The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-03-29
CENTRALIZED TRADE AND ITS
AGENCIES.

necessitates the Capitalization of trade
of all descriptions, and that one large
manufacturer of a certain article could
furnish that article cheaper than sew
eral smaller manufacturers could fur
nish it and that one large store could
furnish goods cheaper than a number
of small ones could. If that is so then
it was bad day for America when
steam power was invented, as far as its
application to manufacturing is con-
cerned. Say that one large store con-
trolls all of the trade of town where
there are now two or three dozen.
What would become of the host of
small merchants and clerks? They
would be thrown out of employment
Shylock could not employ them all to
measure calico and weigh copperas
There would be no recourse left them
but to go on the farms and become pro-
| ducers instead of being consumers, as
they now are. It IS claimed and by no
less q parsonage than the Rev. Sam
| Jones, that the Standard Oil Company
furnishes the cheapest oil in the world
| That may be true from Mr.. JOnes's
standpoint, for we don't know what
kind of oil he gets, but the primitive
! lightwOOd knots would be cheaper at
| twenty-five cents per dozen than the
| kind of oil we got about last Christmas
would be at almost any price One Of
| the greatest agencies to the centrallza-
tiOn of trade in the tobacco growing
sections of the country is the internal
revenue laws They might be proper
| ly termed the daddy of corruption and
the granddaddy of trusts. Long be
fore and Immediately preceding the
late war there was a great army of
wagon tObaccO-peddlers who made
their living by hauling tobacco from
port to port and selling it out to the
| consumer Now what has become OF
that industry7 Is has been taxed out
of existence by the Federal Govern
ment Why should the Dem ocrats,
under Mr.. Cleye and, allow a law so
| discriminating against the small to
baccO manufacturer and peddler 10 re-
main in fOrce9 There can be but one
answer to that question and that IS
| this, it was done at the instlgatiOn of
the city manufacturers that they might
ward off the competition ltengendered.
The manufacturers had the tobacco
peddlmg business taxed out of existence
and then lnaugurated a system OF sell
ing tobacco to merchants on four or
six months time That gives shylock
chance to come in for his pound of
flesh. The manufacturer sells tobacco
TO the merchant, the merchant gives
his note for the same on six months
time. ShvlOck discounts the notev
and of course the cost of the discount
Is added to the merch9 ats note and in
turn added by him to the price paid by
the consumer. That system of trade
can be properly termed one Of the
! causes of d" OverproductiOn. Here it
might be well enough to define what is
meant by OverprOduCtiOn. 1t is this:
| The unprOsperOus condition of the
| farmers and the low prices of tobacco
and cotton is called by the plutocrats
and their allies 'OverprOducCiOn." 1t
appears that all industries are we'll pro
| tected except that of the farmer. The
others have to have a profit; the farmer
has to take what he can get, profit or
no profit. In the manufacture of to
| baccO the manufacturer must have his
profit The way they have got the
! thing arranged now the banker must
| be provided for and come in for share
when he has got no business, and it is
only a burden laid on the producer.
The manufacturer, the banker, the
merchant and the internal revenue are
all to have a share out of tobacco be-
! fore it reaches the consumer. and these
! things alone will put the price up con-
siderable with )ut the amount paid the
! farmer, but the price paid the farmer
| is the fifth consideration, and if any
one suffers he is the one, and 'sOrry
crop" and "Overproduction" is
preached to him as the cause of the
| low prices he gets for his produce. The
! tobacco manufacturers may claim that
since the introduction of steam and
other modern appliances that they can
manufacture tobacco cheaper than
| small concern using the machinery of
twenty five years ago. If that Is so and
with all their capital and superior ad-
vantageS, why should. they object to
the internal revenue laws being re-
pealed and giving the small manutac
turer chance9 Say that all the In
ternal reven Ie laws and all State laws
taxing tObacco-peddlers were repealed,
the small manufacturer could resume
work and the wagon peddlers also.
1t would give employment to a great
many individuals if it did nothing else,
and it would materially lessen the
army of OverprOducerS.
While we are not advocating either
the manufacture or sale of brandy or
whiskey, we would like to know why
the Southern people who style them
selves Democrats and patriots
should hollow themselves hoarse to
elect a set of so-called statesmen to
enact and perpetuate laws discriminat-
ing against the multitude of small
farmers all over the fruit-growing seci
tions of the country, in favor of the
Western whiskey syndicate. The ad
voCates Of centralized trade claim that
the large concern can furnish the
whiskey so much cheaper than the
small concerns can. That may be so,
but in the name of justice, ought not
the small manufacturer to have a
chance to show his hand7 Ought the
poor farmers apples to rot on the
6O%d e6Id fTnigb sly the oecaS9 cbnsneg