The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-10-11
NaAHl~o~
FARMERS AND THE PRICE Or
THE PRODUCTS OF THE FARM.
900. by Geo
Adalns.)

that the tariff or other laws nave
anything to do with high prices anu
try to make town folks believe the
farmers are practising extortion upon
them. In the country, when speaking
to III they say: See h good
prices you are getting for all you raise.
Do you wish to get lower prices? II
not, vote for the Republican party
which gives you high prices
Fortunately neither the town folks
nor The farmers are SO simple as to
Iiste1 to such straddle arguments. IN
his great speech in the courthouse IN
Raleigh last Tuesday night Governor
Aycock showed that the higher prices
for farm products were brought about
money and the drift Of population to
the towns, giving more consumers and
fewer producers. Everybody knows
that his is true. The trend of agTl-
cultural products should be higher,
because the quantity Of land is fixed,
whereas the tendency of manufac-
ture3 products should be down be-
cause labor saving machinery enables
men to produce more cheaply. There
fore the rise in agricultural products
is natural and not helped in the
slightest by the tariff. The increase in
the manufactured products is lot nat
ural but is made by law and to the
enrichment Of the trusts. In 1897,
while Mckinley was President, cotton
and other agricultural products reach
ed the lowest price they have touched.
Then there was a per capita circula-
ton of S22.S7. and young men were
f1ocking to the cities from the farms.
in the klonlyke and in South Africa
and poured into this country. Today
the per capita circulation is s34.52-
about twelve dollars more than when
cotton was so low in the nineties. That
fact and the drawing OF men from the
farms to the cities are chiefly respon-
sible for higher price of farm pro-
ducts
Just as the per capita circulation
confirms Governor Aycock's position
SO DO the census figures. Missouri is
chiefly an agricultural State, and q
good one. 1t has suffered from cur.
rency contraction and high tariff in
its rural population. The full cen
sus returns show a population of $685.
337, a gain Of only six per cent in the
decade The distribution of M~i.souris
population is Instructive and shows
the drift cityward. From an analysis
made by the Louisville Courier-Jour
raj it is shown that this gain COT 1856,
67e) has been at the expense OF thu,
rural regions. Eight congressional
districts in the State show losses and
five gains. St Louis and Kansas CITY
show a combined gain of 232,24O.
which manifestiy was in great part at
the expense of rural regions. Only one
city OF Importance shows a decrease
ard hat is st. Joseph. But for this
it is recalled that the former cenene
was ~shafnefully padded: and this is
why the alleged population Of 102 90
ten years ago gives place to one of
1903 now. In the III counties of
and in most Of these a city is located
The substantial rural gains are in the
southeastern part OF the State. where
there has been large work in race,+
wears in the reclamation of land =,
ticularly in drainage OF swamps and
a notable influx OF new settlers has
marked the locality. Yet in those
counties there are gooIly and rowin
cities that have contributed a large
part of the increase as DISTINGUISHED
from rural reglons- Taking the