The Worthington advance., 1894-08-09

pletely brush away the fallacies of
modern reformers. The address in full
is here published, and every man in
Minnesota, especially the farmers,
should study it well:
Hard times and industrial and economic
depression, in various forms and from
various causes, have been in our midst
during the past sixteen months. In the
wake of these times and as an incident
thereto are q number of 'I-told-you-sO"
reformers who have an easy, flippant and
demagogic way of diagnosing and &C.
counting for all our troubles and all our
ailments, and who have no difficulty at
all to suggest and tender, in connection
with their own personal services. variety
Of reforms of social and economic char
acter as swift and sure relief for all in
dustrial congestion and stagnation. It is
the aim Of these reformers, first of all, to
breed as much alarm, suspicion and dis
trust as possible and to array class against
class, poor against rich and capital against
labor, and. above all, to make our farmers
restless with the idea that they are now
suffering chiefly from the expressions of
the other classes of society, especially from
those who have accumulated more than
the ordinary level of wealth and are there
fore termed capitalists. 1t is openly
charged, OF in some form insinuated, that
our legislation has all along been framed
so as to oppress the farmers and to
enrich, at their expense those who are not
engaged in such pursuits. It is assumed
that all other classes have combined to
despoil and impoverish the farmer; that
he has been the neglected stepson of or
ganized society, on whom tribute has been
levied without stint or reason. It is
assumed that while most other classes
have been prosperous to q greater or less
degree the farmer has not 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. It is assumed that this deplor-
able condition thus assigned to the farmer
is wholly the offspring of economic and
financial legislation hostile to him and
calculated specially to enrich the so-called
capitalists. To substantiate these assump-
tions and insinuations statistics are ap-
peal:d to. up to $780," we are told,
"our national wealth was equally dis
tributed between the farm ers and the rest
of the people," In other words, that
The Wealth of Our Farmers
was at that time not less than so per cent
of the entire wealth of the nation, and
that since that period the rate of increase
of wealth has been gradually to the dis
advantage of the farmer, until in 1890 the
farmers share of the aggregate wealth
was only - per cent. In short, the farm
ers have not increased as rapidly in wealth
since 1860 as the rest of the nation. This
may be true but it entirely fails to estab-
ish that our farmers have not been thrifty
and prosperous. Up to 1850 we were, to
an unusual degree, an agricultural peo-
pie. Our agricultural population was in
that year II, ,0OO, 600 out of total of 81 ,OO0,-
600, while in 1890 it was q, ,OOO, 900 out Of
total of 62, ,00O, 600. In 1850 the population
of our cities was s, ,OOO, 900; in 1890 over 49,
O0Q, 600. In 1850 our manufactures were in
their infancy. In that year there were
employed ,311 900 men in our factories. as
against 1, 342, 900 men on our farms; while
in 1890 there was 1852, sos men employed
in our factories, as against {, 8,0O0, 900 men
on our farms. In 1850 there was employed
in our manufacturing capital of 81 Co.,
855, us, as against $8, ,524 Az, ,3O5 in 1890 In
1850 the value of the products of our man
ufactures was 81, ,SS5, ,961 ,676, as against 49,
270, III, $40 in 1890. In 1850 our railroad
system was still in its childhood and un-
developed. We had then in this country
about 10000 miles in operation, as against
10000 miles, capitalized at $10, ,000, ,000, ,0OO,
in 1898.
These figures afford very clear and sat-
isfactory explanation why the increase in
farm values has not, since 1850. kept up
with the increase of wealth in other direc-
tions. While the pace, by comparison,
has been less, yet, considered by itself, the
growth of our farm industries has been
rapid and marvellous. In 1850 there was
Q O44 on farms of the aggregate acreage of
407, ,212 53S acres, and of the value of %, ,645,-
OK, ,0O7, as against 4,564,64 farms of the
aggregate acreage of 629, ,21s, $40 acres, of
the value Of $13, ,s79, ,252, ,e49, in 1890. In 1850
the value Of live stock was 81 ,O60, 80, ,915,
and Of implements and machinery $780,
118,14l, as against $9,20e, 49, ,573 of live
stock, and go, ~ ,4s7 Of implements and