The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-10-02

III COILpCU dSdluSU Hill. Lie IdCl
that a promise Of reward in the form
OF fair prices would result in the re.
clamatiOn of arid or other wild lands
ought not to be urged as an objection
to this plan, as that condition itself is
one sought by all progressive com
munities and is in perfect accord with
the trend of civilization. If the
orchard would give way to the grain
or cotton field, it would do so simply
because the latter would give greater
promise than the former, and while
it may be acknowledged that the
tiller of the soil has but few priv
leges left, perhaps the right to change
from one product to another is still
one of these privileges-unless it has
been abrogated by the modern deed OF
trust mortgage. If ten or twenty or
hundred thousand acres of orchard
give way to as many acres of grain, it
will at least relieve the fruit market
to that extent, and thereby enable
those who remain under the shadow
of the fig and the vine to secure tenn
porarily better prices than they do
now. That it will have this effect is
just as certain as that the depressed
condition of agriculture in general
drove thousands into fruit raising.
The question of what the other
wheat-producing countries would do
IN the matter OF preserving prices, or
rather Of demanding our price, is one
that the law Of self-preservation
ought to settle, and most likely will
However. there is but one wheat-ex-
porting country in Europe Russia
and that nation is now and has al
ways been the staunch friend OF the
United States. That it would join us
in any movement designed to better
the condition Of the producers of
grain-and incidentally to punis h our
common enemy, the money mongers of
London-goes without saying. 1t is
true that cunningly devised efforts
have been made, both through the
press and from the rostrum, to dis
rupt this relation-and thus invite
an assault from the rest of Europe
but fortunately they have failed.
RuSsia'S recent offer of financial aid
in the face of threatened assault
upon our national treasury by the
London pawnbrokers-sho that the
greatest nation in Europe is as much
our friend today as it was in 1862
when our national sea-board was pa
trolled by it's warships, from the
mast-heads of which could be read
though England hands
Off" SO there need be no fear about
what Russia would do.
But this is not all. The beneficial
effects Of an improved agricultural
condition will not be confined to those
bred and born upon the farm. It will
manifest itself in The overcrowded
cities of the nation, where bare ex.
istence is the present reward for a
life of toll. 1t will take whole fam
lilies from The shadow of a sweat
house existence, where the conditions
OF life are anything but American,
and place them back upon the farm
where they can at least enjoy the
sunlight Of Heaven, and thus pave
the way for & higher and a bette r
standard of citizenship. That there
has been a congestion of labor in
the cities as result Of the unprOfit-
BILE farm is a fact that is borne out
by the thousands of abandoned farms
and homesteads along the Atlantic
Coast; and that this scramble for
bread in the crowded centers of popu-
lation has had demoralizing effect up
on the citizenship of the nation, is a
fact that is evidenced by the presence
Of "boodlers" in nearly all places of
public trust. If the citizenship of
this country was Of higher standard
and its economic policy broader and
better forty years ago than it is
to-day, it was due to the fact that
agriculture was then the chief re-
source Of the country and that it's FOL
lowers were the lawmakers of the ma
tiOn. The "boodler" and the dob
byist," SO conspicuous to-day in the
halls of legislation, were then I'M
known agents in government. Such a
thing as two thousand indignant citi-
zenS marching into a legislative hall,
bent upon lynching their epresenta-
tives, as we experienced in Denver a
few days ago, was never even dreamed
Of
But change was demanded. The
men who had wrested this country
from the tyrant nation of the world
and defended it, both in war and in
trade, without pledging its credit to
the enemy, were considered too slow
and too conservative for the needs of
the nation that they themselves had
founded. The bucolic simplicity of
Jefferson was more than the kid
gloyed cormorants of commerce could
stand. The buzZardS of trade, who
had either eXperie need or enjoyed the
advantages OF class legisla tion in 9TH
er countries, saw at glance that the
peac eful pursuit of agriculture, while
great enough to maintain this coun-
try, without the sale of bonds to for
eign pawn-brokers, afforded them no
opportunity to prey upon the people,
SO they set about to effect change in
its economic policy. To do this
through the ordinary channels Of leg
islation would have been too slow to
crafty their greed, SO that they in
voked the aid of their favorite god,
Mars, to bring about that end. Cot
ton, wheat and corn were dethroned
in the costly struggle and steel and
iron were installed in their places,
and what is the result? Five thous-
and millionaires and FIVE hundred
thousand tramps, farms mortgaged
from Maine to Oregon, public and
private Indebtedness held by their
friends in Europe to the amount of
six billion dollars, the interest upon
which exceeds the gross value of all
bread-Stuffs, and a public
and private indeb tedness at home Of
over $4,000, 100000. And now comes
Cile StdTUllnS ana preLGy well autnen-
ticated intelligence that the grand
indus trial fabric, built up in this
country at such fearful cost, is
about to be overthrown by the cheap
labor products of the New Orient.
And right in this connection it might
not be out OF place to say that the
New Orient has been made new by
the same agents as prompted the Re
bellion-the purveyors of. gold. The
nations which have been buying up
our resources at cost and nurturing
their own. are now going to invade