The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1893-01-26
LOOK WHERE YOU STAND
STARTLING EXHIBIT OF THE
CENSUS BUREAU.
In 1870 the American Farmer Owned 30
Fer Cent. "i the " Ncai'is -; tho Conn
try and ~ 1890 Ito Owned Less Jham
2iIer Cem.. Facts f"r lons,sici atiOn.


dcprcclatcd 81 ,H2O. tie average per /
acre of depreciation since 1861 has /
been S2S.
That in 1870 the farmers owned 20 !
per cent OF the wraltl, OF the country /
and that they owned less than IT per ,
cent. i'll 1870.
Total number of farms in the United |
States, 1 2l3, 95o: Of these, l,Wi,'0l !
are renters.
OF these renters 7O2. .22i are com |
pcllcd to- divide equally their crops |
with their landlords. while the greatest !
share asked Of the British farmers is !
one fourth.
Over one million American renters. |
while the home, of our people, the her
itaSc Of ON children, are owned and
controlled hv foreigners. Think OF 1t
foreigners own $1,000, 900 acres Of
our land enough for Il farm OF 100
acres Tor 500 900 OF our renters. Two
hundred and eighty one million acres
OF onr land owned ly railroad corpora
tions and svndicatcs enough t" make
Zine states the size of Ohm.
WHO owns the railroads? The money
power: composed principally Of En-
,lish lords and dukes. And vet we
have over IA million American farmers
without farms.
New York, with its 1000 900 inhabi-
tants. only l:;.onO own their homes.
in Chicago. with Il population OF
] .2nU, ,OrO. less than u per cent. own
all the real estate From 1880 to 1890
the producers Increased the wealth of
the country 30 per cent. they in
creased it from Sil.0O0, 900. 900 to
s66. DOT, ,0pO. 900. Who got the in
crease? In 1890, of the $td, d,OO0.-
OOO. 600 of wealth in the United
States. 1000 leading capitalists pos
scssetl S::S, ,2tiO. 600, 900. leaving $50,
$50. 400. 900 for the remaining Gi.ooo.-
900 inhabitants.
1t will be seen from these figures
that although our farmers, artisans
and other toilers produced the increase
of Sd ,OOO. 900, 600, Il few capitalists alb
sorhed most of it.
+. The wealth OF the Vanderbilt family
is estimated TO he s:'OD. .O,O. 900, annual
income ut : per cent. is S2l ,o00, 900.
The average annual income of our
farmers is 800. To pay the income OF
the Vandrrllts requires all tha: 10,-
900 farmers can produce If this
thing is to go on for Il few years. few
Thousand plutorrats will practically
own the whole country.
Think of it; two thirds OF the money
changers is not assessed one farthing
for the purpose of taxation. while the
farmer VINO has mortgage on his
farm paws tax on the mortgage lie
owes as we'll RS on his equity in the
land. The farmers own less than ~
rer cent of our wealth, but pay 50 rcr
cent of the taxes.
The Government has the power to
force every taxpayer III the land to
offer lis life in dense Of this untaxrd
wealth.
4 dollar will pay no more on yonr
tax or debts than it would IN 1860
One bushcl of grain will pay only one
fourth as much ON your tax or debts.
The national debt Aug. 81, 1860,
was S2.Sii,74?, i2G .ti, ON which there
has been paid
On principal. -. ...----.-...- ~ s.as, ~ ~
On interest ...---....-......- 2.''a''a''4'-"'
Total. ......... slaio. 81 i.sos
The total debt July 81, 1897, was
1897 ,37S. $50. Ii.
At the prices current in 1866 it would
have taken 1,OOO, ,0O0, 900 bushels Of
wl,ea. to pay the entire pnhlic debt Of
the United States. After all the four
billion dollars that has been paid. mt
the current Chicago price OF wheat, it
wonld take LII. .930, 600 to pay the net
public debt of July 81 1892. This is the
way the farmer is getting out of debt.
While YOU have TO raise four
times rs much grain now to pay
dollar on your taxes or debts, the
money pcwer piles up its dollars four
times as fast.
Commissioner Porter tells us in his
eleventh census that the little state of
Massachusetts. from 1880 to 1890 in
creased its assessed wealth $569. .E7 1924.
which was 10000, 900 more than the
nine great states of Indiana, Illinois,
Iowa. Nebraska. Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama. and North and South Caro-
lima.
Aud vet these nine states are more
than fifty-eight times as large as Mas
sachusctts and have seven times as
many people and twice the assessed
value.
If We add Florida, Kentucky, and
Kansas to the list, making twelve, the
state of Pennsylvania gained more than
twelve. If we add the two Nirginias
and Tennessee, making fifteen, New
York increased its wealth more than
the fifteen.
The West and South produces most
of our wealth-New York. Pennsylva-
MIA, and Massachusetts, get it.
About 95 per cent. of the business ol
the country is done on credit. The
producers of wealth must pay interest
on this credit.
The total amount owing by all the
banking institutions Of the United
States t1S,O55) to lepositors in July
1889. was S4,6O3,s l57. Total cash
in all of these banks at the same date
was: Gold coin. s9S,S11,9l1: silver
nickels, foreign coin, etc, - 47S
paper money, s349.694, ,4OG: total
s47S S,s!6,69 Only enough money
on hand to pay fraction over 10 cents
on the dollar to depositors on demand
II gold was the only legal tender
there would be on hand about 2 cent.
on the dollar for depositors.
According to Secretary Foster, WI
have OF money of all kinds in thi
country at the present time, $l.5SS,
7Sl,729. Our banks alone have loaned
out to the people $3,8O3, ,S5l, ,799
Where did they get this money t.
Joan?
Reader, We entreat you to sit dow
quietly and frankly look this questio,
squarely in the face. It is your dut.
as an American citizen-as a voter-t
do SO.
IOpulist In the Cabinet.
A dispatch from Washington bear
the information that no less prominen
Democratic leaders than Senators Coz
man, Brice, and Carlisle are urginl