St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-16
FARMERS COMPLAINT.

We publish this morning a letter
from an intelligent and thoughtful
farmer, giving his reasons why he
does not approve Of the movement
to bring immigration into the North
west. We arc glad of this oppOr-
tunity to consider the subject from
the farmers point of view, and to
show our correspondent how erro-
neous is the impression that he has
formed. The statements of fact
which he makes are, beyond ques-
tion, true The wonderful bounty of
nature to the Northwest during the
last season resulted in crops that
We're unheard of before. Where these
crops consisted principally, as they
did in the district from which this
gentleman writes, of roots and vege-
tables which do not bear transporta-
ton over long distances, and for
storing which during the winter our
farmers have made little provision,
the result of the superabundance has
been to decrease prices to such an
extent that many fields of potatoes,
and acres of vegetables, have not
even been gathered. They would not
pay for the expense of marketing.
The prices of grain are also low, and
the farmers feel, naturally, that they
are not receiving a heavy cash re-
turn for their labor
We would point out to our CORE
spondent, in the first place, that no
farmer of the olden time would have
understood a complaint based upon
a crop yield that he considered too
bountiful. The men who laid the
foundation Of this country, and the
pioneers who struck out from the
Eastern settlements into the wilder
ness, and brought the mighty West
under cultivation, had in mind no
create fortune than the securing of
an honest independence. If the set
tier of New England could wiring
from its stony and forbidding soil
bare subsistence, he thought him.
self fortunate. To obtain a modest
holding of land, to raise upon it prod
uce enough to support his family in
comfort, to work the land with the
assistance of his sons and to leave
it as their heritage, was his ambi-
ton. 1t was, it seems to US. an am
bition much nobler than the desire
for wealth. Such a man would not
understand a complaint that nature
had been too prodigal of her gifts
If he had more than he could con-
sumo, and more than he could give
away, he would feel that the world
was a pretty good place to live in
after all.
The condition of the farmer whose
fields have been thus productive can
not be an evil one, unless he has
been unwise enough to burden him
self with debt. 1t may be that he is
as far as ever from accommodating
wealth. The cash prices of his prod
ucts have fallen so low that their
money value is inconsiderable. But
neither in city nor in country, of re-
cent years, has the way Of wealth
been open to many. If the average
city resident had been secure, in the
last three years, of more than he
could eat, and more than he could
give away, OF the earth's good gifts
he would have deemed himself es.
pecially fortunate. To him, there.
fore, who seeks simply subsistence
from the land, and home for him
self and family, with plenty to eat
and the ordinary comforts Of life
nature in the Northwest has not beer
unkind.
Passing now to the matter imme
diately in point, we would call the
attention of our correspondent to thu
fact that the increase of immigra
tion does not promise tc strengthen
in any particular, the conditions O
which he complains. We venture t,
say that if there had been five farm
ers in Minnesota, during the las