The sun., 1896-08-24
WHATHURTS THE FARMERS
TEE CAUSE OF TEE FAIB IN
PRICES rs OTERPRODU DUoTIoN.

TIE Eaoruous ReduetioA IN ths uesans
for uoress .ud Horss reed sA the Street
Railroad Rusiness Has Destroyed One
ProntabIs Market for the Farunerr'
WARRINGTON, Aug ga" The FREQ coinage OF
silyer will not bring about an increase In the
, price OF farm products, as Ia claimed oy the
professional politicians who are agitating the
free silver side Of the question:" said Charles
Nelson, Second Assistant Postmaster-General
| yesterday, while. discussing In an Informal
way tho financial situation. Mr.. Nelson docs
not claim to be n politician, but he 10 thor
ouRhly practical railroad man OF Wide experi-
ence.
I'm my offioinl capacity" said Mr.. Nelson,
"I havo travelled in every section Of the United
States where the mails are delivered, ana l have
observed that the principal cause OF the distress
among tho farmers is overproduction. They
blame the gold standard for all OF their Ills, but
IL has never occurred TO many of them that the
real reason for the decline in tho price OF their
products 10 tho lack of o market Tor the crops
they raise. Travel through the great corn,
oats. and hay raising districts. and you Will hnd
tho farmers producing tho same quantity, II not
more, of horse feed that they did few yoars
nvo when cable cars and electric street rail-
ways wero untried. Tho same may be said OF
the farmer who for ysars has carried on q prof
liable business of raising horscs to bo sold to tho
street car companies In tho various cities OF the
nation.
"Havo you evor stopped to consider the mag
nitude OF the blow dealt the farmer BY the re-
cent improvements in streot-car fscilities7 Be
fore we had cable and electric street cars the
farmer found . steady and frm market for
good, sound drnught horses. He also sold at .
fair price enormous quantities Of the products
which onter Into tho feed ard bedding for
A,k lts1. ln,x ,rA fn
N, ,.s =, h,u,-.
hor,o @ fs.d % huy @ coal and other material to ope-
at. .,d r,ox. ,haircars II .cen, that In nnny
Nv. hav. M, r.d mead or diver.
siaed their crops, but have gone on planting
thor.and. and tbop,and. az aores Of corn. Data
and hay, for which there 10 no Demand In
other words tho farmer, who formerly fur
ni,hod tho horses and tho horse feed for the
street railways OF tho community nAFo oeeh
superseded as tho producers of the motive
,,.r 90 th... ,ornor,tion, hv tho co,l p,iner
and the manufacturers Of tho material that 10
used s, In the construction OF tho now system OF
rH,'ronu'ns' .,,' r
induce the street railways Of tho world to apan.
don their present rand transit systems and re-
turn @ toll to the nova now aneien. car horse. because tho
aod market ar % for their horses ~ or their G grain ?
tho old mothods Of street.car travel and re.
,,n,,.L LII ., ,,,,n..ar,sn,. o. .,.ast
hnquish hil the new improvements IN s'reet
railroadinR to crafty tho farmer. who Is un-
willing or unable 10 abandon the production Of
y. u w
certain crops Tor which tho oemano 10 not
equal to the supply? Put that question
to vote OF the people and sec what
tho result will be. You must also consider
the wonderful growth of the bicycle business
carriage business Is suffering equally as much MS
that Of the grain prod ucing business. The
livery stable keeper has been Obliged to close
his doors, except in the case of funerals, aud he
does not know how long II will be before the
bicycle will supersede the hearse and the mourn
er's coach"
Mr.. Nelson. in the course OF his remarks. said
II is impossible to form any estimate of the ex-
tent to which the farmer Is effected by the
transform alton that has recently occurred In
tho street railway business. except by consult
astonishing when you take the number Of
street railwayH throughout the country and cal
cuiate the number OF horses they once used
and also the millions Of tons of horse feed they
once bought from the farmers.
George I. Dunlop President OF tho most i'm
portant street rail car company in Washington,
is OF the same mind as Mr.. Nelson. When tho
cars OF his company were drawn by horses 1t re-
ouired four teams two horses TO o team to
each car daily. Those horses had to be strong
and sound to do the work. and they cost tho
Company on an average about 81 so each They
were bought by agents of the company direct
from such farmers whose stock came up to the
requirements. IL took about 1000 head of
horses to operate the line daily, The average