Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1895-08-28
ITAFFEcTs THE FARMER.

" AFFECTS The FARMER.
Among the politicians and money
brokers of the country there is always
to be found an element that seemingly
cannot understand why it is that the
farmer devOtes so many of his spare mo-
ments to the silver question and some
even go so far as to ridicule him for it.
These men who have been running the
financial business of the nation for
these many years are not posted as to
the farmers purpose and they will in
the near future wake up to the realiZa-
ton o. the fact that the soil tIller of
the country understands the situation
quite as well as the man on Wall street.
Mockery and ridicule will not suffice to
restrain the farmers of this country
from urging the reconciliation of sill
yer. 1t was an expensive lesson they
learned since the crime of 1873; they
know that the demonstration of silver
has deprecated the value of their prod
uce and their farms and has made them
tenants and slaves to the landlords
Of Britain. Many who slumbered five
years ago were thoroughly aroused
when the mortgage foreclosure knock
ed at the door. 1t was then that the
man, who once had home which he
could call his own but now is turned
out penniless on the world, began to
absorb his mind in the problem of
cause and effect. Upon an examina-
ton OF the past records he found that
his wheat and other farm products be-
gan TO decline when silver begin TO de-
cline; he saw that as the years rolled
on each succeeding year would find
payments harder to meet until finally
small mortgage was placed on the old
homestead in the hope of better times
and better prices. But as time went
on he found his debts more oppressive
and prices going down instead of ris-
ing and he was soon met face to face
with the fact that the interest on his
mortgage had accumulated to a point
where liquidation was impossible,
debts were to he seen on every hand
and general disaster stared him in the
face. His farm, his personal effects,
his all, went under forced sale and, 10,
the result-a ruined man, helpless
family and wealthy money loaning
syndicate. Hence we say the farmer
has learned an expensive lesson and
one which he will never forget and this
is the reason why the farmers are TAX
ing an unusual interest in the question;
they know it affects them vitality.
Hark the words of John p. st. John
in the famous Brewer-St. John debate
of March 81, 1894: ''In 1873 when
the republican party demonetized
silver by sneaking a bill through
congress so adroitly that even the pres
ident did not know that there was a
clause in it demonetiZing silver when
he signed it, and two years elapsed be-
fore our country came to full realiza-
tion of the trick, wheat in the United
States brought an average price in the
home market of $1.15 per bushel, while
in 1894 the average price is forty-five
cents per bushel. was out in the
state of Nebraska recently. and while
on one of the railway trains a gentle
man came through and said: Dinner
is now ready in the dining car A
farmer who sat across from me said:
How much do you charge for dinner?'
and the man said: One dollar Holy
Smoke!' said the farmer, three bushels
of wheat for dinner!' daughter In
| 1904 NohrocI1o nh
about thirty-tiv cents per bushel, and
Kansas wheat the same; and is the
same still. Three bushels of wheat
for dinner, three bushels more for
breakfast, and supper, three bushels.
Nine bushels of wheat for three square
meals. And if an old farmer stays
over night on Pullman car it takes
| six bushels more; fifteen bushels of
wheat, under this republican policy, to
sleep an old farmer on a Pullman car
oyer night, and get three meals. n
My friend says that it is the result IF
| 'OYer-prOduction.' Well, let us see.
In 1880 we produced an average of ten
bushels of wheat for each man, woman
and child i'll the United States. The
farmer that year got an average of
ninety-five cents per bushel. In 1890,
with 100000 more population, we
produced about Ct bushels per capita,
and the farmer only got eighty-four
cents per bushel. In other words, with
/ greater production in 1880, the far
mer got eleven cents more per bushel
than in 1890. What becomes of the cry
of 'over-production?'
We could quote other authorities,
such as ingalls,, Plumb and other pub
lie men, to show that the farmers prod
ucts began to decline when silver got
Its death blow. We only need to look
at our daily surroundings to convince
any reasoning man that the present
evil conditions will continue so long
as gold is the only measure of value.
| TLEN NlNII