The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1898-11-15

Ignorance, misgoverument. extreme
poverty and sullen endurance hat Is
the condition Of the peasant. lie de
serves Il better lot. He is to-day the best
man in The land. He has fine qualities:
hc has large capacities: he has many
virtues. Give him 4 real school. i far
days wage for a fair days work, an hon
est and capable government. and we'll
founded hope Of enjoying the fruits Of
his toll. and he would rise up to be the
new man of Il new land, one of the
finest peasants i'll the whole Of Europe.
But he has not had a nance.
1T is sadly true that 1t this hour
these masses are fcarfully diStreSSingly
ignorant. Nc power has done anything
effective To save them from sinking low
er and lower into the slough of 4 semi
animal stupidity. OF course they are
poor. What other result could years Of
merciless taxation pressing chiefly on
them yieldE
'ThcSc masses are strangely patient
and enduring. They have grit. pluck and
hproiSm. They are cheerful, grateful,
affe%ctionatc and hospitable. But they
have been ground down till the good is
buried out of sight. The evil has been
called out. The mobiles have rackei
and spoiled them. The government has
known them only as patient beasts Of
burden on whom must be laid the null
tiplied and oppressive loads of petty
taxes till they are verify crushed be
meath the pitiless weight. For this op-
preston. this eXtortion. the peasant gets
nothing. The bad roads grow worse and
the appropriated road tax fills the peck
ct Of some official. The fallen bridges
are not repaired. but some engineer is
benefited. The children are left with
~ l 800 49,
levied. Beardless lads are hurried off
to Cuba or some other colony and die
soon. but their pay is drawn by the Of
ficcr. The navy is made up of many
phantom ships and yet the taxes are col
lected for the naval bureau. The popu-
lected for the naval bureaur. The popu-
lation Of Spain was somewhere about IL
100000: Of these 5000. 600 could
not write. 6.000.O0O could neither read
nor writ. and about half Of the
whole had no sure and paying occupa-
ton. Here is. indeed. Il submerged half.
And over this submerged half rules Il
rapacious bureaucracy. incompetent and
regardless Of the obligation flowing from
place and power and trust.
SO it is III Spain, and farmers Of nearly
every country III Europe have been ex-
plotted by kings, the nobility and the
49, ANNAN '''AN' NV viz AZ IL (
Sr%oundlings. poor. deSpiSed and without
hope in the world.
Italy is nearly as badly off as Spain.
According TO the foreign correspondent
of the Country Gentleman:
The population numbering 81. 900 900
mostly sunk i'll ahject poverty are sad
died with a funded debt amounting to
almost 5000 .OOO.O necessitatins the
paymen of 4 tremendous annual inter
est. Civil connections in Italy have, in
consequence, been mainly due to over
taxation. Upwards Of twenty years ago
the intolerahle tax on lo~ur-grindinc
mills caused an eruption of social dis
orders i'll all the towns and cities of the
kingdom. Up to the present. all manu-
featured products are taxed. There
still remains the infamous tax
on salt. the only condiment of
the poor IN the northern districts. There
is a custom house tax on corn. The
very gates Of every city are taxed. There
Is an octrol or municipal impoSt upon
vegetables. fruit. eggs: all kinds of edi-
bleS supplies on which the very poorest
classes, who are strangers 10 animal
food. depend for subsistence. are taxed.
If Il poor Italian performs Il journey of
Z; few miles ly train, he is compelled to
pay two cents to the government in ad-
dltlon to the amount of his fare. If he
buys any article of clothing. a share of
what he pays for it goes to the govern
ment. These irritating AMI oppressive
eAactIons are distributed over the pup,i-
lation ia the ratio of $40 per head for
every man. woman or child.
In many districts the oeasantry arc
habltually reduced TO Il diet of boiled
herbs without salt. while in Sardinia.
the commo loaf usually consists of Two
parts of meal to one part of earth
Italy is first and foremost an agriculture
III country, yet vast areas are goinc
out OF cultivation, and of late years there
naS been Il marked diminution in the
production of cereals. oil, Wine. p~otat0Ct.
and cheStnutS. This is not slrprisinc
when the ever-growing demands Of the
government upon the product of the
agriculturists' labor are considered. The
malady of Italy is too deep seated to ic
remedied i'll Il day. | have Often refer
red to her condition. even before the
recent explosion of the mine whicl,
transferred some 10000 Of her people to
prison. There are, | fear. worse days
to come.
Are such conditions as are n,ra de.
scribed peculiar to Europe? Ccrtainiy
We have no such conditions here. vii
Nv ot''JtNt w tllfiL. , COURSE
not. This Is a free government Of tn,
people. the masses enjoy the blessings
OF education, and it cannot be possible
that the United States can ever come t
such a pass as this. Certainly never
while the people rule, while there i; ::
free ballot, and while we live NJ to the
principles Of the Declarations of indie
pendencc.
But it is well to do some thinIins. am.
this Is why we have placed these things
before you. rs soon as We STOP thinking
ana let others perform that function fol
us. we are lost.
Some things pow in sight must 20
i"litlcal bosses must be beaten: trust.
anu monopolieS must be crushed. selfish.
ness must be restrained: tn miIitar,
spirit must be curbed; imperialism mus
have no foothold; Shylock must IKE Il:
back seat: the school hous, and churc}
ana free press must be maintained. run
must 90.
American farmers cannct be too VIII
lahl IN all these things. pr on thcll
much, very much ii, pa,1s