Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1891-01-19
REFORMATION.

nEFOKUlA iSJNs
Some Suggestions az to How the Axe Can
Be Applied to the Root of Several Evils.
In the course Of an article in the
Progressive Farmer, of Mount Vernon,
ILL.,, Brother w. w. Green gives express
sion to the following thoughts:
On the other hand, our produce can only
reach the consumer through an expensive
system of speculation. The farmers prod
ucts seem to be regarded as common spoil,
every one being entitled to all he can get
with the smallest possible compensation
Our products are watched by hordes of spec
,ulators from the time the seed enters tho
ground until the harvest is converted into
food and distributed among millions OF
farmers; from the time the pigs are far
rOwed till they have passed through the
packing house into millions of homes, the
sugar. coated ham to tickle the palate of tho
idle arstocrat whose existence curses
the earth, and the more unpalatable
parts to apease the hunger OF
the half paid workingman, whose weary
hands are Transforming our country into
monument of greatness for the enjoyment of
others. Thousands of fortunes are being ac-
cumutated by speculations in farm products,
and every hand that holds the plow con-
tributes a share to these fortunes, and will
continue to do so till our whole system Of
distribution is changed.
The remedies for the evils are manifold.
Transportation must, in some way, be placed
under Government CONTROL railroad officials
must be deprived of their prncely salaries;
stock watering must be made criminal Of
Tense, and the rates Of transportation must
be reduced to actual cost. This would save
millions to the farmers.
Speculation in farm products must be
abolished and, to this end, every attempt to
make pool or corner, or to form CON-
bnation to raise or lower the price of any
article should be made criminal offense
punishable with imprisonment. There must
be inaugurated extensive system of CO.
operation that will bring producer and con-
sumner more nearly together, which Will re-
lieve us of onehalf the expense of our
present method of exchange. This would
raise an unearthly howl in the Elysian fields
of drummer land, but it would bring glad
tidings to the poor. The farmers must
become so organized and educated as
to enable them to fix the price of their own
products, the price to be based on the cost
of production. Other industries do this al
ready, and in this they have the advantage,
for while the prices are fixed and uniform,
our markets are uncertain, irregular and
subject to a thousand unhealthy influences.
These proportions may seem far reaching,
and to some impracticable, but they are
problems which the laboring people must
solve. can not tell how it will be done nor
when, only know that it must be done, and
that it is the duty of every honest intelligent
reformer to set himself to the uninviting
work.
1t is Just these conditions of oppres-
sion and spoliation of the farming COM
munity that the Farmers Alliance ex-
poets to erase from the American flag
by the passage of the sub-treasury bill,
which, after making provision for the
1;e1r Of f,.ao
partments, to be known as sub-treas-
uries, in each of the counties of each Of
the States of the United States, says:
That any owner of cotton, wheat corn,
oats or tobacco may deposit the same in the
sub treasury nearest the point of its produc-
ton and receive therefor treasury notes
hereinafter provided for, equal at the date OF
deposit to so per cent. of the net value OF
such products at the market price, said price
to be determined by the Secretary of the
Treasury and rules and regulations pre-
scribed, based upon the price current in the
leading cotton, tobacco, or grain markets OF
the United States, but no deposit consisting
in whole or in part of the cotton. tobacco
grain imported into this country shall be re-
ceived under the provisions of this act
That the treasury notes issued under this
act shall be receivable for customs and shall
be a full legal tender for all debts both pub
lie and private.
That the cotton, corn, grain or tobacco de-
posted in the sub treasury under the pro-
visions of this act may be redeemed by the
holder of the warehouse receipt herein pro-
vided for, either at the sub treasury in which
the product is deposited, or at any other
sub-treasury, by the surrender of such
warehouse receipt and the payment in law
full money of the United States of the Same
amount originally advanced by the sub
treasury against the product. and such fur
Their amount as may be necessary to dis