hired men
lest we wreck a property which we
have built up with so much onerous
toll, defended at the cost of so much
blood, is truly touching. But the dear
souls can trust us. Have we not been
watching them all these years; how
they stcered and tackled, now this way,
now that? Have We not served as able
seamen long years before the mast.
under their skillful captainship? Have
we not learned the ropes? Don't We
know all the reefs and shoals on the
political map? where the freetrale
rock is, ard the protection sandbar?
Have We not had the danger of free
silver and monometalism, subsidies and
the neglect of our merchant marine
and various other impediments to
political navigation, pointed out to us
time and again? Have not our instruc-
tors told us a thousand times how in
telligent. patriotic and conservative We
are? and how well we understood the
true science of government and our
own interests?
I have no desire to incite class ami
mositics. The interests of the entire
people should be Identical. Under
present arrangements they are not so.
The manufacturer interests lies one
way, that of the farmer another. Glass
legislation has split the American peo-
pie up into tribes, each proving upon
the other, all preying upon the farmer.
The American agriculturist should he
. the most prosperous people on earth.
This is essentially q farming country.
To agriculture it owes it's true great
ness. Land is cheap, abundant and
fertile. American farming machinery
is the best in the world. The country
is threaded with railways, canals and
nayigable streams, affording an easy
outlet to all the markets of earth. In
no country is the intelligence of the
farming class SO high, its energy sc
great. The national wealth is increas-
ing with giant strides, yet the condition
of the American farmer is going stead
lily from bad to worse. Toll rs he may,
save as he can, he cannot hold his
own, is getting ever deeper and deeper
into the mire. He is eaten up by
taxes, by transportation charges, by
high prices for all he has to buy, while
what he has to sell will oftimes mol
return to him the cost of production.
The farming class is by far the most
important in this country. Why
should it not quietly brush aside the
parasites that have been SO long sap
ping its life-blood, and become the po
litical as well as the productive head
of tue national household and estab
lish new order of things, with justice
for all?
To DO this the farmer must shak.
himself clear of all patriots for plum
n der, all place-hunting politicians. H
!. !. must take whatever is good and true il
present parties, respecting all spcci
osities. He must study condition:
q rather than theories. We have ha(
K too much thcorizing already, consti
> tutional wire-drawing and economi
n philosophism that bakes no bread
n Away with it! Let us get down t.
{ facts! Let US learn what will lif
u mortgages. Let us find out how bes
; to head off the landgrabber and tn
{ gambler in life's necessities, to shak
the life ont of monopolies, to stop th
manufacture of multi-millionaires OF
}, ! one hand and paupers on the other
Let US call to our aid all men who hon
+ estly earn the bread they eat, and con
suit with them how to best resume on
q birthright, leaving the professions
politician and monopolistic blood
J. sucker to stand down in the hall.
,. We are the people. Selah !-Icont
" clist.
N Prices and Currency.
,r "If the whole volume of money
Is circulation were doubled, prices woul
e double."-John Stuart Mill.
B ",rhat commodities rise in price
IS proportion to the increase or dimin,