The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-02-02
THE PROGRESSIVE FARMER: 2. 1892

pie are the country; let them just take
one single production OF agriculture,
cotton, and see what has been lost to
the producers this season.: We will
estimate the cotton crop at 5000, 900
bales; this 5000, 600 bales, at 10 cents
per pound, would have brought to
those who made it $4OO, 600, 600. It has
brought them only z cents per pound,
or $35 per bale, Or in round numbers,
$3.50, 900. 900, a loss on cotton alone to
the farmers of 1920, 600, 900. Wheat
and all other farm products have
shared a similar fate, and l have no
hesitancy in asserting that the losses
to the farming interest on this years
transactions alone would run all the
s~ub-treasuries and land lOaning estab-
lishments the government might desire
to institute for the relief of the people
(the masses) by whose brain and muscle
the whole structure is supported.
Listen: 1920, O00, 900 on cotton alone at
moderate figures!
The friends of reform do not make
war on the men who accumulate money
by honest and honorable means, but
on the system of legislation %practiced
by the National Council, by which it
is made possible for the Shrewd and
dishonest to corner and steal the prod
uctS of those who sweat and toll. We
believe that acquisition of property Is
~inculcated in the Scriptures, and that
it Is our duty to do what we car to
make it honestly, but we dOnot believe
we should make it to hoard, or to
crafty IL avarice, or to make a great
display of pOmp and power; but it
should be acquired to distribute to the
poor and needy and to propagate all
enterprises which are calculated to
bring thrift, happiness and prosperity
to the masses of our fellow beings.
It is the selfshness of those who are
rich, those m~anipulatOrs of the mar
kets for their own profit who are dis
regarding the bankruptcy and the
masses, whose little fortunes are being
sacrificed; that has aroused the people.
They know as a rule they have worked
hard and not been very extravaganza,
and they know, too. that year after
year they have been doing this in hopes
of a change for a better, and that no
such change has come; but that those
who are rich + getting richer, and
that the poor are getting poorer. They
do not complain at the men who hon
estly enhance their wealth, but rather
honor them; and especially do they
respect the rich whose b~enevOlenCe
helps to diffuse knowledge, alleviate
sutfe ring and add to the comforts and
social condition Of mankind.
But smarting under the influence of
the conditions above referred TO, aided
by mortgages amounting to So, 600, 600
900 a spirit of enquiry has been gener-
ated, and they are disposed to press it,
in order tt at the causes may be found
anH tho ponnpNInS annlJAH Tho Fl rSt
question they ask is:
Why is it that in 1860 the laboring
class owned rs per cen of the wealth
of the nation, while i'll 1890 1t owns less
than 25 Per cent. of it?
Why Is it that owning less than %
per cent, of the wealth, the producers
farmers) pay 80 per cent OF the taxes?
Why is it that the farmers, as q rule,
are forced to take what Is offered for
their produce and compelled t. pay
the prices asked them for what they
wish to buy2
Why is it that B.. owning a tract Of
land valued at 81 900, should be com
PEELED t pay a tax of SIP while c., his
nelghbOr, OWNS So, 600 in u. s. bonds
is not charged any tax?
Who makes the money of the nation?
Some one answers: The government.
Who issues 1t?
Answer-The Treasurer of the United
States,
Who does he issue it to?
AnSwer-TO the national banks.
What do they pay for it?
Answer-They pay a TAX OF l per
cent. on the amount taken from HIM
What do they do with II?
Answer-They loan it to the people
at not less than s per cent.
Are not the banks then recipients Of
special favOrs amounting to z per cent.
and the people who are compelled to
borrow Disseminated against Z per
cent?
direct that it be issued directly to the
people on the same terms as to the
banks, and thus save to them the z per
cent. which the banks make2
Is it not possible, under our present
system, for large bOndhOlders and
money kings to borrow large amounts
from the banks, and thereby check the
flow of money to the masses, and
would not this cause a reduction in the
prices of the articles they produce i'll
proportion to the volume of money
thus Withdrawn from circulation every
time the crops are to be disposed of,
thereby enabling those who purchase
to put in their pockets the profits that
the poor hard worked farmer ought to
have?
The answer to these questions may
all be found in legislation adverse to
the interest of the farming and pro
duCing classes.
The mortgage Indebtedness of the
whole country is admitted to be 50, OO0,-
600, 600 and this l would not suppose
covers half of the true indebtedness of
the country, when we recollect that
chattle mortgages and other evidences
of liabilities are not takenintO the calcu-