Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-08-10

the value of s13, ,279, ,252 $40, in 1890. In 1850
the value of live stock was 81 ,OS9, 1926, ,915,
and OF implements and machinery $780,
1874, as against S22OS, Isl, ,573 of live
stock, and S494, ,247 ,467 of implements and
machinery in 1890. In 1860 there was pro-
b2ced 173, iN ,929 bushels of wheat, 172, ,643,-
1856 bushels of oats, 15,S25, 1898 bushels of
barley and 83S, ,792,742 bushels of corn, as
against 1893, ,292 900 bushels of wheat,
523, $4,000 bushels of oats, $4,000, 600 BUSH
els of barley and 1,4S9, ,97O, 900 bushels of
corn in 1890; and the ratio of increase has
been as great since 1890 as in the decade
ending with that year.
Benefit to Agriculture.
A study of our statistics and an exam
ination of our agricultural and industrial
development makes it plain that the
rapid growth of our nation in commerce,
in transportation facilities and in manu-
facturlng has not been at the expense or
to the detriment of our agricultural in
terests, but rather to their great advance
ment and benefit. The great army of men
engaged in these pursuits have been the
chief consumers of our agricultural
products. But for them the demand
would have been very limited and the
home market exceedingly scant. Our
chief reliance would have been in the for
eign demand, which is uncertain and
quite limited, and where we have to COM
pete with the entire world, both as to
prices and quantities. Today scarcely 20
per cent of all our agricultural products
find market abroad. In truth our agri-
cultural interests needed, above all things
that which is now complained of, the en-
ployment of extensive capital in other in
dustrial pursuits in order that the field of
labor might be enlarged and the demand
for agricultural products greatly in
creased.
And without our extensive network of
railroads, radiating in all directions and
extending to the outermost verges Of our
country, agriculture would have been
kept within narrow bounds and would
have been confined to the lands within
easy reach of our seaboard and of our in
land lakes and water courses. Our rail-
roads are today the Indispensable dis
tributors of our products and commerce.
Without them all traffic and intercourse
would be at standstill and society would
be in state of apathy and helplessness.
The recent strikes have demonstrated
how entirely dependent we are upon the
transportation facilities of our railroads.
It was fortunate for our farmers that the
strikes did not occur at a time when crops
were to be sold and marketed. Had they
occurred at that time and continued at
considerable length, much hardship and
distress would have been the result. The
capital which built our railroads and es-
tablished our great manufacturing enter
prises and furnished work for
thousands of worthy and industrious
laDOr.ng men was not capital
abstracted or withdrawn from agricul-
tural pursuits, nor capital raised by taxa
tion or government loans; but capital
gathered from the surplus funds of people
from all over the world;som of them very
rich, many of them of moderate or limited
means. This capital when it came. came
as an investment, and not in any spirit of
hostility, for it depended for it's reward,
more than any other capital, upon the
general prosperity of the entire country.
And at the time when it came, it was over
much needed and could scarcely have
been obtained from any other source, and
it has brought to us in it's wake large
army of unemployed and furnished them
with labor.
No Good Result of Antagonism.
Now what good can be accomplished,
what immediate and substantial relief can
be obtained. by arraying the farmers
against the capital which has developed
our railroads and our manufacturing es-
Establishments. Capital may become tyran-
nous, and so, too, may labor. But neither
the one nor the other should therefore be
suppressed. Legislation has not been
framed, as is alleged, in spirit hostile to
our farmers. On the contrary, they have
been the recipients of legislation especially
designed to aid them. Notably among
this class are our homestead and timber
culture laws, under which the government
has fitted out the farmer with part of
his working capital-his farm. Aside
from the land grant railroads, no
class has had a more generous gift
than this. And the gift to the railroads
was especially made and designed to aid
the farmers settling on our frontiers to OBJ
tain railroad facilities at a much earlier
time than they otherwise could have OBJ
tanned the same. No other class of men
embarkmg in business have been furnished
by the government with such aid as our
homestead and timber culture settlers.
And the gift was not only given to the ma
tive born, but foreigners barely landed on
our shores. with their ''intentions de-
clared," could at once initiate a claim to
the generous land bounty of our govern
ment.
In addition to furnishing free homes to
the poor and needy farmers, the federal
government years ago gave to each of the
states land grant, amounting to 10000
acres for each senator and representative
in congress, for the purpose of establish
ing agricultural colleges. Our own state
has availed itself of the provisions of this
grant, by establishing, in connection with
our state university, a school of practical
agriculture-the best of it's kind-for
the benefit of the sons and daughters
of our farmers. Since making this
grant the federal government has given
to each state, for the support Of such
schools, an annual appropriation of SIS, 600
with an increase of 81 600 year for 10
years, or until the appropriation reaches
$25, 600, at which figure it is to be main
tanned, and paid annually to each state.
The federal government has also, years
ago, made provision by law for the estab-