The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1894-06-15
The Duffer of Old Theories.


in apparent good faith that in these old
days the general prosperity, especially
among farmers, was the result Of a rigid
economy not now practiced, and all that
is necessary to compel return of these
halcyon conditions is severe practice of
economy" Greater changes have taken
place in that short period-short when
measured by years-than i'll five hundred
years previous. This is a startling an
nouncement, but the facts of history con-
firm it. That great change has been
wrought by the application of science to
the arts. The 1abor-saving, or more prop
perly speaking the wealth multiplying
machinery which has come into existence
within the last half century or sixty
years has nothing to compare with 1t III
the previous five centuries. III fire arms,
from the hour of their birth to fifty years
ago, for common, small arms the old
flint lock had not been abandoned and
the old snooth-bore cannon was hardly
an Improvement on the cannon of GER
turtles previous. A glace at the scientific
firearms, great and small, of today is
almost startling. Take the whole cata-
logue of mechanical appliances and the
change has been almost as great i'll every
branch.
But these old buffers of stale notions
are happy in their oblivion of all these
changes, which have reconstructed society
from top to bottom. These philosophers
who keep their backs to the present and
future, and faces to the rear, looking
always behind them and never in front
if they belong to the farmer class, will
say '1ook how much you can buy for a
dollar now, more than you used to buy
and now wages of mechanics are two to
three dollars day, farm-hand's wages
are a dollar to dollar and half. Fifty
years ago, the wages paid a man day
for moving was only IS cents, working in
the wheat field a dollar. Now their wages
are double. In this vein they will talk by
the hour, ignoring all facts which refute
their arguments. Fifty or sixty years
ago, man could not earn more than rs
cents with scythe in the hay field. No
farmer would now pay man rs cents a
day to cut his grass or grain with hand
scythe or cradle. One man now with a
pair of good horses and machine will
cut as much heavy grass i'll an afternoon
as six good mowers would cut all day,
and will cut and bind as much wheat i'll a
day as ten men with cradles and hand
rakes. In the harvest field we find one
man now doing as much work as eight or
ten in those good old days prosperity"
and economy
Grant it that the one man with mower,
tedder, spring tooth rake, binder, ETC.,
receives double the wages that his grand
father got, who gets the wages that were
paid to the eight or nine old time har-
vesters? Does the farmer get it? He
certainly does not. He produces double
the wealth measured by its intrinsic value
and OH moss-back' S theory should double
his cash in hand at the end of the year
Let the farmer practice the most rigid
economy and he considers himself fortu-
nate if he makes both ends meet. Civ
ilization has placed him on a higher
plane, where his expenses have increased
far above of his grandfather's were,
His time and labor produce vastly more
of wealth sbut that wealth sells for not
more than the same amount of labor and
time did i'll his grandfather's day. The
money he is compelled to use costs him
double as much for he cannot escape using
double as much as was necessary i'll the
old days, and every dollar of it is taxed.
We had the curiosity to make a cal
culation recently of the amount ofinterest
the business of this country cost to carry
it on, and found that every dollar in active
circulation cost the people not less than
two dollars interest year. This drain
of interest eats up their substance like a
canker. Every laboring man, farmer
merchant and mechanic has to pay his
IuOld vi tllil lnlSlCSl. Lie llSu WHO dl (
compelled to borrow do not pay any more
than their quota, the expense spreads
among the entire community.
Take every line of business, examine
the conditions which environ it and the
same law controls ALL The great cor
porations cut the wages oftheir thousands
of employees, to save themselves from the
capitalist whose money they are forced to
use, and pay more for than the profits OF
their business will return. While the
labor saving machine has increased pro-
duction ten fold, the producers are stead
lily growing poorer, and this surplus
wealth is flowing in a steady stream into
the pockets of a monopolistic rich class
The city gamblers sell millions and mil
lions of bushels of wheat that never were
raised and grow rich at this business
This wealth all comes out of the pocket:
of the farmer and consumer. There i:
nowhere else for it to come FROM The
Boards of Trade gamblers do not add one
cent to the wealth of the country.
And these old moss, back economists
when driven to a corner by the bankrupt
cies that are taking place daily, will cry
out people must economic like they
used to-" Take farmer for instance
and set hmm to work with the old tools he
used to handle Let him depend upon