Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 October 1897 — WILSON ON THE WEST. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WILSON ON THE WEST.

JBAYS THE PROSPERITY WAVE IS GENUINE. SBe Talks of Crop Conditions and Prices | of Farm Prodneta-Farmers All in Good Spirits—General Confidence and Cheerfulness Everywhere. Outlook Is Encouraging. Special Washington correspondence: 1 “All through the West,” said Secretary Wilson on his return from his trip through the Northwest, “the farmers Wre in good spirits. They can look (ahead out of the darkness which has aurrounded them the past years. Money fs a wonderful leaven for hard times land depressed spirits, and as the farmlers are getting largely increased prices •for their wheat, corn, meats, etc., even (now, the effect is apparent. Not only Bis, but the price of corn will rise still gher. An increased demand for corn 111 necessarily occur, by reason of the insufficiency of the wheat supply for [breadstuff’s. The crops of both wheat and corn will not, however, be as large through the West as many think. A barge portion of the corn crop is liable (to get caught by frost. Still the people of the Northwest have enormous quantities of corn left over from last year, land this will share the advance in (prices. The general result of the whole (condition is prosperity for the country. (The farmer is at the bottom of it all. ’The merchant, the laborer and the manufacturer are directly dependent upon (him for a market and if you give him pn Increased volume of money, you give It as well to them. The farmer, when me has money, spends it freely. He has [been scrimping himself badly of late, )and now he has lots of things to buy /with his surplus cash. The merchants Bn the large cities are beginning to feel [the effects. Every little country crosstroads store is stocking up to meet the and prospective demand. ( “I saw some few people with doleful •eountenances,” continued the Secretary. “They were the pessimists and they realize that they are playing in ■hard luck, with all Nature against them. I heard a good deal, too, about “McKinley luck’ and that sort of thing, /but the truth is that most of the people are happy and thankful that the (majority voted for Major McKinley, (realizing the fact that while the direct prise in wheat is of course not due to administration, yet that the confidence and prosperity all •over the country are due to nothing less than the return to power of the [principles of protection and sound money. I was much pleased with the interest which has been manifested in Isugar beets. Over twenty-two thousand American farmers are now experiimenting with sugar beets in twentyseven States. One item of considerable interest and importance connected with fthe beet industry is the fact that the •waste of the beet, after the sugar is ■extracted is very rich in nitrogenous taiatter and equally as good for milch Wows as bran. The dairy business will Rhus be stimulated by the production of Jbeet sugar.” Even pessimist-ridden Colorado .<omes along with reports of exceeding ■prosperity. The gold mining sections the State, it is said, will show an increase over last year’s production of oix million dollars. The increased value ~ef the wheat crop will be in the nelghIborhood of four million dollars. The 'fruit section has a double crop with in‘•ereased prices over last year. The part of the State will receive rtwo and a half times as much for its fwool and lamb crops as last year. The Wattle districts are booming aS never beIfore. The northern part of the State Twill yield more of all kinds of agricultural products than in any previous year. The manufacturing enterprises of the State are employing more men than they have for three years. Railroads are being built in the State and creameries, ice plants and factories are being put up in a dozen cities. ' The general outlook for corn is full of promise. The price now stands about 12 cents in advance of last year. The foreign demand has jumped the price up since July 1 about 9 cents a bushel. *Thus, on a crop conservatively estimatled at 1,800,000,000 bushels the increased value will amount to from $160,000,4)00 to $165,000,000. This mere increase to half as much as the value i»f the whole wheat crop of last year (and. is equal to one-third of the value jof the enormous corn crop of last year. Jit makes the smaller corn crop of 1897 worth more in the markets than the fvast crop of last year. The most encouraging feature of the corn market k the fact that notwithstanding the upward run in prices, the European degnxnd still continues steady and the exports enormous. It is estimated that (more than 200,000,000 bushels of American com will be sold to the foreign countries this year. In addition to the Jhrge crop of the present year, as comsfar&f with Jhe yield of 1894 and prior years, the granaries of the West are •till burdened with millions of bushels es last year’s crop. It is difficult to estimate the additional wealth of the [farmers from this source. The extent <o which Europe is using corn is a surprise to those who have looked upon corn as a staple but somewhat unprofitable crop. The great crop and Jow prices of 1896 forced corn abroad jand developed an European market, •nd the result is that the demand continues even with the increased price, •nd it is certain that Europe will continue to absorb far more of this American product than was the case prior to rtgOfi in the excitement incident to the great advance in wheat the importance M com has doubtless, by most people, |been overlooked, but it seems entirely [probable that the growing of com will Be, during the next two or three years, Attended with considerably more profit of late years. The European de-

mand will tend to keep the market steady and the revival of trade and industry throughout the country will increase the demand for beef, pork and other animal products dependent upon corn. A. B. CARSON. — * No Need of Worry. A good deal of worry is wasted by free trade organs just now over the fact that the Argentine government is contemplating a retaliatory tariff on our yellow pine, farm wagons and other farm implements by placing a duty of 66 per cent, on yellow pine, 125 per cent, on farm wagons, 100 per cent on other farm implements, and 100 per cent, on kerosene. This would affect about one one-thousandth of our exports. We sent to Argentine last year a little over one million dollars’ worth of these articles, out of a total exportation of 1,032 million dollars’ worth of our products. It would be a matter of regret, of course, that the United States should lose one one-thou-sandth part of her export trade by the Dingley law, but if she shuts out a hundred millions a year of products which come into competition with those of her own people by this law she can stand a loss of One million in exports. The imports of foreign products were under the Wilson law more

than a hundred million in excess of the last year of the McKinley law. But it is not at all certain that the Argentine law-makers will take this step. We bought of that country in 1896 $9,313,385 worth of goods, and sold her $5,979,046 worth of goods. Can she afford to cut off a market for nine million dollars’ worth of her goods for the sake of shutting out a million dollars’ worth of lumber, kerosene, and agricultural machinery? During the past ten years the balance of trade has been in her favor. Her statesmen will think several times before they destroy it. Even if the million dollars’ worth of our products are shut out of Argentine, our farmers will doubtless think the exchange a fair one when they consider that she sent about five million dollars’ worth of wool into our markets last year, and that her “indignation” is due to the fact that she is not to be permitted to continue this.

Japanese Labor in Australia. Hawaii is not the only place where the influx of Japanese cheap labor is making trouble. The Melbourne Leader, May 22, 1897, says that Thursday Island, off the far north of Queensland, is rapidly becoming a Japanese settlement, and if the present rate of increase be maintained the whole place must eventually fall into their hands. They are becoming predominant on the pearling and beche-de-mer fisheries, and are securing also the greater part of the business ashore. “In another three years,” says the North Queensland Register, “the pearl shelling industry will be theirs entirely, if no restrictions are imposed, and Thursday Island, except for the intermittent support of passing steamers, will become an appanage of the Mikado.” Even more gloomy is the outlook of a Townsville paper, which foresees the time when Australia itself will become a Japanese dependency. This prediction may be far fetched, but there is no doubt that white labor cannot stand in competition with those who are content with the Asiatic standard of living and the Asiatic rate of wages. What is happening on Thursday Island will happen elsewhere if the inroad is encouraged. The virtues of the Japanese increase the danger of the competition. He is sober, intelligent and hardworking, and can thrive under conditions which white men would abhor. He is patriotic also and pretends to no concern for Australian interests. Are Australians to sacrifice their own safety at the shrine of free trade?

Exclude This Cheap Labor. It has long been known, and recent experience has shown its intensity, that quite a number of unemployed laborers come to this country across the Canadian border. It is not the mere fact that they are unemployed to which we object, as it is the fact of their unfortunate impoverished condition. The immigration laws upon our statutes are supposed to check any influx of pauper labor. But they do not, because they are not rigidly enforced. It is not possible to watch every mile of the Canadian border, but it should be possible to prevent the admission of British pauper labor at those points where American official? are stationed. With the restoration of prosperity under our policy of protection, and the

consequent greater employment of labor, we are sure to see many hundreds of English, Canadian and Chinese laborers attempting to locate in the United States, and every effort made to do so—in contravention of our immigration laws—should be promptly checked. The American labor market should be supplied by American wageearners, There are more than enough of them to supply all demands at present. Gets Another Setback. The theory of a close relation between prices of silver and farm products has received another set-back from the recent statements of the value of the cotton crops. The increase in value in the United States this year compared with two years ago is fully $30,000,000, although the quantity produced is much less. When it is considered that silver has fallen 20 per cept. in value meantime, it is hard to Imagine how the silver theorists explain this advance. They haven’t the of “a famine abroad” as an excuse in this case. Causes Must Be Removed. “After a great smash like that of 1893 or that of 1873 there is nothing to do but wait and let the business of

the world settle itself, carefully keeping meanwhile the medicine men of finance with their feathers and rattles out of the way of the sick man. When public confidence is profoundly shaken it must re-establish itself. It has been shaken by causes, and those causes must be removed.”—Speaker Reed on the Business Situation. A Double Blessing. Blessings, like misfortunes, sometimes come in pairs. The triumph of the American system of protection, at the polls last November, has put an end to the outflow of gold from our shores to pay for foreign made goods; and now has come the discovery of gold in Alaska to put more money into the pockets of the American people. A Business Administration. Secretary of Agriculture Wilson is a busy man these days. Besides looking after the progress of sugar-beet culture, the exportation of American butter, and the introduction of leguminous food plants all over the country, he is now arranging to introduce the camphor tree in the Gulf States. It is evident this is a business administration.

Political Notes. “The Republicn party is responsible for the prosperity which we have with us. I make the assertion from the standpoint of a business man.”—Mark Hanna. Will Mr. Bryan please stop over in the cotton States and “explain” how it is that our cotton crop this year has increased $25,000,000 in value while silver has fallen 20 per cent. ? The Ohio Senatorial contest is expected to cut an important figure in determining the control of the United States Senate during the next tw® years. As goes Ohio so goes the Senate. The farmers of the South are not finding much support for the theory of the close relation between silver and farm products in the increased value of their cotton crop this year in the face of*the fall in silver. Will ex-candidate Bryan kindly devote a part of that $1,500 Ohio speech to telling the farmers how it is that Ohio XX wool, which sild in New York at 17 cents a pound a year ago, is now selling at 26 cents in that market? Here is an increase of more than 50 per cent, in price when silver was falling 20 per cent., and no “famine” to (Charge it up to, either. The Farm Bulletiu.