The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1898-10-22
The Farmer and
the Banking System.

| iii III VI uAA II
| the Banking System. N
We gave extracts last week from tie
report of farmers showing that their
conditions and their prospects are worse.
There may be temporary rise from
time to time in the price of grain or
some product the farmer sells, but it is
only temporary. ..>
There is no certainty but number OF
banks may fail at any time, shut down
business, close factories in great num-
bers and drive hundreds of thousands of
workmen on to the streets as bank fail
ures have frequently done before. -
When banks fail, ana the financial
panic comes on which drives multitude
of people into the streets, these idle men
start across the country somewhere and
farmers have to board them until they
get there. OF course they never get
there, and the farmer boards them all
the time while ostensibly they are hunt
ing for place to work. +.
Not only does he have to feed these
great numbers Of tramps but tens of
thousands Of mon, driven out of trades
and other vocations by bank failures,
engage in farming in order to support
themselves. making such vast products
Of farm produce as to greatly lower the
prices and give the farmer no profit. {
Thus the farmer not only boards the
tramp but he is the Victim of q constant
" growing competition, which continu-
ally lessons his profits. His competition
comes also from another source. Many
farmers have lost their farms through
foreclosure Of mortgages These farms
have passed into the possession of veal
thy men who, either alone or in combin-
alton with others, in syndicate, form a
combination whereby they farm several
thousand acres on a large department
store plan. This rich man or syndicate
who farms several thousand acres. on a
large scale, builds an immense shed,
hires competent driving foreman, put
in the best Of labor-saving machinery
bought cheap}y at Wholesale, and in
structs the foreman to run the place at
high grade on long hours with as cheap
help as he can get. Naturally he hires
tramp labor which he gets at a very low
price and with these facilities the small
farmer can no more compete than a
country crossroads blacksmith can COM
pete in making wagons with the great
wagon factory in the city.
And SO the average farmer who begins
today with small means and goes in debt
for his land has to struggle for existence.
The result is he loses his farm and be-
comes a tenant. The grind is then
worse than ever and is steadily becoming
worse. t..r:4 &.
Not only is the condition of the aver
age farmer bad but he has another trou-
bic. Either he or a neighbor has lost SO
much sometime by bank failures as to
make him suspicious and resolve to put
no more money into banks.
The result is he is compelled to hide
his money somewhere on his premises.
He is thus the constant prey of the
thief and burglar. This often results in
either having his money stolen or thieves
come in the night, capture the family
and torture them into revealing the hid
ing place of the money. This frequently
results in the robbers being identified by
some member of the family and to avoid
arrest the burglars murder one or sew.
eral members of the household.
Thus nearly all murders for money
result from our present banking system
by which people either carry their mon.
ey on their persons or hide it somewhere
about their premises, making constant
temptation to the tOot-pad and the burg
lar to assault the pedestrian after dark
or burglarize the house.
A careful inspection will show thai
nearly all murder is the result of ou1
present system of banking. In short
nearly all crime resl1lts from fnancia
panics making idleness and destitutior
| which comes from bank failures.
What pity that our clergymen can
not know the origin of nearly all the
evil which exists in the community in
stead of attributing it to some far-away
J cause.