Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1910-09-29

" era who imagined quite proper
, that they could raise prices by re
strictlng production. Meanwhile tn
American consumer has been wonder
; ing why things from the farm-flour
bacon, beef, corn and so forth--cos
so much, and has been tuning ovel
the tariff, the excess Of gold, thu
trusts and all the rest of the stocl
excuses invented by politicians, polit
cal economists, popullsts, socialists
and all the gentry who practice on
the credulitx Of the universe.
II this blooming, fat-witted, lean
wasted consumer had got back to
the producing regions he would have
found the farmers riding about in
automobiles In the morning, doing
the dolce far niente in the afternoon,
while the ladies of the household
we'll, 1t used to be said in the country.
Mans works from sun to sun,
Woman's work is never done.
That's a joke now; wee making
round of visits between breakfast
and dinner.
The Jest on the hired man and the
hobo has been worked to the limit.
We suggest a line of cartoons on the
down-trodden agriculturist with his
automobile and his mortgage, with
his perennial complaint about God
Almighty's sun and rain, and his once
fat pocketbook.
When everybody else was panic
stricken some moons ago, what was
the farmer doing? Well, he was
raising a new excess Of that crop
which is said to have been started
in hades, seeded in Kansas and trans
ferred kiln-dried to the rest of the
states; and he was even snorting
because he could not put his money
in bank without fear Of losing It.
The Western farmer under the tute-
lage of Sockless Simpson, Fly-by-
night Haskell, Colonel Bryan, and
others of that llk, had been brought
to the conclusion that everybody in
the universe except himself and his
pet advisers was either a knave or a
fool; but II he is the same man he
was twenty years ago, he will come
% his senses by the time the frost
S on the pumpkin.
There are a lot of people who mag
ne that when a railroad president
opens his mouth he means to de-
,eive. But in nine cases out OF ten
he cannot. He is tied hand and foot
~ a string of figures, while the
iandy magazinist and the expert
politician fool with sta
istics as they might monkey with
detectives. We have Just come across
remark in a pamphlet that retains
'lgniflcance. w. c. Brown. of the
New York Central, in a speech at
cleveland said
For the purpose of comparison,
,ear in mind that during the past
en- years the farm price Of farm pro-
lucts-wheat, oats, barley, rye, pota- ,
oes, beef, pork, butter, lard, bacon !
shows an average increase Of 81 |
Ter cent, From 1899 to 1909 the
,rices Of steel rail, Bessemer pig, 1
teel billets, bar iron and wire nails, I
Produced largely by the United States
steel Corporation show decrease of !
per cent. Barbed wire, used by I
he farmers by thousands of car
Dads, shows a decrease Of 1850 per
,ent. window glass shows de- I
.rease Of SO.S per cent. Sugar, as
old by the great reflneries (or trusts I
( you please), shows decrease in q
he last ten years Of per cent. Il
Mr.. Brown pointed out other facts, |
that while the farmers tools ,
lad Increased in price very lightly,
rom a minimum Of l per cent TO a
maximum OF SIS per cent in the last l
light years, the prices Of his pro-
luct has risen 81 per cent. He add 1
ID:
With an increase Of 10 per cent
n cost Of material and 20 per cent in I
,Ost Of labor, cream sepArators, used {
IN almost every well-regulated farm /
ell for 40 per cent less than ten ,
'ears ago. During this same period !
he twIne used BY the farmer in bind /
ne his crops has decreased in price
bout 30 per cent, and I viii add IN
,asslng that railroad freight rates On Z
N commodities show a colncIdent ]