People's party paper. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, 1892-07-29
SENATOR STEWARDS SPEECH.
His View of the Great Question Before
the P0ODIe.

consideration the bill to prevent deal
ing in futures, Senator Stewart is re-
ported as follows:
Mr.. Stewart. Mr.. President, this bill
is instructive. 1t is evidence that there
is a great deal of unrest in the country
from some cause. 1t is not the first bill
that has been urged here as panacea
for the evils under which the country
suffers. We had the interstate- COM
merce bill, which it was alleged would
cure all the evils, would cheaper trans
pOrtation and raise the price Of prop
erty and farm products and relieve the
distress. 1t became a law. 1t made
some good offices for very intelligent
gentlemen, but we are not aware of it's
great beneficial results. In the last
Congress we were told that the evil
which afflicted the country was trusts,
and we labored many hours and days
in that Congress to pass bill limiting
trusts. The bill was passed We have
not heard from it since.
Whether it has done any good or not
nobody has ascertained. So we go on
session after session passing bills of
this nature.
Mr.. Sherman. VIII my friend allow
me to interrupt him?
Mr.. Stewart. Certainly.
Mr.. Sherman. The bill to which the
Senator from Nevada refers, called the
trust bill, has been embodied almost in
whole or in large part by many of the
States of the Union. 1t is enforced now
by the courts of at least four, and |
think several other States, and in two
or three cases with marked results, as
in the case Of the Standard Oil Com
pany.
Mr.. Stewart. [ am not aware that it
has removed the difficulty or relieved
the people from the growing evils
which have rested upon them. On the
contrary, here is another evidence of
great dissatisfaction among the peO-
pie. Here is an elaborate bill propOs-
ing to enter largely into the transac-
tions of business, creating large num-
Der Of offices and much expense, and a
measure which will be very difficult of
execution, requiring many Oaths and
accounts, and all that; and those who
are honestly engaged in business will
have much Inconvenience connected
with it. [ agree that if any great good
can be accomplished we ought to pass
it, but [ fear that it will be numbered
with the others, and that dissatisfac-
ton will continue. [ do not think it
aims at the real difficulty, at the real
disease. [ do not think it can remedy
that disease. [ do not think it is the
medicine required. [ do not think it
is the specific for the disease of falling
prices. That is the disease which it at
| tempts to remedy, to prevent falling
prices in grain so that the farmer may
get better prices.
/ know very we'll that the speculation
has worked to the advantage and the
disadvantage of the famer. Some years
ago many rich men sank their fortunes
in the attempt to corner wheat, They
tried several times to buy up all the
wheat in the country. They lost mil
lions. / think / could name $30,0O0,000
or $40,000,000 that were lost in that
way. The farmers who had wheat at
the time had the benefit of that in sell
ing their wheat at high price. 1t is
not absolutely certain whether the far
mers lose more from the bears than
they gain from the bulls in the market.
It is very doubtful question indeed.
Some farmers with whom have talked
think that the bulls do them more good
than the bears do them harm.
But there appears to be general
ulSpOSIU1Ou W nave U1IS Ul1l OdSSCOS II
is petitioned for by thousands of per-
sons and urged upon the attention of
Congress. But the evil of falling prices
will continue whether we pass it or
not. I was reading this morning an
article in the Baltimore Sun, very
conservative paper, with regard to the
falling prices of land and the vast
change in the condition of our rural
population from the independent far
mer to the tenant farmers. AS it is in
point with what am about to remark,
| ask the Secretary to read the edite-
rial which is marked.
The Presiding Officer. If there be
no objection the Secretary will read as
requested.
The Secretary read as follows:
! INCREASE OF TENANT FARMERS.
"The Census Bureau has lately be-
gun to report the result of its lnvesti-
cations into the number of persons who
own and cultivate their farms and the
number who are simply tenants on
| farms owned by others. Thus far the
report covers only ten counties in Kan
sas and ten counties in Ohio. In Kan
sas in 1890 the number Of farmers cul-
tivating their own lands was 1915 per
cent, and of tenant farmers 1926 per
cent. Assuming that this proportion
of owners and tenants runs through
the entire State, it is evident that one
third Of the agricultural families are
tenant farmers, A comparison with
the census Of 1880 shows that in the
same counties at the end Of that decade
the number of families living on hired
farms was only 1913 per cent, and Of
! farms worked by their owners S6.S7 per
cent. The increase, therefore, in the
number of hired farms between 1880
and 1890 was over 20 per cent. This
change for the worse may be accounted
for, at least in part, by the bad crops
of the three previous years and the
| foreclosure of mortgages given by
farmers to tide them over their diff
culties.
"But the same reasoning does not ap-
| ply so strongly to Ohio when ten coun-
ties chosen for comparison indicate
even greater increase of tennat farm
ers. In 1880 the number of farmers in
Ohio tilling their own lands was 1904
! per cent and of tenant farmers 24.96
per cent. In 1890 only 63 per cent Of