Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1896-11-27


homestead act of 1886, during the past 81
years, and to the amount donated under
the timber agricultural culture law,
equivalent to over $4,000 more farms of
the same size Lands long titled and rem
oered partially unfertfle could not, of
course, enhance in value and sell in COM
petition with the virgin soil donated by
the government
I No one thing has been so directly in
imical to the farmers VINO had bought
and paid for the lands upon which they
had lived and labored. 1t was impossible
for farmers in the old states to profitably
sell their products in competition with
those OF newer states grown upon lands
which cost their owners nothing.
Referring to the Impression that greater
rates of interest are charged for money
loaned upon farms than for that loaned on
other kinds of real estate, the secretary
says the rate of interest charged on mort
cages upon residential property other
than farms, averages S4-10O of 1 per cent
less than the rate of interest charged
upon farm loans.
Exports.
During the fiscal year just ended the
export products of American farms ag
gregated $57O0OO,OOO, an increase of ST.
100000 over the preceding year. In spite of
this there was a falling off in the per-
centage of agricultural products export
ed to the total exports, but this was due
to the unprecedented sale abroad of Am
erican manufactured goods. The larg-
est market for our products is admitted
to be the home market, but the export
| trade is our regulator, the balance wheel
for domestic trade. 1t follows that the
int Of bo 70 &c
OF the farmer is found in the most pos
| sible increase of export of farm products.
General prosperity depends absolutely
| upon agricultural prosperity, and any
commercial system which will increase
with CELEBRITY and extend the exports of
our farm products will be of the utmost
| help to agriculturalists.
That political economy which best adj
vances the interest of the agriculturist
furnishes the best impetus to the manu-
facturer of the United States for his
best customers, who are farmers and
those who depend directly for profit upon
the prosperity of the farms.
Secretary Morton asks if a nation
which, like the United States, with the
great power and facilities for producing
and manufacturing things which the
world demands, is not destined to mo
nopolize the markets of the globe, with
the most fay orable conditions for varied
and successful agriculture and light bur
den of national taxation, what country
can compete with this in developing this
best results of human toll with a mini
mum of human effort.
The wonderful labor-saving appliances
applied to nearly every avenue of pro
duction, the wages paid in the United
States, in the production of wheat ant
cotton, for instance, are so TO 100 pei
cent higher than the countries with which
we compete; so the wages paid II
manufacture from metal are from % t.
100 per cent higher than the wages pait
workers in the same industries by othe
nations.
Under the foregoing conditions abou
100000 laborers of the American farms
are constar lily employed in developing
agricultural products for expectation. A
the same time, with a rapidly decreas
ing export of manufactured articles from
the United States the number of laborer
engaged in mechanical operations, VIII
must depend for their steady employ
ment upon the demand which the worl
|
decrea sing.
Based on Foreign Demand.
"It isl he concludes, probably quit
safe to declare that at least 100000 o
American workmen on farms and in fac
tories subsist almost wholly on employ
ment based on foreign demand for Amer
can commodities. And in this contest fo
1 feeding and furnishing mankind-no
withstanding the fierce competition whic
: it meets all over the globe-America
: agriculture, manufacture and commere
are steadily gaining more trade, ar
thus furnishing an enlarged wage fun
on a gold basis, out of which some mil
=, ions of American laborers and skill'
- artisans draw their yearly remunerati'
and upon which they and their famili
g largely depend for employment and cor
FORT