06 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



mischief with the farmer has been the idea that he was a 

 producer. He is not a producer, but a manufacturer; and, 

 if he had held himself amenable to the law of economic man- 

 ufacture, he would long since have fertilized his judgment 

 by the finer economies that grow out of such a standard of 

 measurement. Of necessity, then, I can only present to you 

 a few of the phases of the agricultural situation. 



First, let me say there prevails a wide discontent among 

 the agricultural population of the United States. Dema- 

 gogue politicians seek to inflame it, with the hope that they 

 may feed upon it. Fools seek to decry it, belittle it, and 

 ridicule it, just as they did the coming of the flood. Wise 

 men, earnest men, good men, should heed it, listen to it, 

 and seek by a patient study of its proportions to compre- 

 hend its meaning, extent and probable effect. 



First of all, from an ethical stand-point, I want to say to 

 you that the farmer is right in his feeling of discontent. He 

 may not be wise in his manifestation of it, but he has a right 

 to feel as he does, and I hope he will continue to feel worse 

 and worse, until he puts a round stop to some of the villainy 

 of our latter day American life. 



In the partnership of industrial forces he is a foundation 

 factor. He is the food producer of the world. Without his 

 labor, skill, fortitude and courage, fifty-seven out of our 

 sixty-five millions would starve. Between him and the con- 

 sumer stands the immense capital of the dealers in food and 

 the transporters of food, — the middle-men and the railroads. 

 Season after season rolls around, and the farmer finds but a 

 scanty reward for his toil and privation. No other toiler in 

 the land works as many hours and receives as little pay for 

 what he has invested. He sees it, comprehends it. In addi- 

 tion, he sees a steady decline in the producing power of the 

 soil, on which all must depend. The future gives scanty 

 hope in that direction. 



Right at this point looms up the important inquiry, " Who 

 is to blame for this state of affairs?" Let us try and look 

 into it. In tracing out this matter, we hold that the farmer 

 himself must be held responsible for very much of the mis- 

 fortune that affects him. Who but the farmer is to be blamed 



