The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1894-08-02

;pletely brush away the fallacies OF
modern reformtrs. The address in full
is here published, and every man in
Minnesota, especially the farmers,
should study it well:
Hard times an ID industrial and economic
depression, in Various forms and from
various causes, hare been in OR midst
during the past sixteen months. In the
wake of these times aud as IN incident
thereto are u n lmber of 'I-told-you-so''
reformers who d ave an easy, fippant and
demagogic way of diagnosing and ac-
counting for all cur troubles and all our
ailments, and who have no difficulty at
all TO suggest and tender, in connection
with their own personal services. n variety
of reforms of social and economic char
acter as swift knd sure relief for all in
dustrial congestEon and stagnation. 1t is
the aim of these reformers, first of all, tc
breed as much alarm, suspicion and dis
trust rs possible and to array class against
class, poor again ST rich and capital against
labor, and, above all, to make our farmers
restless with tile idea that they are now
suffering chiefly from the expressions of
the ether classei of society, especially from
those who havd accumulated more than
the ordinary levi sl OF wealth and are there
fore termed capitalists. 1t is openly
charged, or in s me form insinuated, that
our legislation has all along been framed
SO as to opprieSS the farmers and 10
enrich, at their Expense, those who are not
engaged in such pursuits Il is assumed
that all other classes have combined to
despo;l and imu oversh the farmer; that
he has been I'D neglected stcpS1n of Or
.ganiZed society on whom tribute has been
levied without stint or reason. 1t is
assumed that While most other classes
have been prosH erous to a greater or less
degree the farri Ter hIs no. prospered at all
but, on the contrary, has become more
and more Impoverished. and that he is to-
day mere serf at the foot of the economic
ladder. 1t is a ,sumed that this deplor-
able condition dnus assigned TO the farmer
is wholly the offspring OF economic and
financial legisl ation hostile to him and
calculated specially to enrich the so-called
capitalists. To EubsCantiate these aSsump-
tons and insiIjuatious statistics are APP
peal to. "Ub TO 1900" we are told,
''our national wealth was equally dis
tributed betwed n the farm ers and the rest
of the people" IL other words, that
The We ,ith OF Cur Farmers
was at that tin e not less than so per cent
of the entire v eslth of the nation, and
that since aatlperioi the rate Of increase
of wealth has 5een gradually to the dis
advantage of dhe farmer, until in 1890 the
farmers slIard Of the aggregate wealth
was only 90 pei cent. In short, the farm
ers have not ind reased as rapidly in wealth
since 1860 as ID rest Of the nation. This
may be true, b1I it entirely fails to estab-
lish that our "a rmers have not been thrifty
and prosperous Up to 1860 we were, to
an unusual de gree, an agricultural peo-
pie. Our agriE Gltural population was in
that year Il ,00l 600 out of a total of 81 ,0G0,
600, while in ia 20 it was 100000 ont of a
total of &c, 600, qO0 In 1850 the population
of our cities W ts ), 0c0, Geo. in 1880 over 49,
900, 600. In 1SJp our manufactures were in
their infancy. In that year there were
employed 1,311lO00 men in OR factories, as
against 4, 342, 0q0 men on our farms; while
in 1890 there W IS $3.50. sos men employed
IN our factOriis, rs against 6, DOC, COO men
on our farms. In 1860 there was employed
In our manufal cturing a capital of 81 ,009,
S55, Ills, as agai hst So 524 ATS ,305 in $780, In
1860 the value bf the products Of our man
ufactures was Isl 1856, 1851 $40, as against So, :
go, 170, 620 in 1890. In 1860 our railroad
system was still in it's childhood and I'M
developed. w e had then in this country
about 80 900 n les in operation, as against
10000 miles, capitalized at $4,000, OO0, 900,
in 1893.
These figures afford very clear and sat-
isfactory expld nation why the increase in
farm values h%s not, since 1850. kept up
with the increbse of wealth in other direc-
lions. While the pace, by comparison,
has been less, tet, considered By itself, the
growth of ou1 farm Industries has been
rapid and marvellous. In 1860 there was
4,O44, OH farms of the aggregate acreage of
407, 2l2, 5S8 acr4s, and of the value of Sc, 645-
O45,0 07, as against 4.564,641 farms of the
aggregate ACREAGE of 623, 21s,6 19 acres, of
the value of s13, 279 90 $40, in 1890. In 1860
the value of live stock was 81 ,0S9, 81, 915,
and of impleI hents and machinery $2I6,
l1S, l4l, as against s2,2OS, 1888 of live
stock, and s45i, 247 Al of implements and
machinery in bS9O. In 1860 there was pro-
fluccd 10, 1oi, de9 bushels of wheat, 172, 6f3,-
1S5 bushels oE oats, 15,a25,S3S bushels of
barley and sdS, ,742 bushels of corn, as
against 399, d32, coo bushels of wheat,
623. 626. 900 bushels of oats, 63 600, coo bush
els of barley and ,4S9, 9I0, $50 bushels of
corn in 1890; and the ratio OK increase has
been as great since 1880 as Ia the decade
ending with t bat year.
.Bsd eft to Agriculture.
A stu4 of bur statistics and an exam.
nation of our agricultural and industrial
development makes it plain that the
rapid growth of our nation in commences,
In transportat lion facilities and in manu-
featuring has not been at the expense OF
30 the detrin1 eat of our agricultural in