Year: 1876

reduced, and that in order that they may


be reduced, the government expenditures


must bo also decreased. The question for


the farmers above all other classes is which


party is likely to effect such economy in


the government and reduction in taxation.


The Republicans in this canvass have dc.


liberately shirked the economical issue,


and they have endeavored to keep alive


the infamed and bitter feelings Of civil


strife. In the business Of the agricultur-


ist, the margin between expenditures and


receipts is necessarily small That margin


constitutes the profit of the farmer, and


upon it depends whether he retain his


his land and increase his worldly posses


slons year by year, leaving to his children


a fair and sufficient inheritance, or whether


he mortgage his property to the usurer or


the banker, and sees his homestead sold


under the hammer of the sheriff. Now,
there is large agricultural section Of our
country whose interests are directly invol-


we'd in the settlement Of the present issues,
that is, the South. Just as a slight DIFF


ference in the yield per per acre of farm
er makes the farm poor or rich, so does q
failure or success of crops in any portion


of the great United States, make the whole
country prosperous or unfortunate. If the
Southern crops fail, the Northern farmer


must pay for the failure. Taxes are COM
mon to all, and the advance of one market
bears close relation to the price in another.
II the cotton, rice, sugar or tobacco crop
of the South be failures, the corn farmer
of the North bears his share of the loss.


The only parties who profit by it are the


banker and the foreign dealer A con-
tinuance of deficient production in the
Southern country means continuance of
distress in the North and West, Just as
the failure Of the crops in the North
would, by the enhanced price of cereals
required for the support Of the hands on
their plantations, decrease the profits of
the Northern planters. We are one family
after all. Z pIu,iJus unum is our motto,
not merely in the way of glorifcation of
our Constitution, but in the sense of being
essential to our national and individual
prosperity.


We are many in one and, unless one
policy Of economy and honesty controls
the affairs of all, no individual State,
county or city can reap the just rewards of
toll. The question is, then, for the farm
ers, to which party they should give their
votes. The Democrats promise permanent
reunion of the whole country; a reunion
not merely in submission to the same
Federal laws, but in community of in-
terests and as against the world, while
each individual in each locality has full
opportunity to develop the resources of
his possessions. They promise retrench-
ment in the Government affairs, which
are carried on by the common contribu-
tions Of all classes and sections. They
support these promises by pointing in one
case to the prosperity which is following
Democratic control in those States which
have been rescued from carpet-bag rule,
and in the other, to the fact that the only
branch Of the Government which they
have controlled for many years, the House |
of Representatives Of the present Con-
gress, enforced reduction Of taxes to the |
extent of thirty millions of dollars, and |
only failed to secure q reduction to the |
extent of sixty-fve millions of dollars on
account of the persistent opposition of the
Republican branches of the Government. |
They therefore claim that it is to the in
terest Of the land-holders of all sections to |
secure the election of the Democratic tic |
ket in order that all sections may reap
fair reward for their industries, and the |
burdens Of the whole people may continue |
to be reduced. With regard to the reduc-
tion of taxation the Republicans make |
absolutely no promises, and if they did |
they would scarcely be believed, because
they have failed to reduce them of late
years in any fair proportion to the reduced
necessities Of the country. They have
unquestionably, increased the number of |
oficeholders; and, while it is necessary for
the Administration of any Government as
great as ours that there should be large
class of office-holders, there is no reason
or excuse, why the number of these Office
holders should have been increased from
$4,000 to 101 900 between 1869 and 1S75.
Every office-holder draws his salary direct
ly or indirectly from the owners of the
soil. He is really servant of the farmer,
and his intelligence and services should be
scrutinized by the farmer, Just as closely
rs he would scrutinize the value of the
services of his own farm hands. The
Democrats promise that, if elected, they
will reduce the number Of Office holders at
once more that one-half, and will reduce
the taxes within the next year over one
hundred millions of dollars as compared
with 1874. They have made these promi-
ses so openly, and boldly that they must
necessarily carry them out. If they do
carry them out, it will mean greater net
profits to all branches ofindustry, decreased
taxation to all taxpayers, and especially to
the owners Of landed property.


The farmers are fully alive to these
facts, and they will vote in the coming
election as in their judgment seems best
for their interests and the future prosperi-
ty Of their families. They will not con-
slider any false or impossible issue such as
that recently raised about rebel war claims,
because they know that all claims against
the United States are greedily bought up by
the spectators, who have no party except
their own Unsuitable lust of plunder against
the public treasury. The fact that the
Republicans passed.. in the Forty third
Congress, nearly six millions of dollars of
these claims, and only failed from want of
time to pass them to the amount of eight
millions, while the Democrats of the For
ty-fourth House rejected all presented ex-
cept only legitimate claims ofloyal property
owners to the amount of seventy four thou
sand dollars, will not fail to have just
weight. The Washington Ring, which |
has cheated our taxpayers, supplied rifles
to the Indians, who have murdered our
frontier settlers and mutilated the bodies
Of our dead soldiers, which turned the
whole administration Of the affairs of the
Federal Government into vast saturnalia
Of plunder, is the real owner of the So
called war claims. Hayes election would
enable this ring, of which the disgraced
Secretary Of War was the real head, to
continue the collection oftheir exaggerated
and fictitious accounts against the Treasury
Of the United States at the expense Of
every taxpayer of the country, north and
south.


The question for the farmer is simply,
will he as taxpayer vote for high taxes
and public corruption, or for governmental