Owingsville outlook., 1896-08-20

Thank God, the farmers of Ken
lucky, by inheritance and by rca-
son of their very modes of life,
possess those firm and strong quail
itics of mind and character which
enable them To resist and to reject
the sophistrics of politicians and
which fix them in the purpose to
stand always for social and politi-
cal order.
That man is weak indeed who
shall declare that one cause is suf-
ticient To produce that vast and al
most universal depression which
has spread over the entire civilized
world during the past five or six
years.
England, with her gold stand
ard" has felt it; Europe, with its
various financial policies, has felt
il; South America and Australia
have been prostrated by it; it has
moved like mighty tidal wave
over the earth, leaving ruin and de
struction in its path. Had any
single cause existed it would have
been recognized and removed. 1t
is because the sources of the trou-
BILE are many; because they are in
herent in the very nature of mod
ern progress and modern life; be-
cause no legislation, no govern
mental power can remove them,
and that, like the tidal wave, they
are controlled by natural forces,
that vain and shallow men, not
perceiving their depth, their force
or their meaning, are like the In
dian doctors offering their nostrums
and their charms 10 control the
waves of the great ocean of CON-
merce.
l submit to you as a fact which
your personal experience will ver:-
fy that the decentralization of sill
yer" has had no appreciable effect
upon the decline in the value of
lands or farming products; that
these results are due to other plain
and well known causes.
Let us look at some Of the facts
of experience.
In the year 1858, as a boy, rode
on horseback with my father (Mr.
William c. Bullitt) from Louis
vile to Henderson. He purchased
the best Ohio river bottom farm
which he could find about 500 acres,
for S35 an acre. / hold that farm to-
day and could not sell it for $40 per
acre. Did the crime of 1873 destroy
its value? Will the free coinage
of silver restore its value? If / so
believed, surely should labor side
by side with the silver miners and
their confreres, the silver politi-
clans.
But l believe nothing of the sort !;
the silver question has had but lit
tie, if anything, to do with its de-
cline, and free coinage cannot re-
store its value because it cannot
remove the causes Of its depres-
sion.
What has produced the decline
in value of Kentucky lands?
In 1858 the West and Northwest
was a virgin prairie; not a railroad
penetrated the great wilderness be-
yea6 the Mississippi river. Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and
Wisconsin were bp>- Hhe
h,id of ag1cult,
1t was common
that the farmers in tina: sc ----.
we're using corn for fuel, as a pro-
lection against the rigors of win
ter. They could not obtain coal,
they could not ship their crop, and
corn was their cheapest fuel.
Kentucky, with her great Ohio
river and its tributaries, was near
to the markets of the world, her
lands were unrivaled for utility,
and they commanded a price COM
mensurate with her situation.
Today the States named are
laced throughout, east and west,
north and south, by railroads,
which bring every farm to the very
doors of Chicago and New York.
Meanwhile what in our old geog-
raphies were the middle States
have row become "Central Middle
States;" the "West" is wholly be-
yond the Mississippi river. A
mighty empire, traversed by the
Northern Pacific, the Union Pacific,
the Southern Pacific and Canadian
Pacific railroads, interlaced by such
vast interior systems as the Chic
ago, Milwaukee d st. Paul, the
Chicago & Northwestern, the Iron
Mountain, the Denver & Rio
Grande, the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe and a hundred other rail-
roads; has been brought into i'm
mediate communication with the
great lakes, the Atlantic and Pa
ciic seaboards.
Kentucky, meanwhile, confident
in her wealth and in her central
position, has slept the "sleep of the
righteous" and awakens to find
herself central indeed, but away
off from the mighty tides and paths
of commerce.
If you wish to restore the values
of your land you must blot out the
Great West and Northwest; or, by
your energy, your intellect and
your skill, you must build up your
State and take your position as
leaders in the agriculture, manu-
factures and commerce of the
world.
Silver has not developed and will
net destroy the West. Free coin
age will add neither to your intel
lect, your energy nor your enter
prise. All that it can do for you
is to bind you as slaves to the
chariots of the Western silver
kings, who will use you Tor your
destruction, tor the further build
ing up Of that vast country which
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