The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-05-18
FARMERS PROSPERITY.

There is not a single occupation,
| business or prore> sion to which is not
attached b. the Republican organs
| tie Iabe; 'Pro>pcGitY." Every i'll
iividutl maGt knows ilrt:er shan the
-t.riisiiclaiis Vie her he Is prosper
| Gas Ur uo:, aU.s T. = useless to ex@ect
| RAJ nggr, gain. ct iu.:ilijua!S to !pud-
| y yXpfees il! X fHr prosperity W!:sn
| notion has heen going about that til*
| farmers are afflicted with "astound
ing prosperity simply because
| prices Of farm produce have, in the
past two or three years, partly re-
| covered from Tie low level they
; reached il some previous years. Now
the farmer ought 10 know, and the
records Of mortgages in The various
county clerks and recorders Offices
| demonstrate the fact, that all these
increased receipts, if anybody can
show u bank account demonstrating
any increase, are more than absorbed
| by the increased price he must pay
for everything for which the farmer
exchanges his produce. He must pay
tribute to the trust, and no better
| illustration of the truth of this can be
made than in the case of the Ameri-
can Steel Company. Six thousand
men were thrown out of employment
because of the lack of demand for i'm
| Elements which the farmers could not
| purchase because of their high price.
If there was so'much prosperity, why
could not the farmer afford to pur-
chase the necessary implements? The
fact is that heavy impost is laid
upon nearly everything the farmer
needs in his household and in his
business, while the prices of his own
products are at the mercy of specula-
tors, combines, corporations. etc., etc.
The farmer has to meet the worlds
price in disposing Of his products, but
he encounters u different state OF
things when he comes to purchase for
|
the spectators is artificial, and what
they gain in the speculative market
| they pocket-what they lose they
| mercilessly force the farmer to pay by
an increase of prices in manufactures.
| This seeming prosperity will be dis
covered tie more you look behind it
to be a myth, and although the mis-
fortunes of the rest Of the earth have
enabled the farmer to dispose of more
! of his products than formerly, still
there are combinations to be broken
down, trusts to be abolished and the
| financial system eliminated before the
farmer can really say that a period of
prosperity has been inaugurated.
How much of the enormous balance
of trade in our favor has reached the
farmer? Has he been enabled to re-
duce his mortgages by payment of the
principal, or even to pay the interest
| in full without securing All extension
of time? Are his wife and children
! better dressed, is his farm in q more
| f"urishirg condition, has he pur
| chased any new carpets, curtains,
f ruiture for Ills household? Il lie
enabled "a employ more help to reiievs
his aching bones am5 those of hi,
i wife ana: children from the nrduun.
labor they continually undergo to
save their homes from the NAV of the
; mortgage?
We trow not and the proof Of it is
that beyond the mere means of exist
ence, whatever he makes or earnr
| must go Into the ever ext AIDING tax
mill which is grin hing iim into rov-
erty when he is not paying into the
trusts and combines.