Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1898 — CHANGES OF A YEAR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CHANGES OF A YEAR.

FARMERS HAVE CAUSE ' FOR CONGRATULATION. A Retrospective View Shows that the Country Has Much' to Be Thankful For—Nation Is Now in a Prosperous Condition. v ’ Prices All Advancing;. Special Washington correspondence: r Thq farmers of the United States surely find their holiday season a very* satisfactory one. The contrast in their Conditions at the present time with those which existed under the free trade which the Republican party has just eliminated from the statute books is very great, and every farmer will doubtless appreciate it. They have contributed very largely to the exportations of the year just closed, which are shown by recent figures of the Treasury Departmentas greater than in any preceding year in the history of the country. Of course the products ot agriculture form a very large percentage of our exports. Products of agriculture form over 65 per cent.' of the exportations of the year 1897, as they did in 1896. In the month of October they formed 75 per cent, of the total exportations. When we take this Into consideration, and then learn that the exports of the United States for the year just ending will be more than a billion dollars, it will be seen that a large amount of money has flown into the pockets of the farmers. A study of the details the prices received by farmers for the articles which they are now selling as compared with recent conditions will be inter-

esting at this close of the year. Since August, prices of wheat in New York have hovered along the dollar line, sometimes a little below, frequently a little above, and the climax was reached the other day in Chicago when the price of winter wheat touched one dollar and nine cents. ComtMlst this condition with that of a short time ago. On Jan. 2, 1896, the price of red winter wheat No. 2 tn the New York market was sixty-nine cents. On Feb. 7, 1895, it was fifty-seven cents; on Oct. 4, 18J>4, i,t was fifty-four cents and a fraction. Ohio medium class wool, which in November sold in the New York and Boston markets at thirty cents, brought only twenty cents in January of the present year. Montana fine medium wool (scoured basis) which in November brought fifty-three cents per pound, was worth thirty-three cents at the beginning of the year. Kentucky and Indiana unwashed, which in October and November brought twenty-three cents a pound in the markets, was worth but seventeen cents at the beginning of the year. Lard, which in September ranged as high as five dollars and twen-ty-«even cents, is quoted upon Feb. 11, 1897, at three dollars and ninety-five cents. Mess pork, which is quoted as selling in the New York markets at two dollars and seventy-five cents In September, began the year at eight dollars and twenty-five cents per barrel. Beef, which sold in the Now York markets at ten dollars and fifty cents per barrel in November of the present year, is quoted at eight dollars and fifty cents in the same markets in July last. In many other’ things farm prices steadily advanced, and farmers have reason to congratulate themselves upon their Improved conditions. A recent statement by Bradstreet’s, in which it compares prices of nearly 100 different articles with former rates, shows an advance In November in corn, oats, potatoes. milk, beans, peas, hemp, l>arreled beef, mutton, sheep, hops, eggs and wool, while other articles of farm produce retained the advanced position which they had gained earlier in the year. That all these things have had their effect upon the farmer and made his year a pros|>erous one is evidenced by reports coming from every jmrt of the country showing enormous reduction in mortgage indebtedness. Thousands upon thousands of mortgages, hundreds of thousands, In fact, are being paid off with the result of a year’s prosperity under protection nod sound money, and hundreds of thousands of homes will this year have far tjils reason as well as for many others a merrier Christmas and happier New Year than they had known during the period of free trade awl ita accompanying troubles. Not only in the matter of increased warnings do the farmers find thelfcon-

dltlon Improved, but cobpled with this has come a reduction in prices of many articles which they must buy. Bradstreet’s statement referred to above shows a reduction in November In the prices of coffee, cotton sheetings, tin, print cloths, iron and steel, coal and coke and many other articles for the fanner’s money must go. The farmers of the country have reason to congratulate themselves also'.upon the" change which has taken place in the management of their own Department of Agriculture since a year ago. Uncle Jerry Rusk, President Harrison’s Secretary of Agriculture, was a real friend of the farmer, and instituted a number of schemes which-have worked out to their advantage and which are now recognized as permanent Institutions of the country, but the workings of his department were largely experimental, and it remained for his successor to reap the benefit of his work. But President Cleveland’s Secretary of Agriculture, Mr. Mortou, failed to improve his opportunities and seems to have been about the last man who should have occupied this important position. But Farmer Wilson immediately upon his appointment pulled off his coat and has had it off ever since. The department has undergone a transition, and more has been done in the genuine interest of the farmer of the United States than was ever dreamed of before. The new Secretary has pursued a vigorous policy in regard to the distribution of seeds which will be of some definite value to the farmer; he has encouraged in every particular the beet sugar industry, he has placed the department at the Service of the dairy interests in bringing their products to the attention of foreign markets, and with no little success making ih-

vest igatlon in regard to foreign markets for American cattig, horses and other farm animals; he is sending all over the world for new seeds, which will be of value to this country, and, in fact, is doing everything which energy and ingenuity can conceive and which thorough organization and system in his department can foster to materially advance the welfare and business interests of the farmers of the United States. It is predicted by the friends of this department that before President McKinley’s four years of administration have passed, there will be no branch of the Government more Influential and none so popular throughout the country as the Department of Agriculture. A. B. CARSON. The American Practice. • What is specifically true of Iron and steel is true of the whole fabric of American Industry. “American furnace practice” Involves precisely the same principle as that Illustrated in American railroad practice, of operating locomotives and cars of double the capacity of those of England, which is now being extended to double the capacity again. It is the same “American practice” that obtains in every industrial operation, and it has its foundation in that older American practice which gave to the laborer double the amount of wages paid in Europe and stimulated b|m to turn out double the amount of product. It is a practice that has grown up under the system of protection that made it possible, and while it may appear that, in the iron and. steel Industries, ‘‘protection does not protect," It Is obvious that so far from deserving the api>ellatlon of “shackles of protection,” that iwlicy constantly encourages the American -workman and engineer to press forward to greater jichlcveinents.—Pittsburg Dispatch. A Reliable Barometer. Bank clearings are an alMolutely reliable barometer of general buslneas conditions. That a steady and permanent increase in bank clearings from week to week means a positive commercial and Industrial revival is as certain as the law of gravitation. That a commercial and Industrial revival means more employment for the wage earners, and hence increased purchasing jvower for the laboring classes, is equally certain. The iwtnk clearings of Chicago for the month of November tell a tale of good times that must completely confound the most resourceful and tactful of the calamity wallers. There is no argument that can be advanced by the aiMWtlee of discontent that will prevail against figures which show actual businc** transactions. The bank clearings of Chicago for November reached the enormous aggregate of >458,000,000, which Is a gain of $100,700,000 over the corresponding month of last year. This

' ....... . remarkable gain is the highest on record since the good times of 1890-93. The figures of the politicians sometimes lie; bank figures do not.—Chicago Times-Herald. ' . Does Not Please the Germans. , Labor is so low in Germany that neither the United States nor Great Britain can compete with her4nthe manufacture of certain kinds of , woolen goods. Great Britain’s policy is to let Germany capture that market, but our policy Is to compel those who bring their goods-here for a market'to pay a duty which will enable the American manufacturer to pay high wages and still compete with the product of Germany. This policy, which is the policy of Germany, may not please Its woolen manufacturers, but it is so important that we should have the home market for our own manufactures of woolen goods that we cannot afford to, purchase the good will of the German producer by sacrificing the labor and the capital employed in the same Industry in the United States. As a matter of fact, the ill-natured observations of the German press on this subject are the best evidences that the Dingley law is a protective as well as a revenue tariff.—lndianapolis Journal. • To Awaken Sleepyheads. For the benefit *of the sluggard who finds it impossible to awake betimes, some ingenious contrivances have been produced by Inventors. There is a kind of bedstead, for example, which holds Its mattress in a frame that is retained in the normal position by a catch. At the proper hour the catch, operated by a clockwork mechanism, loses its grip and the mattress frame becomes vertical instead of horizontal, throwing bed lets the head of the sleepy person drop when getting-up time arrives, one end of the mattress frame collapsing. But one of the queerest of the patented methods of waking people up involves the employment of a tin pan and a weight hung by a cord. When the hands of a clock reach a certain point, the weight is released and falls upon the pan, making a direful racket. Another oddity is a frame from which are suspended a number of corks. During the night it is lowered gradually by a clockwork mechanism until at the proper hour and minute the dangling corks begin to bob against thq-nose and face of the sleeper. Of course he promptly wakes up. A Liberal Offset. 1 It is estimated that four years of the WMson tariff cost the people of the United States over ?5,000,000,000. Four months of the Dingley tariff have netted a deficiency Of revenue Amounting to about* $35,000,000. Against the latter sum set the enormous gains which protection has showered upon the country in the shape of increased values of agricultural and industrial products, tncreasedwork and wages, and increased operations in every line of business activity, and the deficit of the .first four months of the Dingley tariff seem but a trivial thing. It does not represent more than 1 per cent, of the gross volume of benefits growing out of the restoration of protection and prosperity for the calendar year of 1897. ' “Anonymous” to Be Honored. “Anonymous” is at last to have his statue. It will be set up in Hungary at the expense of Emperor Francis Joseph, being one of a large number to be erected to Hungarian worthies. This particular “Anonymous” is the unknown notary of King Bela, who wrote the “Chronicle of Hungary.” The resemblance will be as accurate in his case, probably, as in that of most of the rest of the dozen named. They’re Not So Warm. An' investigation of the subject shows that the thirteen countries which made formal protests against certain features of the tariff law of 1897, in the two months tn which the details of our exports can be obtained, have purchased $131,446,503 in value of our products and merchandise, against only $107,077,596 in the corresponding months of last year under the Wilson law.—York (Pa.) Dispatch. It Pleases Americana. It ought to be a matter of gratification to all Americans to know that the United States is pursuing an industrial policy which is calculated to cause alarm among the manufacturing nations of Europe.—Cleveland Leader. Should Receive Attention. Truly the matter of promoting American shipping, even by not being above imitating the methodi England has employed, is a fitting one to command attention at the coming session of Congress.—Pittsburg Commercial-Gazette. It Takes Time. Give the lawt a chance. It takes time for the nation to get back to the solid ground from which it shimped when it elected Cleveland and a Democratic Congress In 1892.—Utica Herald. It Is a Gem. *