Year: 1873

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The penalty is not written in the law, but
it is surer than the fat of courts. King
John gave the Jews the choice to part
with their money or their teeth. The
result was that capital fled the kingdom,
and a money-lender could not be found
in the realm.


l have been led into this train of remark
by the recent tenor of public thought
Summoned to speak to you, without wish
to do so on my part, L cannot better en-
ploy your time than by discussion of
everyday topics, of interest to you because
they engross your thoughts, and of which
l may be supposed to know more than Of
agricultural chemistry, the rotation of
crops, or the economy of the farm-yard.
In this but follow the example of others
who have made these topics the theme Of
able addresses, delivered before all the
recent meetings of the State Agricultural
Societies of the West. As a legislator, it
has been my duty to examine some phases
of these subjects carefully, with sense
of responsibility and think it is possible
to discuss, in the good temper betting
this audience, themes which have been
made the occasion of violent TRADE and
unreason. In the discussion of such ques-
tions, whether by the press or by public
addresses, something very different is
needed as a means than to excite enmity
and unchain evil passions ; and the end
to be attained is far more important than
to promote the fortunes of politician, or
advance the objects of faction.


THE MOST INTERESTING QUESTION


to the farmers of the West, at the present
time, is, Can the cost of transportation
to distant markets of their coarse products
| hn ro1nonl that fhoea hn ,,rofi fol "
raised For such States as Iowa, Wis
consn, Minnesota, Illinois and Indiana,
remote from the seaboard, and having
totally inadequate home markets for their
staples, it is urged that the relation be-
tween the producers and the agencies of
transportation should be read djusted. The
true policy would seem to be to fairly
divide between each, according to the
capital and labor invested, the profits de-
rived from sales to the consumer when
such profits exist. But where the condi-
tions are such that profit to the producer
is impossible, even if transportation is
afforded below cost, where is the remedy u?
Iowa will produce million tons surplus
of hay, and hay is high in England. Yet
so small is the value of hayin proportion
to its bulk that its transportation to Eng
land would be impossible. Corn and
wheat can be transported farther than
hay, but there is a limit to each of these
articles. The real problem is, can both
the producer and transporter live if they
equitably share the profits resulting from
their necessary connection in business p
If it takes all the profits of the agricul-
turist to get his crop to market, or the
railroad is compelled by law or otherwise
to move the crops of State at loss,
there is something wrong, either in the
adjustment Of interests or in the nature
of the business done. If coarse crops
cannot be moved to a market where they
will pay the farmer profit, except at a
loss to the transporter that mis- general
business cannot repay, the difficulty is
not remedied by


VIOLENCE OR REVOLUTION.


Other crops must be raised, other in
dustries substituted, or other modes of
transportation invented. A paper in Hi
nois mildly proposes as a remedy that the
French guillotine be set up on the plains
of Illinois and the heads of railroad own
ers roll in tie basket. 1t further suggests
that trains be not allowed to run through
the counties, that the tracks be torn up,
bridges burnt and railroad hands killed
Here is anarchy here is license-vulgar
in its coarseness bnt it is little less abb
horrent when its suggestions are elabor-
atcly polished and delicately yelled.


In California, while there is much in
terest in this question, it is less absorbing
because we have access to the seG without
such long lines of transportation. But it
must be of importance while our farmers
move their grain by rail, and it should be
carefully weighed in an economic rather
than partisan aspect. As


QUESTION OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
solely l propose to discuss it, undeterred
by the fear of misrepresentation, and in
the discharge of duty to the State, which
should impartially foster all interests,
whether of capital or labor, whether in
dividual or associated, which are recog-
nized by its policy, and by that of civili-
zation generally, as legitimate enterprise.


Distance is an important element in
controlling the cost of transportation
Were the Humboldt valley great wheat
| field, finding outlet at the Golden Gate,
the grain-raiser there would necessarily
pay more to transport his product to the
sea than one in Napa or San Jose valley.
AT the cheapest possible rate that trans
portatlon could be furnished by compet-
ing lines of railway, enforced by laws
that cut down even below cost the price
Of conveyance, especially if those laws
also operated in favor of his rival pro-
ducers, the wheat cultivator in the Hum
boldt valley might find the competition
ruinous between him and his more for
tunately located rival He could perhaps
only hope for market abroad when there
was failure of crops in this State and
not then always in competition with the
valleys of the Danube and the plains of
Southern Russia. These countries pro-
duce the cereals in perfection, and in won
derful abundance, so that the ports of the
Black Sea have long been held as the un-
failing granaries of Europe. Great Brit
ain is the only commercial nation of the
world that needs to look abroad for bread
for its people. France. Germany and the
United States, with about the same pop
ulaton, grow their own breadstuffs, and
generally have each surplus. 1t is this
worldwide and crushing competition
which renders wheat growing, even under
favorable circumstances, precarious and
unproftable business. Under that com
petition the remoteness of wheat land
from the sea is serious obstacle, perhaps
an absolute bar to success. Discomfort
does not remove it, for it cannot annihi-
late distance. Railroad companies can
not overcome it, for they cannot create
remunerative markets. No legislation
can devise remedy for this phase of the
evil.


! In this view, is not California


GROWING TOO MUCH WHEAT,


to the exclusion of more profitable and
diversified industries To enhance our
population, to save the productiveness of
our lands, to insure certain return for
our capital and labor, must we not turn to
new sources of wealth Under such pres
sure the State of New York left off in
great degree the growing of wheat, and
largely substituted the production of but
ter and cheese. So did Ohio. Illinois
and Indiana have taken To stock raising.