The Worthington advance., 1894-08-09

au>sd l7a aloA - bushels ofwAsaA ls4ela,' )
1ss bushels of oats, u, 81, ,ooe buShels Of
barley and $50, ,7o0, ~ bushels Of corn. q
against Oo, ,2e0, 600 bushels OF wheat,
So, ,6o6, 900 bushels Of oats, 600 bush
els Of barley and l ,4S9, ,970, 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-
featuring 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
| chief reliance would have been in the for
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 q state of apathy and helplessness.
The recent strikes have demonstrated
how entirely dependent we are upon the
transportation facilities of our railroads.
1t was fortunate for our farmers that the
strikes did not occur at 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
laborinR men was not capital
distracted 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 ;some 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 its 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 its wake large |
army of unemployed and furnished them
with labor.
No Good Result of Antasonism.
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-
Capital may become tyran- !
nous, and so, too, may labor. But neither |
the one nor the other should therefore be |
Legislation has not been
framed, as is alleged, in a spirit hostile to
our farmers. On the contrary, they have
been the recipients of oflegislation 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
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 na-
tive born, but foreigners barely landed on
our shores. with their Intentions de-
clared," could at once initiate 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 a land grant, amounting to $4,000
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
best of its kind-for
the benefit of the sons and daughters
Of our farmers. Since making this
grant the federal government has given
Schools, i an annual appsopretion ps Of Of .1s @
With an increase Of s., 600 a wear for 10
years, or until the appropriation reaches
e25, 900, at which figure it is to be main
tanned, and paid annually to each state.
Tho federal uovornment has als0 voars |