Jasper County Democrat, Volume 8, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1905 — THE FARMERS’ WEALTH [ARTICLE]

THE FARMERS’ WEALTH

Trust High Prices Squeeze Them of Millions. PLUNDERED BY CORPORATIONS More Than 600,000 Tillers of the Soil, Aocordin* to the Censes, Make Less Than SIOO a Year—Aarrlcultnriata Must Divide With Tariff Fostered Monopolies.* "The American farmer is the real Monte Cristo. The world is his,” says the Washington Post after stating that the value of the direct earth products for the present year will far exceed $5,000,000,000. Without stopping to dispute these enormous figures, the production of the statistical bureau of the agricultural department, which Is somewhat under a cloud since the scandals therein, yet the Post and other optimistic souls must remember there were, according to the census reports, 5,737,372 farmers in the United States In 1899, and there may be more now to divide this sum between. That only gives on the average each farmer less than $872, and from that he has to pay his hired help, new machinery or repairs to old, his grocery bills, his clothing, taxes, Insurance, perhaps interest on a mortgage, doctor bills and many other minor expenses that will cost a good many dollars during the year. After paying all these expenses how much remains to make the average farmer feel like Monte Cristo? The editor of the Post, who cogitates over the wealth of the farmer at the swellest Washington club, would find that the surplus of the average farmer after paying for necessities, not luxuries, would not pay for what the bookkeeper of the club has him charged with for one week as simple luxuries. It Is safe to say that with the trust high prices that the tariff fosters on agricultural machinery, on groceries, on clothing, on furniture, on household utensils and about everything else the farmer buys, and the high taxes, which the railroad corporations partly escape, but which the farmer has to pay, the average farmer Just about makes both ends meet. That conclusion Is forced upon one by the figures of the last census, which state that in IJJ99-.jhere were 53,353 farmers who tyfter feeding their live stock had nothing left to sell, 167,493 farmers who hnd less than SSO value of products after feeding their stock; 805.440 had less than SIOO, 1,247,195 less than $250, 1,602,375 less than SSOO and 1,378,539 less than SI,OOO. Those may be called the average farmers. But when it conges to the rich fanners the figures jump the wrong tray, as far as the number of Monte Cristo farmers is concerned, for there were but 829,142 farmers who had a value of product of SI,OOO and under $2,500, and all the remaining farmers .In the United States, 158,829 In number, had $2,500 and over when the stock had been fed. Those were the Monte Cristos, but how few In comparison to the whole number! There is no doubt that the average farmer would be making a fair profit If the trusts could not charge him their enormous profits on what he Is compelled to buy, and this the trusts are fostered In doing by the tariff, which protects them and does not protect the tapper..

Why, the steel trust alone makes $140,000,000 a year, of which $100,000,000 is extra profit that comes through the tariff. The farmers, the rich ones and the poor ones, all pay a large share of that enormous profit. The Standard Oil, the sugar, the tobacco, the glass, the salt and hundreds of other trusts are similar vampires feeding on the $500,000,000,000 made by the farmers with the sweat of their brows. It has been estimated that 40 per cent of the profits of the farmers goes to enrich the trusts, and yet many farmers vote the Republican ticket and stand pat while the trusts plunder them. If any average farmer finds he is not able to save much or anything after paying his bills, let him investigate the trust prices he is paying and the tariff schedules that protect the trusts in charging those high prices. If he is a Republican, let him ask his representative in congress and the senators who represent his state why they don’t revise this tariff which is allowing him to be plundered by corporations. If their answers are truthful they would be compelled to say that the trusts help the Republican party, and therefore the party protects the trusts and lets the tariff alone.