Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1896-08-05

shall hail you as the emancipators of man
kind
The wise men passed the law as the gov
ernor had advised and all the people OF the
state rejoiced, for their cribs were full OF
corn. They could hardly contain them
selves till the governor had signed the bill
which raised the price OF Kansas corn from
10 cents to As cents bushel All the
people now felt rich. They bought many
luxuries and the most of them went in
debt. They wondered that they had never
found out that wealth was simply a matter
OF legislation and they felt a great pity
and contempt for the ignorant and super
stitious people Of the other states. Then
he farmers from the other states began
hauling their corn to Kansas. Long lines
OF wagons came winding along every road.
Boats lloated it down the rivers and rail
roads rushed it in from every section of the
country. 1t seemed as if the country was
all corn and it was all headed for Kansas
The people OF Kansas took their medicine,
that is, they took the corn and gave up
their wheat.
| The farmers from the other states
thought the Kansas people were queer, but
they kept bringing them their corn. Corn
came in and wheat went out. And besides
all the Kansas people had gone to raising
corn because it was more easily produced
than wheat and was to bring just as much
in the market as wheat, for the wise men
had decreed that it should. 1t was not
long till Kansas had all of its own and
nearly all of its neighbors' corn.
When the other states saw this vast &C.
emulation and knew that it must sooner
or later come on to the market, the price of
corn began to decline till it could be pur-
chased anywhere except in Kansas for ten
cents bushel. In Kansas the price was
still 45 cents, which was the price of wheat
but there were no buyers. Neither would
anyone exchange wheat for their corn.
When the autumn came the Kansas people
did not have any wheat for seed. Then
they sent to the neighboring states and i'm
plored the farmers to exchange wheat at a
parity with corn. But the farmers said /:
1--WE will exchange one bushel of wheat
for four and one-half bushels of corn y
Our law" replied the Kansas people,
''puts corn and wheat at parity. They
are equal for our wise men said they
should be-" And the farmers replied,
"Your wise men are asses; let them eat
your corn" So the Kansans went back
home and all their people were in despair.
The more CON they had the less it was
worth and they had nothing but corn.
Day by day the times grew harder.
Then the governor again assembled the
wise men and said to them, ''Most con-
summate, picturesque and differing COLL.
darned fools. There is but one bigger
fool than yourselves. 1t is he who now
addresses you.
''We thought we could bluff the ever
lasting law OF supply and demand with our
statute. We thought we could legislate
value into thing and make our people
rich by law. We thought we were
patriotic. We were idiotic. Let us hon
estly acknowledge our assininity, repeal
our fool law, get back into line with the
other states and imagine no more that we
are wiser than the whole world. Do this,
and may we live long enough to know that
the other states have ceased laughing al
our folly and that our own state has ceased
cursing us for it."
Then the wise men repealed the law
but it was many years before the people
recovered from the effects of the corn
crisis.
Moral; We are big nation, but we are
not the whole earth.
Another moral: Legislation can neither
make nor unmake values.
Still another: A fool is man who
thinks all of the rest of the world are fools.
One more: We cannot lift ourselves up
by our own boot straps.