The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1894-01-11
FARMERS ARE POOR.
AMPLE PROOF OF THE TRUTH
OF THIS ASSERTION.
Tho Underlying Weakness the Present
Business Situation Is to he Found in the
Poverty of the Agricultural Glasses
Wouldn't Endorse Grover.


ural classes. OF the population of the
United States about 35 per cent. is tii
rectly dependent upon agriculture.
This includes the cotton grower as
we'll as the grower of grain. Both
have been impoverished by short crops
and prices lower than any of which
We have had any previous record.
Wheat at 60 cents at Chicago is al
most starvation price 10 the producer.
Now no country lin the world could
ENJOY prosperity at time when 30
per cent. of its industrial population
was impoverished, whatever the cause
OF the lmroverishment might be. Rail-
road men say the westbound freights
are light. Naturally, the agricultural
classes are too poor to buy. It Is true,
probably, that the country is compar-
atively bare of goods. and the recent
dry goods sale indicates that stocks
must have run low all over the coun-
try. They must be replenished to
some extent. But to what extent?
There is the critical question. Ii the
farmers and planters are too poor to
NY much the replenishing will be
one not one dollars worth beyond
wat the merchant md storekeeper
considers imperative requirements.
That means continuance of small busl-
ness, and this is what confronts the
country now. The ruinouslv low
prices of agricultural products, upon
which depends the livelihood OF 50 per
cent. of our industrial population, are
Just Cs killing in their effects us the
cIosing down of mills and the general
deduction OF wages. The one strikes
The worker in the West and South, the
other the worker in the North and
East. 1t Is stated that most of the
wheat, which is the money crop to the
farmer, has been sold bv him, his ne
':essities forcing him TO realize on it
anyhow. II this be true, and the in
:lications are that ii is, the farmer has
20 wait until next harvest before he
can get any advantage from an adj
vance in the price of grain, surprising
such an advance takes place. He is
concluded for this season. He has
sold out, and the scanty returns he has
received on his sales is all he has to in
vest in the products of the manufact
nrer. How can the latter expect great
prices or large demands under such
circumstances? And the transporter
If the goods where can he look for
large traffic New York Times.
England Only Benefited.
At the time silver was demonetiZed
IN 1873, the silver bullion in Il silver
dollar was worth three cents more than
She bullion IN gold dollar England
was interested in having silver de-
2onetized by the United States, which
produces onehalf Of the silver of the
world as it would iepreciate it's value
and enable England to purchase our
silver at a much cheaper rate. For
:wenty years England has made Il
profit of 10 per cent. by the purchase
Of American silver. which she coined
into rupees for the Indian trade, and
Tor which her merchants received the
same amount of wheat and cotton
from the farmers Of India as in former
years. AS the silver was purchased in
the United States, to buy our farmers
wheat and cotton would entail loss
of 40 per cent. to the English mer-
chants, us they could realize that
much more for their silver, purchased
Of our silver miners, by trading with
the farmers of India.
+ In this trade with India we are shut
cut entirely from the fact that the
only products India has to exchange
With us are the same in kind of which
we have surplus. The result is that
our wheat and cotton have been COM
pletely shut out of the markets of
Europe, and England has monopolized
~ c 10 atfn Of of
silver mines.
T In this connection, the last message
of Abraham Lincoln. written to the
miners of the Rocky Mountains before
his death: shows how clearly he fore
saw the great benefits the people OF
this country would receive from our
vast mineral wealth-provided these
Natural advantages We're not thrown
away. This letter was delivered tC
The miners by Schuyler Colfax, on May
30, 1865. over a month after Mr.. Lin
coins assassination. Here is the LEI.
ter:
ne payment Of the national debt much til.
easier. Tell the miners for me that shall
ability because their prosperity Is the prosper
.ty o. the nation and we shall prove III n Yer,
few years that indeed. We are the treasury O
the world
The American people are beginning
20 realize the far reaching effects o
throwing away, by legislation, our sill
yer wealth that would make the pay
ment of the national debt SO much The
easier" The &C; demonetiZing silver
by which the none. volume was Yer,
much reduced. and We were cheated
out Of our commanding position tina
would, indeed, have made our natio,
| the treasury of the world will not b.
allowed much longer to remain upo,
our federal statute books to disgrace
Us as nation, and pauperize our PEG
pie to benefit the Wall Street sharks
the New England money loaners. an
TO enrich the subjects of Great Britain
Peoples Paper.
PETER on Depression.
Senator PETER is member OF Cor
sressional committee that has been in
<estigating the cause OF the low price
| nf farm and Agricultural products. 81