The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1896-08-29
A JUST DEMAND.

If any one class of people is entitled
to the fostering care of the govern
ment, or if any should receive special
favors from legislation it is the agri-
culturists. Upon those who produce
the wheat that makes our -four, the
wool and cotton that clothes US and
the meat we eat, we must all depend
for our sustenance. The farmer who
tolls in the fields is the real producer
Of wealth in all countries, except per-
haps In the strictly manufacturing
centers, and these all are indirectly
dependent upon the agriculturalists.
The farmers then are the real backbone
OF the country, and upon their prosper
ity rests the prosperity of all. With.
out them our railroads would have no
traffic, our merchants no customers,
our bankers no clients, our manufac-
turers neither raw material to manu-
facture, nor consumers of their pro-
ducts. Therefore, since the life of all
industries depends upon them, If the
fostering care of the government
should be extended to any class it is
the farmers. But, with the exception
OF the wool farmer, they have received
the least favors from legislation in the
past. They have been taxed to build
up manufacturers and transportation
lines, to maintain the army and navy,
to pay the running expenses of govern
ment, but little indeed have they re-
ceived in return.
Now when they ask for change in |
the monetary system of the country |
which they believe will be beneficial
to their interests, in that it will en-
nance the value of their products, they
are confronted by the money lenders,
the manufacturers and the transpor-
tation companies with the charge that
they are ''repudiators and traitors"
In this we believe the favored classes
are unwise. They may be shrewder
fnancters and more accomplished
manipulatOrs of stocks and bonds than
are the tillers of the soil, but they
are no more patriotic or honest.
Through their manipulation of
they have been able
to formulate systems that are bene-
fetal to themselves, but detrimental
and oppressive to the masses. 1t is
but natural that they should reluctant
ly surrender any of the privileges they
have enjoyed in the past, but they
have almost squeezed all the life out
Of the wealth producers by their op-
preston, until q point has been
where the burden is no longer
bearable, and If they would be pros.
porous in the future they must con-
,ede something to the class upon whom
heir prosperity depends. They must
'oncede to the farmer something more {
han a mere living as q result of his I
abor.
1t is argued of course by the favored
lasses that the reconciliation of sill
er VIII not result benehcIaIIy TO the
armer, but the latter believes differ ]
ntly, and bases his belief upon the q
onditions that existed prior to 1873, {
then silver was demonitized. He
ooks back to the period of inflated 8
when his every product a
rought almost double the price it a
oes now, and remembers that in those a
ays he was prosperous, whereas, since u
hat time he has seen the values of his a
roducts steadily decrease, until now c
g is confronted with bankruptcy. e
With such conditions existing it is but O
1st that the demands he makes for q
evision Of systems that will better his n
be granted. To prevent any n
hing that will be beneficial to the n
srmer is to prevent all possibility for O
since without prosperous r
Irming communities all business en- ct
srprise is impossible. is