Iron County register., 1897-12-23
The Gold Standard and the Farm.


raj country and is becoming every
year more and more an Industrial and
commercial country. In 1882 of ev-
cry 1000 persons 425 were supported
by agriculture and only 355 by indus
try and 100 by commerce. In 1895
the proportions were already nearly
reversed, 391 per 1000 derived their
livelihood from industry, 115 from
commerce, and only 357 from agricul-
ture. Foreign markets must, there
fore, be secured abroad for the surplus
production of her industry, and, on the
other hand, food and raw materials
must be obtained in increasing quanti-
ties from abroad. ~. !. San, Dec. Z.
We commend the above to the care
full consideration of the readers of the
REGISTER. Why is it that Germany is
no longer pre-eminently an agricultu-
raj country? Why did her farming
population decrease between 1882 and
1895 from 425 to the thousand to 357
to the thousand, and the non-produc-
ing classes increase in the same pro-
portion? What has caused her agricul-
tural population to diminish some
thing like 16 per cent. in Is years?
Does not Germany possess the same
advantages that bless Our own decay
ing New England. viz: the gold stand
ard, protective tariff, and the cOnse-
quent Home Market? One would think
that over there, with such blessings,
fortune would be giving with both
hands and the German farmer would
be wallOwing in fatness. 1t is re-
markable that in free trade England
and protected Germany the agricultur
ist complains that he is being forced
away from the land. 1t is also re-
markable that wherever the gold
standard has prevailed for any length
of time the agricultural classes persist
in being unprosperous and insist upon
abandoning the land.
The fact that the German farmer is
being evicted from the land of his birth
and cooped up in cities, or compelled
to leave the Fatherland, renders it i'm
perative that the German Empire
should extend her commerce. If her
population is to become as the popula
tion of Englaud-a manufacturing peO
ple-it is evident that a market must
be had. In the light of these facts her
seizure of a portion of Chinese terrific
ry becomes Ineligible. Like Eng
land, she must sell to other nations
the goods her people create at home,
or face commercial and political disas-
ter. Under present conditions the
least thrifty among her agricultural
population cannot make living from
her soil. They gravitate to the city
or to foreign lands. Less civilized
peoples must be subjugated and forced
in some manner to take the goods her
increasing urban population creates.
if emigration is to be arrested. Hence
it is that the crime of lard stealing has
come to be necessity not only to Ger |
many but to the other European nations |
that are working under the same poll |
cy. International law and all consid- |
erations of right and justice are |
sneered at. The European nation that |
is stronger than an African or Asiatic |
people robs them with as little com
FUNCTION as the highwayman who takes
purse on the public road.
The Chinaman and the Zulu will |
eventually become as pOwerless to buy
under the gold standard as the English |
or American farmer. The direct en-
slavement of these weaker populations
must follow. 1t has already COM
menced in Hindoostan and South Africa.
If the American and European farmer
cannot stand the strain of the gold |
standard the weaker races of Asia and
Africa cannot do so, no matter what !
means be taken to impose and fasten
it upon them.
The German agriculturist says the
gold standard is throtliDg me; the Eng
lish and French farmers say the same
thing. They point to the fact that
they are becoming less numerous each
year Their respective governments
engage in costly foreign enterprises to
give these people who should be pro-
ducers employment in other lines, rath
er than displease the banking and
bondholding classes. How long can
this state of affairs continue? Will |
this nation be foolish enough to permit |
the yellow leprosy to take deeper
hold upon our vitals? If the English
man and German are wrong as to the
cause of their decadence. it would be
an act of charity on the part of our
gold standard friends to give them
correct information as to the cause OF |
their decline. So long as agricultural |
decay follows in the footsteps of the
gold standard, that long will the pro-
ducing classes curse it for their un-
doing the world over.