Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1904-09-01

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The Agriculture department is sup
posed TO be run especially for the ben.
eht OF the farmers and there is no
doubt that Il has been of great serv.
ice TO American agriculture. Indeed
II should be, for the appropriations
for the department are rapidly in
creasing. For the fiscal year 1896
SS,3O3.750 was voted by Congress, and
this was increased TO S5,97S, 100 for
1904. Have the advantages to the
farmer increased in like proportion
to augmented appropriations, or is It
grown like the other departments into
a machine for spending money on
political favorites? There are some
rather annoying scandals to be ex.
planned, such as the seed frauds"
and the carriage and crop report
scandals" which partly explains
where the money goes.
Secretary Wilson should look after
matters a little closer and stop the
leaks before he gives out interviews
and makes campaign speeches boast
ing Of what he has done. Last spring
Secretary Wilson, in an interview
which was widely published in many
newspapers, made wild claims Of the
universal prosperity Of the farmers.
He said: THEY are only interested in
the trusts TO know that the securities
iBsued by the trusts are safe invest.
ments." Mr.. Wilson was still further
quoted as saying that "the farmers
pocketbook is full, that he is a capt.
talist, only hunting for investments,
flooding the western banks with
more money than they can handle,
and sending millions to the East for
investment"
The farmers Of the country will be
delighted to hear of their tremendous
prosperity, but most of them will
probably have TO admit that Secretary
Wilson's knowledge of the condition
Of the farmers is very limited. He
may know of few gentlemen farm
ers," who farm for the pleasure of it,
who are interested in knowing that
trust securities are safe investments,
but the average farmer is more inter.
ested in the high trust prices he is
paying would be more near the truth.
AS an Indication that the farmers
prosperity is overstated, one Of the
large life insurance companies reports
that it increased it's loans on farms
In Iowa in 1902 over $4,OO0,000; that
is, the new loans made by this one
company exceeded those paid by that
amount. The last Iowa school census
shows that $4,000 farmers have left
Iowa, mostly to take up lands in the
Canadian Northwest. Would they have
left their fertile Iowa fields and the
flag under which they were born, to
make new homes 1900 miles nearer
the north pole, If prosperous?
Does that look like the transcend
ing prosperity Of the farmers, of the
banner agricultural state of the Union,
that Secretary Wilson talks so glibly
about? There is no doubt that a Sc
ries of favorable circumstances,
among them the Chinese-Japanese
war, the war in South Africa, the war
with Spain, and the present war in
the East. has increased the demand
for the surplus products Of the farms.
This increased demand could have
made the farmers very prosperous,
but trust high prices were gnawinE
at their vitals and deprived them OF
the profits they were entitled to. That
process is still going on, and the farm
er that Secretary Wilson talks about
must be a rara avis, and even he in
his hunt for investments has met vast
losses by the depreciation of nearly
all classes Of securities. The beef
trust alone has filched millions of
dollars from the pockets of the farm
ers by forcing down the price of cat
tie and hogs and raising the prices Of
beef and pork to the consumers.
II Secretary Wilson, Instead Of max
ing exaggerated statements of the
prosperity of the farmers, would urge
President Roosevelt and his Cabinet
to take real action against the beef
trust magnates, instead Of temporary
in1unctions which have had no ef-
feet, he would come nearer earning
his salary. Congress appropriated
100000 to prosecute trusts, but the
Department of Justice has only ex-
pended $4,000 In hunting them, and,
so far, has not bagged a single indus.
trial trust. The protective tariff still
fosters the trusts and allows them to
sell their products cheaper abroad
than here. and the Republican plat |
form and President Roosevelt, in his
speech Of acceptance, approve the
protective policy and have declared
their intention to hold fast to It.