Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-08-24
Remarks or Hon. VIM. A. PETER, in the
Senate. January 81. 1899,

pay largely in supplies fresh from the
field, orchard or garden. The farm hand
dwelt in the tenant house, and he had
his garden, his firewood and cow pas
ture free; but the country mechanic who
once dwelt among the tanners is there
no more; he has become a character in
history. He has been driven into towns
and cities and there massed among ma
chimes with muscles of iron and nerves
of steel. Whereas once he did all the
work that was done on the articles
which he made, and received all the
profits, now he works on a particular
part only, and his employer takes the
profit on the finished article. And where
as once he received his pay largely in
money in the many little transactions
which the wants OF his family make
necessary.
Look at him, with hundred. five hun
bred, or thousand others, moving in
line by the window or the counter on
pay day, waiting his turn for the SIPS,
more or less, per day, which may be due
him on his week s or his months work.
The employer does not wait for his mon
ey. He passes the long line of waiting
workers and draws his check for the
money he needs, if any. 1t is a preg
nant fact, sir, that of all men, he that is
poor, In this day and age, is most in
need of money. His daily wage may be
81 or 50, or less or more, but he needs it
all, every cent OF 1t, i'll money. Nothing
else satisfies his need. He trades with
in small circle, dollar at time, il
may be, or dime, even penny, and he
needs money in every transaction.
When he made shoes, he had shoes to
exchange for supplies when he made
wagons, he had wagons to trade; but
now his employer has the shoes and the
wagons, and he sells them in vast num-
bers, doing the business through banks.
The poor man has no bank account. He
transacts no bu 'iness there. 1t is not
an unreasonable estimate to place the
number of persons in this country who
work for wages at 12,000,000. Allowing
each one Of them $500 year, the amount
of money handled by them all would be
So, SOC, 900, 0O0-more than twice as much
money as there is in the country.
Men of large means, men whose bus
mess affairs are managed on a large
scale, need but little money. Our for
| eign commerce amounts to nearly $20,-
| 600 ,OO0, 900 annually, and few millions
only are needed to settle balances. All
the rest is done with drafts and bills of
exchange. Our internal commerce is
vast in extent, amounting yearly to
many thousand million dollars, yet but
| little money comparatively is actually
handled in doing the work, and most of
that is needed to pay the poor men and
women whose hands perform the hard
est part of the labor. The farmer once
made most of the implements he used
in raising his crops. The fiber in his
| clothing was grown on the farm, the
yarn was spun there, it was woven and
made into garments within few rods
OF the spot where it grew. Wheat and
corn and cotton and tobacco were haul
ed miles away to the great market towns
and there exchanged for sugar, coffee,
tea, spices, and other supplies which
could not be produced at home. Meat
was cured, fruit preserved, and grain
ground on the land where they grew;
| but the smokehouse and the nelghbor-
hood mill, like the wagon shop by the
wayside have disappeared. The mod
ern farmer sells his wheat and buys his
flour; sells his cattle and swine and buys
his meat; he sells his fruit and buys it
back il: cans and jars; he sells his cot
ton and wool and buys them back in
cloth and clothing.
All this requires money, and great
deal of it. Only fifty years ago few
dollars suficed to carry on an ordinary
farm year; now it requires ten times
as much. Wheat and cotton will not
pay for wagons and shoes and coats now
Money and only money will answer.
And now, after having superseded the
farmer as mechanic and manufacturer
on his own ground, having crowded him
out OF the business of making forks.
leather and cloth, and having pushed
him from barter to cash, having wrest-
ed from him many of his ancient privil-
eyes and changed his habits of economy
and self-help, having removed his de-
lenses and exposed his interests to the
organized rapacity of stronger men, his
competitors have diminished the sOurc-
es of his income and thus increased the
| nnnnhQr nf hin nA0ncGifipG
when he needs $40 they give him but
one. When the aggregate business of
the country nets but per cent. yearly
profit he is compelled to pay per cent.
to 10 per cent, and far beyond in some
instances, for the use of borrowed mon
ey. Shadows fit over his fields, his BUSH
els and pounds do not go as far as they
did once; he has more trouble to pay
his taxes, and his interest dues seem
larger and harder to meet than ever be-
fore.
The good year 1891 comes with its
wonderful crops, foreign demand is
!; greater than it has ever been, and prices
of few farm products go up; yet farm.
: ing as a business is profitless; more
than one-third of our farms are occupi-
ed by renters, and more than one-hali
; of those that are occupied by owners are
mortgaged for more than so per cent. OF
their value as estimated when times
were good. Still, money flows steadily
, on TO the great centers. More than $780,.
DOC, 600 of interest and dividends goes to
} New York CITY every year. The great
cities drain the country, while business
: failures increase steadily in number
) and tenement houses and farm and
l home mortgages multiply. Under shad.
ows from the smokestacks of manufac.
? turing cities, rich farming lands lie idle
> The wealth Of the states grows grandly
but it accumulates only in the cities.
7 Like the moving waters of mighty
| riUnr Sao