The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1893-03-17

| EN-uOV. anu EN-ColSiossuuh Ooh" W
: Stewart has a letter Ia the Middlebury Regl
ter summarizing and commenting on some
the late criticisms of Vermont farmers an
0 Vermont farming. They amount to this,th'
/, the methods "are slovenly, was'eful and di
+ creditable. that there Is noticeable gener'
$ lack of thrift, Industry and economy and tha
the superior natural advantages here NANTES
are neutralized" by this condition Of affairs
Gov, Stewart thinks the criticisms, because
their sources, and the wide knowledge an
observation on which they are based, capno
be disputed, as Is true In large degree, and b
asks anxlousy what is to be the remedy u
restore the right spirit and tone, Will
methods corresponding to the age,to our agri
culture.
1t Isl question that has long needed an
swer, and at last islbelng slowly answered
The trouble with the men who have beer
dealing with the problem is that they have
not gone deep enough. 1t Is very easy and
fin to saw that the "farmers are shlttlcss,
sdon't work as they used to, or as other men
do. !" "loaf too much at the stores &c. &C.
and then to argue chat the results are
TO be changed by just changing these condi'
tions. So far as 1t IS true that the farmers
baye these shortcomings above the farmers
of other states or other generations, there Is
reason for It. What is II!
It Is this simply, that for the last 90 years.
no matter how hard the farmer worked, how
well he managed, or closely economical, he
has found himself, under any ordinary cond:-
lions steadily growing poorer. He might by
scratching hard, scrimplng or saving, get
hundred or two dollars into the savings bank
or Western mortgage, but as he came TO
balance up assets at the end OF The
wear he found that the market value
of bis farm had run out as much or
more. Like the frog In the well every time
he jumped up foot he fell back two. Forces
entirely and absolutely beyond bis control or
sight or feeling, were stronger In dragging
ting forward. Is II any wonder that as
a class they have been discouraged?
Who would not be In their places? Since the
wor Id began where have been the men
drawer or more patient or more re-
mar kably elastic sgilnst' such odds?
1t is high time TO stop this chat
ter about "shiftiessuess," and direct little
Of our mental energy to the removal of the
ca uses that have made agriculture so hope
less.
These causes are both national and state,
md the former have some of them been
al ;,,+ t,oir 4, ia
icuarly true of the artificial and over-stlm- |
Hated development of our west that has by |
abroad land grant and other subsidies, by |
corrupt ia voritism to syndlcstes of land spec
llators, thrown on the market for farm prod.
lets out of balance. Co.ncident with this
las been growth of corporate wrong, worse
n Vermont than elsewhere, but general
throughout the country, by which railroads
ave been allowed to pluEder local traffic for
he purpose of making abnormaly low rates
or that for long distances. The extren e
tariff. Increasing the price of what
he farmer has to buy and narrowing ii G
market for what he has to sell, has been OF
rating as constantly and as resistlessy as
ne force of gravtation to pull him down.
Added to these have been number of |
tate causes, the inconcelvable folly of our {
ate legislation In furnishing ami guarding |
iaducts through which money. or accumu- |
ted capital, may be drawn out I
the state for investment, repu- c
atng the methods by which ether |
ates keep their money at home, bad systems ,
taxation, deterioratiDg schools, neglected .
ads, general disagreement In state affairs. -
rvelessness in public leadership: catching t
tuibg OT the new ideas and forces of the = |.
e-inevitabe where politics are SO one. \
led-ul these have added to the burden of t
Aculty and encouragement the farmer has 8
d to bear.
The national causes are In the way of early O
moval by the return OF Democratic ideas to \
3 ascendancy. And the state causes may y
removed quicker than many suppose by n
} same means. Already there is quite k
ange for the better at the dim promise that p
rites may yet be more evenly divided. o.