ANNUAL MEETING OHIO STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. \) 



only 35 cents of the consumer's dollar. The consumer pays today a higher price 

 for beef than ever before, but, according to Secretary Wilson, the packers pay 

 the farmers for their cattle barely as much as they did ten or fifteen years ago, 

 when butcher's meat was comparatively cheap. It is true, no doubt, that for 

 most products, farm prices are now higher than for many years past, but it 

 is universally recognized aUo that everything the farmer buys, including his 

 clothing, tools, and implements, is proportionately higher. The standard of living 

 of his family has advanced greatly during recent decades, making both the volume 

 and grade of his purchases of manufactured goods and luxuries much larger 

 and higher. Owing to our excessively high tariff, the American people are living 

 and working on an abnormally high level of costs. In the last twenty years, 

 the costs of most things have been artificially lifted ; the manufactured goods 

 used by farmers most of all, and the farmer's products least of all. The farm- 

 ing class, being imperfectly organized, is thus being made to pay tribute to every 

 other class, especially to the manufacturer, the middleman, and the financier. 

 This is shown clearly in the case of wool by the report of the Tariff Commis- 

 sion, and is acknowledged by all schools of economists, except the representa- 

 tives of the favored interests. It is most unfortunate for the workers of America 

 that these questions have always been decided by political methods. They are 

 not political, in any sense, but economic. They can not, therefore, be omitted 

 from any discussion of agricultural depression. Having stated these facts in 

 our diagnosis of the disease, it will not be necessary in this company to discuss 

 further the remedy. All present, i am sure, believe in a fair, if not a low, 

 tariff. 



In the 1 above statements we have. I think, presented to you the darkest side 

 of our farmer's life, and may turn now to look upon the bright side of life in 

 Ohio, and consider the measures destined, as I firmly believe, to make our 

 farmer's life happier and still brighter every year. 



The first great truth to be noted is that Ohio is near the centre of gravity 

 of the population, of the manufacturers, and of the wealth and trade of this 

 country. The centres of gravity of all these things, as shown by the census, 

 of the state, its climate and resources, make it forever a great field of commerce. 



One conclusion to be drawn from this situation a conclusion as certain 

 as that growth follows sunshine is that whatever the economic conditions in 

 the country at large may be at any given time, their results are bound to be 

 most favorable in a state located like ours. If railroads and trusts oppress 

 the farmers throughout the country, conditions being equal all over, they can 

 hurt them less in Ohio, where the markets are near at hand, than in the Dakotas, 

 for example, where all the farmer's products have to be shipped a thousand 

 miles to market and all his goods, hauled back again over the same hundreds 

 of miles. So also, if the tariff takes his little remaining profits, or the money 

 trust wants his last -cent in interest, you may be sure that he has, thanks to 

 these same favorable conditions, a good deal better chance in Ohio than in the 

 Northwest. Whatever the advantages from these general economic conditions 

 and laws, the Ohio farmer is certain to get a little more good out of them, 

 and whatever the disadvantages, they are sure to bear less heavily upon him 

 than upon his brother in those distant states. All economic laws are bound, 

 in the very nature of things, to favor you here for many years to come. This 

 is as certain as the laws of nature. Then stay in Ohio! 



This great central trade state, with its urban population constantly increas- 

 ing, with its large mining and manufacturing interests, and its thousands of 

 miles of railroads running through it in every direction, also offers many oppor- 

 tunities, scarcely dreamed of as yet, for agricultural development. By way of 

 illustration, let me speak of the opportunities for co-operation, especially for 



