i88 AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



shoes where they are barefoot ; or of clothes where they are 

 ragged. Neither are there too many homes where people are 

 compelled to live in damp cellars or cold attics, or with nothing 

 but the blue dome of heaven for a shelter. 



Let us go to the figures and amounts themselves, and ascer- 

 tain how much this alleged over-production has been. Working 

 from the rule that this surplus is sent abroad, we find that, in 

 1888, we exported in all, of beef, pork, and dairy products. 

 1,132,000,000 pounds, 120,000,000 bushels of wheat and flour 

 (reduced to bushels), and that our whole exports amounted to 

 $683,000,000. Had the 65,000,000 of our people consumed 

 each day that year one ounce of meat more than they did con- 

 sume, it would have taken 1,470,000,000 pounds, 338,000,000 

 pounds more than was exported. 



If they had consumed four ounces of flour each day, it would 

 have required 148,280,000 bushels of wheat, 28,280,000 bushels 

 more than was exported. If they had expended three cents each 

 day for products, in excess of what they did expend, they would 

 have bought $711,750,000, or nearly $29,000,000 more than 

 was expended. Does any one doubt that our people could have 

 consumed one ounce of meat or four ounces of flour each 

 day more than they did? Go among the alleys, the by-ways, 

 and almshouses, and be taught better. Could we not have 

 expended three cents each day for the comforts or necessaries 

 of life, more than we did ? Stand on the street corner and notice 

 the crowds as they pass by, and receive the answer. Where 

 there is a demand, there is no over-production. 



Extravagance and want of thrift are given as another expla- 

 nation of the difficulty. Need I insult your intelligence by 

 asking if you ever worked harder or practised economy more 

 closely ? I venture to say that nine-tenths of the people have 

 labored more hours, and economized closer, this past year than 

 ever before. The environment of labor in production, at the 

 present time, defeats all its aims at financial progress. The 

 fault is not in your labor, your calculations, or your saving. It 

 lies in the system under which your efforts are directed. Labor 

 in gross production was never better repaid, and yet in net 

 results it shows a loss. 



In 1867, 65,636,000 acres in cultivation produced 1,329,729,000 



