Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-09-10
tations upon the quality of land and amount

nowhere in the constitution can be found
grant of power to the United States to lend
| money. l am aware it is urged that the
government has loaned money to railroads,
banks. eXpositions and for other purposes.
l am also aware that the very men who are
now endeavoring to lead our people astray
advocated and procured the passage of the
oleomargarine act and favorable action by
the house of representatives upon the
Conger lard bill. two palpably unconstitu-
tional measures, which seriously crippled
the cotton industry of the South.
One hundred violations OF the constitu-
| ton, however. do not justify another, and
every true Democrat resists with patriotic
indignation each new assault upon it.
But 1 shall not confne my opposition to
this ground alone. Nor shall l rely alto
gether upon the sound objection of the pa
ternalism involved in the proposition, which
tends to the destruction of the republic by
teaching the individual citizen to depend
upon the government for everything. and
| upon himself for nothing. l shall consider
the scheme upon its merits and effects,
without reference to its unconstitutionality
and paternalstic tendency.
THE oCALA PLATFORM
| declares in favor of 1.-The doctrine of equal
rights TO all and special privileges to none"
How then do its advocates justify the adOp-
ton of plan the very basis of which is the
granting of special privileges" to the
Is not this class legislation2 1t will not do
to say that other classes have been bene
flied and that reason the land owners
should be aided by special legislation; for
that is begging the question and is moreover
obnoxious to those piankS IN the Ocaa
platform which demand that our national
legislation shall be so framed in the future
as not to build up one industry at the ex-
pense of another and denounce the grant
ing of special privileges to corporations, IN
dividuals and industries.
If the government is to build warehouses
to store farm products for loans why ought
it not to buy pastures to keep cattle for the
ranchmen as security for loans 10 them!
Are not cattle. If properly taken care Of, as
non-periShable as wheat or oats? Why
| Should not the merchant who finds sales
dull, be authorized to borrow money from
! The government upon his stock OF goods
until prices rise?
| have observed that q meeting of the
Knights Of Labor at Galveston Endorsed the
| Ocala platform the other day. viii some
| Alliance lecturer please explain how the
| Sub-treasury and land loan scheme will help
| the laboring men of Galveston! And Will
| he afterwards explain how the farm labor
| ers or tenants in Texas are to be benefited?
| CONGRESSIONAL LEGISLATION
| cannot override the provisions OF state
| constitutions or laws dealing with subjects
| of a purely local character. Hence the
| homestead exemptions prescribed by the
constitution and laws OF Texas would pre-
vent the labOring men of Galveston or OF
any other city from borrowing money upon
| their homes: and these same provisions
| would debar the small farm owners OF the
| state from borrowing on the 200 acres or
| less occupied by them as homeSteads If,
| however, these small farmers would be
| prevented from borrowing whore would
| the iabOrerS or tenants come III under the
| law? The iaborer working for monthly
| or yearly wages will have neither crop nor
| land on which to borrow money; while the
| tenant has neither a crop nor hen upon
| a crop. True ne has 4 troopers interest
| in the crop but the landlord has the lien on
| it for his rent while the tenant has none.
The cotton planter who pays wages to his
| hands will not want to borrow money on
| his crop and pay interest and charges upon
| it. for he can keep it himself without cost;
| while the farm owner who rents his land
| for money rent" or on shares, would have
| rather difficult time to get his cotton to
| the Sub-treaSury.
The tenant who owns two-thirds of the
| corn and three-fourthS of the cotton will
| hardly permit his landlord to take his corn
| or cotton to a government warehouse and
| borrow money upon II unless he buys II at
! the market price. He wants the full value
| of his crop TO pay his debts, and cannot
/ afford to deposit it as pledge for loan of
| 50 per cent of its worth III the market.
THE WHOLE SCHEME
seems to be gotten up in the interest of the
| large land owner, for the tenant and farm
| laborer can derive no benefit from it.
| OF course the landlord could take his corn
or cotton from the field by dividing with
| the tenant there; ut in the case of cotton
| the practice of collecting rent is very diff
! ferent process. B /, suppose the plan
| feasible, what would be its efectsl The
| expense of purchasing warehouse sites,
tl1rl,r
| ness would be enor Gus, and instead of
| taxes decreasing, as demanded by the Ocala
| latfOrm, there would be an incalculable pile
| of debt heaped upon the heads of the tax
| payers of the country.
| am aware that both the sub-treasury
| bills-one introduced by Mr.. Vance IN the
| senate and the other by Mr.. Picker in the
| house, provide for a small salary for sim
| gle manager and for the donation of site
| to the government Tor each warehouse as
| prerequisite for its establishment; but l re-
| gard these provisions as impracticable for
| reasons which are obvious from reading
| of them.
Sub-treasuryites say that the expense
| ought not to be considered and point at the
| large sums expended for public buildings as
| an argument in favor of their position.
| They forget, however, that these public
| buildings are necessary for the transaction
| of public business and that it is cheaper to
| build them than to rent other buildings.
" hereaS the warehouses would not be for
| public purpose but for the benefit of such
| farm owners rs might be able to avail them
| selves Of the provisions of the sub-treaSury
| scheme. In one case the people of all
| classes are interested; in the other only one
| class not the farm tenants or the farm la
| borers, but the farm owners are interested
| and they comprise about one-fourth of the
WAGE FARMERS OF THIS COUNTRY.
have been unable to obtain the present
figures from the census superintendent, but
| the census report of 1850 shows that there
| were employed in all occupations 1892, 099
persons, of whom 4, 225,945 were farmers
| and planters The movement of the people
| has, during the past ten years, been from
| the country to the cities and towns (many
| of the farms in the Eastern states having
| been abandoned entirely so that reason
| ably presume that the ratio of farmers and
planters is not greater now than in 1880.
But aside from the enormous expense,
| estimated at fifty millions in the Vance and
Picker bills, its impracticability will appear
from an examination of their bills The
Vance bill was introduced at a later period
than the Picker bill, and | shall proceed to
discuss its various provisions, upon the as
sumption that it meets the views of the SUBJ
treasury advocates.
The first section provides that ware
house may be established in each county in
each state to be under the control of the
United States treasury department upon the
following conditions:
/ The clerk or sheriff must swear Tor af-
FIRM that the average ~ gross amount per
aunum of cotton, wheat, corn, oats and to-