The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-07-31
CONDITION OF THE FARMERS,
Mr.. Prime, OF nPrimr's Crop REPORTS"
Says the West'is Hotter or Vow than

rhys VIC Nfst btttet WI w" u"
Ever.
Now York Sun: s. T. X. Prime. Of
Dwight, Ills. who IL well known In con-
nectlon with his work, "prIme's Crop
Reports" IL now stopping at the I'm
perial Hotel In this city. Mr.. Prime has
correspondents In every state In the
northwest and southwest, covering the
area from Ohio TO the Pacific coast, and
these supply him with the most accur-
ate information oDtuInable upon the
subject In which he Is a specialist. Mr..
Prime Is not Il pessimiSt and he doesn't
join In tho plant with regard to the
depressed agricultural Interests OF this
country.
ut 10 true" said he yesterday. that
prices for the farm products are low, but
at the same time there Is nothing that
the farmer has TO buy, consume, or wear,
or any OF the agricultural implements
which he uses, but are cheaper to-day
than they ever werc. II ia Il fact that In
all OF the farmers meetings and conven-
TONS which have been held during the
last ak or eight months there has never
been passed a resolution OF d%enuncia-
ton. o has there been made any un-
natural demands upon the powers that
be. The fact that the farmers OF the
west and northwest never put In a big
ger acreage OF crops than they did in the
spring OF 1895 clearly shows that they
were satisfied with their conditions and
surroundings.
The people at large forget one thing.
namely. that as the country grows older,
every year there IL a larger number Of
farmers who are better on than they
were in the preceding year. Otherwise
we would have national bankruptcy fac
Ing us. The consequence Is that the
surpluseS OF one year and another ac-
Cumulate. and to-day we have practical
~ the crop OF corn and oats Of 1895 al
ready In the granaries and corn cribs OF
the farmers OF the northwest. All this
immense product must be moved. This
means plenty OF business for the rail-
roads for the next twelve months. We
have to-day q prospect Of as large an
oat crop as we made In 1895. We have
also IL pleasant outlook for corn. The
latter crop Is the one which permentes
and enters into all the various channels
OF the commerce OF the country. The
| greatness or the smallncss OF the wheat
crop cuts but very little figure In the
commerce uf the country aS compared
with a crop OF corn. ! make this state
mcnt, that the farmers OF the west were
V rs well OF financially as they are
to-day. They never had so much to eat
or drink. or better clothes to wear. or
owed as little. To Illustrate this clte
an Incident which came under my OBJ
| %ServatiOn only a few weeks ago. A
large firm In the east shipped to Dwight
n car load OF buESies. They were un-
loaded and stored. 4 few days after
ward the statesmen came along and took
these buEgies into the country. In less
than ten days every one of them was
sold to farmers.
AS to the silver question, I think the
feeling Is greatly exaggerated just at
present. The rank and file OF the con-
sentative element are opposed TO free
silver. When the people get over the
spasmodIc cyclone which has struck the
west during the past ten days, and the
farmers get back to their legitimate
work and look their position fairly In the
face. ! think you will see n wonderful
revolution OF public sentiment on this
question. At present the feeling seems
TO be, among Democrats, to vote for Nc
klnley. II n one could point out to
me my single area In this country where
the people were suffering from the effect
OF the development OF legitimate indus.
try l should feel entirely different on
these questions: but when I see our pco-
pie well fed, we'll clothed, and with com.
Portable homes to live In, | cannot for
the life of me see what more they could
desire. So far as the west Is concerned,
everything points to Legitimate pro-
Eress and Improvement, and II should be
said TINT never was there Il time When
improvements could be made ut 80 low Il
cost. and our people seem to be taking
advantage of that fact. I think when
November around the majority
will agree with Inc that the present cx-
element Is only n passing show