The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-07-03
VERMONT AND KANSAS.


1t is admitted that the late convention
at Cincinnati was controlled by western
and chiefly Kansas man, as well as that
the South and East failed to take any
important part in the proceedings. The
South does not want any third party, ,nor
will its farmers favor such movement,
because there the race question absOrbs
all Others of political nature. The
South wants more money and the pawn
shop feature of the alliance and free coin
age of silver, but not if to get them, or
any of them, is to unfavorably affect the
| Democratic party of the South. The
South wants to keep its cake and also to
eat it, and any party relying on the South
for aid will have to part with the cake.
| The farmers of Vermont have formed
a league and formulated a platform.
| This platform demands a sound cur
rency, compulsory educational rigid linn
itatiOn of monopolies, equitable passen-
ger and freight rates, the prohibition of
the liquor traffic and of the adulteration
| of food, restriction of alien land-holding,
the prohibition of immigration of pau
pers and criminals and of class legisla-
ton, favoring an equal system of taxa
tion, strict economy in National and
State government, and graded income,
| with salaries to correspond to the finan-
cial condition of the taxpayers. The
| president of the league said that the
| farmers of the East were opposed to free
silver coinage and the sub-treasury
scheme promulgated at Cincinnati.
Thus Vermont farmers present a horse
of another color, and horse that can
not be yoked with the breed offered by
the farmers of the West. 1t will also be
observed that the Vermont farmers do
not demand ''money, more money" but
only Sound currency, which we have
| already. The difference in the demand
of the Kansas and Vermont farmer is
striking. Nor is the reason far to seek.
The Vermont farmers are "all-aTound"
farmers who have not gone to market
with their eggs all in one basket, but
have varied their products so that on the
failure of one crop others have succeeded
and enabled them I'VE. And having
small farms they cASn them. They have
not bought more land than they can pay
for, nor have they cropped what they
have so as to exhaust the vitality of the
soil. The Kansas farmers have started
with land that would yield thirty BUSH
clS VI WHedJ 10 Iue dCTe, duu, uHulHB IL
profitable, have run in debt for more
land and kept on cropping with wheat
until they can only get from twelve to
eighteen bushels per acre. They have
farmed badly Finding themselves in
debt, they turn upon the country and
charge it with having done what they
have done themselves. Had they di-
versifed their crops-had they not run
wild on wheat futures-they would not
to-day be demanding more money and
arraigning everybody for getting along
in the world while they have gone back
ward. The remedy for the evils they
have brought on themselves lies in ra-
tiOnal farming. 1t is not money that
they want, but sound judgment. They
can by degrees restore the fertility of
their land and by diversifying their
crops can become prosperous. Neither
free coinage nor loans on their crops can
medicine their ills away. They must
rally their ills away. They must rally
their common sense and farm with judg-
ment. And they must diversity indus
try also. They must create handy mar
kets for their products. philadelphia
North american.