Iron County register., 1897-09-09
Tne Prosperity of the Farmer.

An article which appeared in a re-
cent issue of the New York Sun, en-
titled, The Hopeless Decay of British
Agriculture, should be read by every
one who is interested in the welfare of
the producing classes of this country.
The article is more important for the
facts it presents than for the conclu-
sions it reaches.
4 Royal Commission on Agriculture
was appointed to examine into the con-
dition of the farming classes of Great
Britain, and report remedy for pres
ent agricultural depression. The com
mission had no difficulty in finding the
depression and agreeing upon the
facts, but it could reach no satisfactory
conclusion as to the causes producing
those facts, or the remedy to be appli-
ed. ''It," says the San, ''sat 177 days
and heard witnesses from England,
Wales and Scotland. The conclusions
are pessimistlc in an extreme degree,
the Royal Commission having been
unable to discern signs of recovery in
any quarter, or to agree upon any
remedy for which more than palli-
ative effect can be claimed"
The disinterested reader at this
point will pause to inquire why the
present high price of wheat does not
bring the permanent relief to the Brit
ish farmer that our politicians assure
US it will bring to the American farm
ESPECIALLY as it is admitted that
Liverpool fixes the price of wheat the
world over. 1t is strange that British
farmers are not throwing up their hats
and burning their money in fireworks,
as their American brethren are sup
posed to be doing at the return of
prosperity; for what will make the
American farmer prosperous will fav-
orably affect his cousin across the
ocean. On this branch of the subject
the Sun says, ''No doubt the high price
of imported wheat this year will afford
the British farmer some temporary en-
but in view of past eX-
perience he is unlikely to sensibly in
crease the amount of acreage under
the plough"
Our goldbug friends, and the Sun
among the number, talk as if pros
perity was here to stay because wheat
hovered about the dollar mark for a
time. They are trying to make the
farmers of this country believe that
the famine in India and short crops in
other countries will last forever, or
that through the operation OF natural
laws the depression in the prices of
agricultural products has come to an
end, and the market will now rebound.
We would like to know how the Amer
ican farmer expects to get better prices
for his wheat and other cereals after
present conditions have disappeared,
than he did before they arose. If
there is nothing in the present boom
to induce the English farmer to put in
more acres of wheat and corn, what
inducement is there for the American
farmer to increase his acreage of these
crops in the succeeding year? II Eng
land fixes the prices of our wheat, and.
to a large extent. our other farm
products, and the English farmer is
sure he cannot make both ends meet
in the future. how can our American |
farmer expect to do better?
The fact is, rural England is fast re-
turning to the pastoral and wilderness
condition. Her people are crowded |
into towns and cities. She reaps her
crops abroad and lives the life of a |
parasite, preying upon other countries. |
Should a war break out in which she |
should be called to face frst-class |
power, her boasted strength would |
crumhle to dust. The yeomanry that
won her battles over all the world |
have been expatriated and have dis
from her fields. She gathers
in billions of money each year. but to |
get iG she has parted with her man
her bone aud sinew. She |
has sold her children into slavery aud
now her shores must be defended by
the arms OF mercenaries or the sons of |
children she drove from them to satiate