The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1894-08-04
The INDUSTRIAL SITUATION.


ed States. The constantly extending
west has rapidly been filling up, am
it's needs, and mechanical inventions
have caused many manufactures to bt
built all over our land. These TIVE
things, with the aid of the many rail
,ads that were built, drained the laboi
marts of the world, and caused tn.
price of that article to rapidly rist
But the time has arrived when tbs
west will not supply her lands in suc'
great abundance and so cheaply: an
the man of an independent turn o
mind can not 50 easily build for him
self and family home in the bound
less west. The Pacific Ocean has beer
reached-a natural barrier to emmigra
tiOn-and the tide has been checked, rap
idly filling the west with class of PEG.
pie who are day laborers and mechaD-
les with no inclination to settle dow
upon the land and make an independ-
ent living. We will not say that tn.
west has no room for the settlers, be-
cause that would be untrue, but
we will say that the west has
little or no available land that
can be easily watered at price so
cheap as formerly, also that the west
has need of farmers and agriculturists,
not make shifts and experimenters, but
actual, Industrious and experienced
men and women. The products of the
farm and factory are rapidly coming to
level market price and staple articles
Of commerce can be almost as cheaply
bought in the west as the east. The
wages paid in these two sections Of the
country are rapidly coming to the same
level, and the cause of all this are the
newspapers, the railroads and the tele-
graph. A report of little building
boom, or few extra laborers needed
in any part of the country, or the price
of any commodity enjoys little rise,
or some new mine is located, it is i'm
mediately heralded all over the coun-
try, and in a few days laborers are
plentiful, markets congested, and the
new mining ground all staked and To-
Gated. A little building boom in Cald
we'll was recently started and it brought
workmen from as far east as Pennsyl-
vania seeking work. This state of af-
fairs will soon cause wages all over.the
country to rapidly decline and in few
years will reach the minimum unless
those great organizations of labor put
statesmen at the helm, and, in the place
of organizing for the sole purpose of
inaugurating strikes and regulating
wages, organize with the end III view
Of intoxicating in the minds of their
members prudence and economy. Let
these words be their motto and they
will prosper.
The questions now arise: What will
produce this industrial change? How
can it be averteda We have out lined
some OF the reasons above This coun-
try is producing more day laborers, me-
chanics, artisans and other classes of
laborers much more rapidly than far
mers, thus causing decrease in the
wages of the first named people, and a
reduction in the price of commodities,
such as wheat, corn, cotton and wool
The supply of these articles regulated
to the meagre demands of the consumer
has caused a corresponding decrease in
price. Not only have the farmers suf-
fered but the manufacturers have suf-
fered also. The lack of experienced
farmers, and farmers without expert
ence, has reacted upon the manufac-
turers, causing decreased output of
farm machinery and supplies, reducing
the number of employees in these avoca-
tions.
Another thing that initiates against
prosperity is the fact that farmers do
not organize upon right principles, or,
in many cases do not organize at all. |
They effect an organization more for |
political than agricultural purposes,
and, in the place of meeting and discus
sing farm economy, they discuss polit-
zeal principles and measures. They fill |
their heads with tariff, monetary ideas,
income taxes and loan theories, in the
place of wheat, potatoes and live stock.
A plan similar to an organization re-
Gently effected in Canyon County
would bo productive Of much more
good, that is, an organization for mu-
tual benefit, to regulate the price of
their commodities, and to obtain cheap
Or transportation to the central mar
kets, and to make larger and fewer
shipments.
The farmer has little time to think
If these things, and this fact has been
The means of making them the prey of
he demagogue. The farmers of every
community or district should organize
'or mutual support.
The foundations upon which society
builded are the farmers and when
anything is wrong with the social
structure it effects the farmers first,
md through them the whole of society