Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-09-07
THE FARIERS' SUFFERINGS,
How the Agricultural Interests Have
Been Hurt by tho Gold Standard.

/ t1o" tne agricultural interests nave
! Been Hurt by the Gold Standard.
Though labor in general has felt the
depressing effect OF the single gold
1 standard, the burden of this iniqui-
/ tous system has rested with peculiar
lorce upon the farmer.
AS rule, whatever hurts the farmer
| also hurts the merchant, tho banker,
the mechanic and the laborer. The
converse Of the proposition is also
true. Whatever benefits the farmer
likewise benefits the merchant and
| produces a salutary effect upon the
entire life of the Nation.
The great source OF National wealth
is in the soil, and there can be no gen.
uine prosperity in this country which
does not depend at last upon the
American farmer.
This truth was strikingly illustrated
in the recent speech of Mr.. Bryan be-
fore the convention in Chicago. DE
stroy your Cities" said he, ''and your
farms will build them up again, but
destroy your farms and grass will grow
in the streets of your cities"
There are some who affect to,believe
that the farmers of this country, as u
rule, are prosperous. Such belief as
this, If honestly entertained, can
spring from nothing less than igno-
rance. 1t Is used, however, as an ar
gument in favor of perpetuating the
present single gold standard.
| Let US view the matter through i'm
partial spectacles and see if these
logicinns are correct. If the farmers
are prosperous they should be able to
meet their obligations as fast as they
mature and there should be no bur-
densome mortgages resting upon their
shoulders. But is such the case2 I'm
happily it is not. There is not one
farmer in three whose roof is not
mortgaged over his head and who does
not find it simply impossible to make
buckle and tongue meet.
What do the records show? In the
State of Iowa a Observation-Disclosures
hangs over 33 per cent. of the farming
lands. In Nebraska, 32 per cent. of
the farms are mortgaged Other West
ern States show similar condition of
embarrassment.
But if the Western farmer has a
good reason for repudiGting the single
gold STANDARD as the author of his
financial hardsnips, the Eastern farm
er has much better reason for max
ing the same complaint.
In Pennsylvania A per cent. of the
farming lands are mortgaged; In New
York, 45 per cent. in Rhode Island,
42.59 per cent. in Connecticut.
40. 60; in Delaware, a per cent, and
in New Jersey, 1864 per cent. The
average indebtedness on each mort
gagged farm in the Eastern States is:
s1749 in New York, Sl716 in Pennsyl-
vania. S1525 in Rhode Island, $l266 in
Connecticut, S2147 in Delaware, $1323
in Massachusetts, and $1,000 in Ver-
mont.
In Nebraska the average incum-
brance on each farm is $10S4, III Ken
lucky, $1,000; in Illinois, $1664; in
Indiana, 1912; in Michigan, $500; in
Minnesota, $S14; in Mississippi, $619 !;
in Missouri, 1858; in South Carolina,
$3.50, and in Tennessee, S667.
No one can truthfully assert that
such figures as these represent pros
porous condition. Instead OF showing
prosperity they only give evidence of
sacrifice and privation. Under proper
financial conditions there should not
be one farmer in hundred with a
mortgage indebtedness hanging over
his head.
| OF course some allowance should be
made for individual pecul1arities.
Some farmers are lazy and indolent,
while others are industrious and
economical. Suchlnequalities as these,
however, could not possibly have
wrought the conditions which prevail
to day and which admit of no other
explanation save that furnished by the
iniquitous operation of the single gold
standard.
No wonder the farmers of New Eng
land, therefore, have joined hands with
the farmers of Illinois and Nebraskf
in raising q cry of protest against
such manifest discrimination. Nc
wonder the people of this country are
stirred up as they have never been in
any former campaign. What tht
American farmer wants is o change in
existing conditions, and that change
can be effected only by restoration
of silver to its former place i'll the
currency of the Nation. With th
support of the farming interests of th'
country, the success of the Democratic
party is inevitable, Atlanta Ccnsti
tuition.
Time For Gold Bugs to Retire.
The pestiferous insects that have
been goading industry are becoming
unbearable. And when the American
citizen "gets up on his hind legs" the
gold bugs had better crawl into theil
holes. Silver Knight.