Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1891-02-05
.SEEEERLNG IOIE1.

1t is estimated by those making these
reports that the cost of producing an
acre of cOrn,readysfor market is ~, that
the average crop for five years has been
.I3i, bushels, and statistics show that
the average price of this corn in our To-
cal markets soon after harvest, during
such period, has been - cents per bush
el. making the entire value of the crop
when marketed 1913, or o. 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 OH her farms.
When we consider the immense capital
invested in the farms of single state
and are told that for five whole years it
has not paid enough to compensate the
labor employed, it is apparent that no
other business in this country could
have withstoOd such Il condition of ad.
versity during so prolonged period.
The above is the giSt of the speech
made by Horace Boies, governor Of
Iowa. before the Reform Club in New
York City. 1t contains the only tangi-
ble utterances in the entire wall. Other
wise the speech does not differ material.
ly from the homily which professional
agitat0rs have peddled from state to
state since the introduction, of Doodle
and demagogic trucking made the agi-
tator Il marketable commodity i'll poll
tics. II should be always borne in mind
that the governor acknowledges the re-
spOnsibitty for the figures given to lie
with, and by vir,ue of, his labor com
missioner, J. Il. sovereign. 1t is not
necessary to refer to the character Of
the people with whom Sovereign was in
touch prior to his promotion from a
nondeScript to the dignity of demo-
crat to discredit the figures given. They
are false upon their face, as every man
knows who has the good fortune to con-
template the profits of farming in iowa.
1t is among the responsibilities to ac-
curately estimate the cost of producing
an acre If corn, one year with another,
and in this chiefly is where the tricky
figures Of the alleged statistician lie so
similar TO the statistician himself when
on the stump III the camp~nion role of
an agitator. Ii these figures were true
the condition of Iowa would be pitiable
indeed. and mutiny would prevail, i'll
which only Lawyer Governors and sta
tictical laborerS on salary could survive,
for surely when Caesar had been paid
nothing could be left.
The truth, however, prevails. With
in the range of ones personal acquaint-
ance, however limited, observation dis
Sipates this dark cloud, and shows the
bright side of life in Iowa; shows that
well directed labor is we'll remunerated,
and that honest toll still stands a
chance. There can be found innumer-
able instances where young men with
good helpmeetS in the house, have made
the fertile prairieS of Iowa produce
bountiful crops which afforded i good
living and paid for the land and i'm
proyements, and further the tiller has
laid up snug some for the inevitable
dark and rainy day. There can be
found renters who have farmed profit
ably, aud who have become enabled to
buy the land they had leased III caSe the
landlord was willing to sell, but thc
record does no. show that the latter as
class ar anxious to dispose OF their
lands unless it be at Il great advance
The official records OF Iowa SHOW these
facts to be true. Then why does the
governor choose to ignore the facts and
parrot the false statements of Soyer-
cign, knowing them to be false? The
governors own experience in farming
10 not so dismal, We dare say. If it
We're 50 he could have subStantiated his
claim 10 sincerity by quoting it, instead
of using the compilations of his man
Friday in the capitol basement. But
he knows by experience, by the value
he places upon his lands and by the
hopes he has for the future that labor
and capital wisely directed and invest
ed III Iowa afford fair remuneration.
He knows, too, that other occupations
are fairly profitable, though he would
shadow all in the alleged gloom of ag-
riculturp.
The governors New York speech was
madly and jealousy partisan. In the
closing paragraphs the animusis shown.
fer he lays the whole burden of the
imaginary or cOncocted depression up
on the revenue policy of the republican
party, and appeals with tear dimmed
eye and bleeding heart to Tamauy the
essence of democratic corruption-to
aid iowa. The speech was in its fal5i-
iieations treacherous TO Iowa interests,
belittling labor, depreciating values
and Won Tor the wealthy lawyer and
farmer who has been hOnored BY the
peoples suffrage tie distinction of an
migrate.