Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1904-09-06
Prosperity of Farmers.


The Agriculture Department is sup
posed to be run especially for the ben
efit of the farmers. and there is no
doubt that it has been of great service
to American agriculture. Indeed, IL
should be, for the appropriations for
the department are rapidly increasing.
For the fiscal year 1896 S3.303, $50 was
voted by Congress, and this was in
creased to $J.9TS, 160 for 1904. Have
the advantages to the farmers in
creased In Ike proportion TO augment
ed appropriations. or is it grown like
the other departments into a machine
Tor spending money on political favor
ties? There are some rather annoying
scandals to be explained. such as the
seed frauds" and the carriage and
crop report scandals" which partly ex
plains 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
issued by the trusts are safe invest
ments." Mr.. Wilson was still further
quoted as saying that the farmers
poeketbook is full, that he is a capital
list, only hunting for investments,
| flooding the Western banks with more
| money than they can handle, and send
ing millions to the East for invest
ment."
The farmers of the country will be
delighted to hear of their tremendous
prosperity, but most of then. Will prob
ably have to admit that Secretary Will
sons knowledge of the condition of the
farmers is very limited. He may know
of a few gentlemen farmers who
farm for the pleasure of it, who are
interested in knowing that trust Sc
! curities are safe investments, but the
average farmer is more interested 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 its loans on farms In
| Iowa in 1902 over $4.O00,000, that is,
the new loans made by this company
exceeded those paid by that amount.
! The last Iowa school census shows
that 10000 farmers have left Iowa,
mostly to take up lands in the Cana
| dian Northwest. Would they have left
| their fertile Iowa fields and the flag
under which they were born to make
new homes 800 miles nearer the north
pole if prosperous?
Does that look like the transcend
| ing prosperity of the farmers CT the
| banner agricultural State of the Union
that Secretary Wilson talks so glibly
about, There is no doubt tnat series
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 sur
| plus products of the farms. This in
creaseu demand could have made the
farmers very prosperous, but trust
high prices were gnawing at their
/ vitaIs and deprived them of the prof
its they were entitled to. That process
| is still going on and the farmer 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 class
es IF securities. The beef trust alone
has tileched millions of dollars from
| the pockets of the farmers by forcing
down the price of cattle and hogs and
raising the price 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
] iniunctions which have had no effect,
he would come nearer earning his sal
airy. Congress appropriate ted $500, 900
to prosecute trsuts, but the Depart
ment OF Justice has only expended SO,
600 in hunting them, and, so far, has
not bagged a single industrial trust.
The protective tariff fosters the trusts
and allows them to sell their products
cheaper abroad than here, and the Re-
publican platform and President
Roosevelt in his speech of acceptance
approve the protection policy and have
| declared their intention to hold fast
! to it.