Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-12-18

lioC III BilNtSs ~ ltShll NV BlObdOitf bub
how many of them will keep their in
comes? Very probably the college pres
idents, and professors will, though this
Is not certain. The business men certain
ly will not; that is, that class of business
men that sell goods. Clerks and drum
mers may for a while keep their places
and their incomes; so also school teach
ers and those employed in government
offices. Domestic servants, when fOrtu-
nately placed, may retain old places at
old wages. But it is impossible that the
great army of day laborers 1--WE refer
now to those outside of agriculture)
should find employment at full wages, or
anything like them, unless general pros
perity exists. This is a self-evdent
truth, and is demonstrated now over the
country by the great army of unemploy-
ed in our cities and towns.
In Vermont our greatest interest
lies in the condition of agriculture; the
prosperity, or want of it, of our farmers.
For that means with us the prosperity, or
want of it, of nEe-tenths of our citizens.
Since the above was written our atten-
ton has been called to the following
most startling statement of facts, rela-
tive to the present condition of the
country, made recently by the Providence
Journal, a leading "sound money" repub-
lican paper. The journal says:
The general testimony of current trade
reports is that business is still dull, or at
any rate is not booming as it was hoped
it would be by this time; and there are
evidences of some disappointment in con-
sequence. The prosperity that was eX-
pected to follow the triumph of right
principles at the polls is not yet mater
ializing In any large way. Nevertheless,
there is no reason why any man should
be disappointed with the present situa-
ton who understands the fundamental
conditions of pros perity in this country.
Confidence has been reestablished in con-
siderable measure, it is true, and plans
for the future are being rapidly put into
shape. But that does not put money in
the pockets of the farmers, and until the
latter are better able to buy than they
are now we have no right to expect that
general business will be really brisk.
1t is remarkable how prone most
people are to overlook the dependence of
US all, and consequently of the country's
prosperity, on the agricultural classes.
Four out of every t persons occupied
in work in the United States are engaged
wholly in agriculture, and besides these,
there are others who, classed as common
laborers, work upon the farms at least a
part of the year, and still others who
are constantly engaged IN converting the
crude products of the soil into finished
products for distribution or export.
Edward Atkinson, indeed, estimates that
fully half of the workers of the country
are occupied either in agriculture or in
processes directly dependent thereon.
What hope is there that the country as a
whole can be prosperous till these large
classes are prosperous?
But prosperity has not been theirs for
the last few years, as everybody knows,
and the lack of it has left them with
comparatively little money to spend
now. In the extremely valuable report
recently issued by Mr.. Powers of the
Minnesota bureau of labor it is shown
from well assured figures that the cash
receipts of farmers at the farm prices of
crops in 1895 were less by 100000
than their receipts for the crops of 1891.
That indicates the extent to which the
purchasing power of half the population
has been impaired. They have been
forced to use their old wagons and tools
instead of buying new ones, to forego
luXuries and to buy fewer necessities
such as household goods and clothing.
That, coupled with comparative inability
to sell abroad because of tariff restric-
tons, is the real cause of the depression
in our manufacturing industries during
the last few years.
And it is obviously not a cause that
can be removed in breath, by the mere
restoration of confidence in the future.
, 1t is going to take some time. at the
best, for the farmers TO recover the
ground they have lost; and their first
expenditures will necessarily be con-
fined within certain narrow limits, such
, as the renewal of their wornout tools for
the purpose of doing more effective
work now that the promise of its reward
is better. Confidence is all very well
for starting up enterprises that look tC
the future, like the building of railway:
. and the enlargement of manufacturing
plants, but wholesale and retail trade
must wait till the farmers have some
r surplus cash in their pockets once more
t Here is a candid admission of the
: cause of the want of prosperity through
! out the country. But the remedy sug
, gested to the farmers, who have los
e their profits through the appreciation Of
S the value of money by law as sure ant
q accurate as that of gravitation or any o.
/ natures great laws, is that they should
: sharpen up them tools so as to work tC
r better advantage, and presumably rais'
4 more crops. Hitherto the usual remedy
= suggested by the devotees of a gol,
S standard has been to produce less. Fol
t they claimed the trouble to be from over
T. production.
But we will not concern ourselves
e about the remedies proposed by thos'
: ignorant of or unwilling to admit thu
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