Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-11-27
MR.. .MORTON'sREPORT
SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE SAYS
FARMERS ARE PROSPEROUS.

WASHINGTON. Nov. 25.--Secretary Nor
ton. in his fourth annual report just made
public shows that with $3.50, 600, which
may be saved from the appropriations for
the current fiscal year, there will have been
covered back into the treasury since March
Z, 1898, over 50, 600, 600 out Of a total ap-
preparation Of s11, JIG, 455.45.
That this great economy was effected
without any loss of efficiency he attributes
In large degree to the improvement in
the personnel of the force under civil serv-
ice rules which he declares to be "abso-
lutely Indispensable to the maintenance Of
nm economic and efficient administration
of the public service.
To complete "the already almost perfect
system of civil service in his department
t., secretary recommends the appointment
~ permanent director in charge of bu-
roaus and scientific Investigations. The
chiefs Of scientific bureaus and their as
sistants he declared are not adequately
compe nsated, and strongly recommends
that the salaries of this class of employees
be increased
The inspection of animals intended for
food is treated at length and stress Is
laid upon the increased efficiency OF the
work, due to the extension of civil service
rules which has been very rapid in this
service.
Mr.. Morton urges strongly that govern
ment inspection should be extended to all
animals intended for human food, whether
for consumption in the United States or
abroad.
The report shows q steadily increasing
demand in England for American horses.
During the first nine months of the pres
ent year more of these animals were ship
ped to that country than for any previous
year
During the year the department issued
376 publications, mainly for gratuitous
distribution. The aggregate number OF
copies printed was 1851, 200. He protests
against the intrusion in the act of appro-
prlation for the department for the current
fiscal year of ss2, 500 for reprinting horse
books and cattle books to be given away
by congress.
Against Free Seed Distribution.
The secretary again takes occasion to
express his opposition to the gratuitous
distribution Of seeds and to express the
hope that the practice will he discontinued
The report concludes with a comprehen.
sive review of the condition of American
farmers.
Seventy two per cent of the farms In the
United States, occupied by their owners
er membranes. The secretary refutes
the idea prevailing that the farms of the
west and south are more heavily burdened
with mortgages then those of the east and
northeast. States along the North Atlantic,
he says, arc quite heavily incumbered with
farm mortgages, and New Jersey carries a
debt OF greater In proportion to farms
value than any state in the Union Tn
| frequent claim that the farmers are almost
universally indebted and suffering he de
clares to be without any foundation, be-
| littlement Of agriculture and an insult to
every intelligent and practical farmer
The farmers are not mendicants, to be
treated to annuities, but the representa-
tives of the oldest, most honorable most
essential occupation of the human race
upon which all other vocations depend foi
Subsistence and prosperity.
Legislation, he says, "can neither
| plow nor plant. The intelligent practical
and successful farmer needs no aid from
the government The ignorant, impracti
cal and indolent farmers deserve none. II
Is not the business of the government to
legislate in behalf of any class of citizens
because they are engaged in any specific
callings, no matter how essential the call
| ing may be, to the needs and comforts of
civilization Lawmakers cannot erase
natural laws, nor restrict or efface the op.
erection of economic laws. 1t is benefl
cient arrangement of the order of things
and the conditions Of human life that leg
islators are not permitted to repeal OF
amend or revise the laws of production
and distribution. "
Denounces Homestead Act.
Referring to the stress of competition
! which the American farmer is compelled
to endure, Mr.. Morton calls attention 10
the nearly 2,000 900 farms of so acres
each, given away by the government un.
der the homestead act of 1868, during the
past 30 years, and to the amount donated
under the timber culture law, equivalent
TO over 55, 900 more farms of the same size
Lands long titled and rendered partially
infertile could not, of course, enhance in
value and sell in competition with virgin
soil donated by the government. No legis-
lation relative to the public domain has
been so directly inimical to the farmers
who had bought and paid for the lands
upon which they had lived and labored. Ii
was impossible for farmers in the old states
to pro1tably sell their products in compe-
tition with those of the newer states grown
upon lands which cost their owners moth
ing.
Referring to the impression that greater
rates Of interest are charged for money
loaned upon farms than for that loaned
upon other kinds of real estate Secretary
Morton states that the rate of interest
charged on mortgages upon residential
property other than farms averages eighty
four-hundredths of per cent less than the
rate of interest charged upon farm loans
During the fiscal year just ended the ex-
ported products Of American farms aggre-
gated S57O, 600, 600, an increase Of 81, 900,
900 over the preceding year. In spite of
this there was falling of in the percent
age Of agricultural products exported to
the total exports, but this was due TO the
unprecedented sale abroad of American
manufactured goods. The largest market
for our products is admitted to be the
home market, but the export trade Is the
regulation, the balance wheel for the
home products, follows the interest of the
manufacturer as well as the farmer Gem
eral prosperity depends absolutely upon
agricultural prosperity and any CONNER
cial system which will increase with celeri-
~ and extend with certainty, the export
Of our farm products will be of the utmost
advantage TO agriculture and all those in
terested In its profitable expansion. That
political economy, which best advances
the interest Of the agriculturists, furnishes
the best impetus to the manufacturer of
the United States, for his best customers
are farmers and those who depend directly
for profit upon the prosperity of farmers.
short Wheat Crou In Aussraita