Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-01-01
THE GREAT NORTHWEST.
Governor Boies. of Iowa, Discusses the Re-
cSnt Upheayal in the Agricultural States
Democracy the Party of the People.

| Governor Boies. of Iowa, Discusses the Re-
| cSnt Upheaval in the Agricultural States
| Democracy the Party of the People.
| The following is the address of Hor,
ace Boies, Governor of Iowa. at the Re-
form Club dinner. held in the banquet
! hall of the Madison Square Garden,
New York, Tuesday evening, Decem-
! Der %, in response to the toast, Our
New Allies in the Northwest: What
| Our Farmers Have Right to Demand
MR.. PRESIDENT: The sentiment of the toast
10 which am invited TO respond is one of sur
passing interest from both economic and
political standpoint.
Its Importance when considered with refer
ence to the Nation at large, is intensified when
applied to the prairie States of the Northwest
which are to a marked degree the food-produc-
ing districts of this continent.
A brief statement of the situation in my own
State will as well present the condition in the
district referred to as can be done in the time
at my command
According to the most reliable statistics at
tainable at this time. nearly fifty per cent. of
the male population over ten years Of age in
Iowa are engaged in agricultural pursuits,
white less than three per cent. are employed in
manufacturing enterprises of all kinds, pro-
tected and unprotected
Years ago that State had attained the first
rank in this Union a corn producing State
ana THIS mas carried ner TO the mead OF the col
umn of States as producer of the best quality
of beef, pork and dairy products: in other re-
spectS she is not behind the most favored OF
her sisters in nearly everything that pertains
to agricultural pursuits in that latitude.
Statistics show that the average wages of
able bodied men upon the farms of Iowa are
eighteen and one-half dollars per month. or
about seventy cents per day and board the
lowest price paid any class of like laborers in
the State; and yet out Of nine hundred farmers
tisties during The present year more than eight
has been emptoyed at loss instead of profit
during each OF the five years last past.
Out of the same number equal portion as
sert that the actual cost of producing this
cereal, the most profitable Of all that are raised
within that State, has during the same period.
exceeded the entire value of the crop when
harvested, saying nothing whatever of income
from the capital invested in the land required
to produce il.
II is estimated by those making these reports
that the cost of producing of corn ready
Tor market is $500; that the average crop for
five years has been 3Sls bushels and statistics
show that the average price of this corn in our
local markets. soon after harvest. during such
period has been % cents per bushel, making
the entire value of the crop when marketed.
s1S3 or sixty seven 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 on her farms. When 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