The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-23
STRESS OF COMPETITION

STRESS OF COMPETITION
which the American farmer is COM
PEELED to endure, Mr.. Morton calls at
tention to the nearly 100000 farms
OF eighty acres each, given away by
the government under the homestead
act Of 1866, during the past thirty
years and to the amount donated under
the timber culture law, equivalent to
over $4,000 more farms Of the same
size. Lands long titled and rendered
partially infertile could not, Of course,
enhance in value and sell in competi-
tion with virgin soil donated by the
government. No legislation relative to
the public domain has been so directly
inimical to the farmers who had bought
and paid for the lands upon which they
had lived and labored. 1t was impos-
sibe for farmers in the states to profit
ably sell their products in competition
with those of the newer states grown
upon lands which cost their owners
nothing.
During the fiscal year just ended the
exported products of American farms
aggregated $570, 100000, an increase of
SIT, 100000 over the preceding year. In
spite Of this there was a falling off in
the percentage Of agricultural products
exported to the total exports, but this
was due to the unprecedented sale
abroad of American manufactured
goods The largest market for our
products is admitted to be the home
market, but the export trade is the
regulator, the balance wheel for do
nestle trade. 1t follows that the in
terest of the manufacturer as well as
Of the farmer is found in the most
rapid possible increase of the export
of farm products. General prosperity
depends absolutely upon agricultural
prosperity. And any commercial sys-
tenn which will increase with celebrity
n.fo i1afxy fIOa lnTf of
our farm products will be Of the utmost
advantage to agriculture and all those
interested in its profitable expension.
Secretary Morton asks if a nation
which like the United States possesses
the greatest power and facilities for
producing and manufacturing things
which the world demands, is not des-
tined to monopolize the markets Of the
globe. With the most Favorable con-
ditions for varied and successful agri-
culture and the lightest burden of ma
tional taxation, what country, he asks,
can compete with this in developing
the best results of human toll with a
minimum of human efforts?
Wages paid in the United States, in
the production of wheat and cotton,
for instance, are so to 100 per cent
higher than in the countries with
which we compete, wages paid in man
ufactures from metals are from 25 TO
100 per cent higher than the wages
paid workers in the same Industries
by other nations.
"It is, =" he concludes, probably quite
safe to declare that at least 100000
Of American wOrkmen on farms and
in factories subsist almost wholly upon
employment based upon foreign de-
mand for American commodities. And
in this contest for feeding and furnish
ing Observation-Disclosures the
fierce competition which it meets all
over the globe-American agriculture,
manufacture and commerce are stead
lily gaining more trade, and thus fur
nishing an enlarged wages fund, on
a, good basis, out of which some mil
lions Of American laborers and skilled
artisans draw their yearly remunera-
tion and upon which they and their
families largely depend for employ
ment and comfort"