4680 
THE BUBAL NEW-YOBKEB 
435 
4 CARTOON CRITICISED. 
PARROT PAINFULLY POUNDED. 
VARIOUS VIEWS. 
FROM OHIO. 
The “Parrot” came to the front in the 
Rural of February 27, and on first view it has 
the best of the argument that “ Farmin’ don’t 
pay.” The “ Parrot” would still get its work 
in more effectually if that cartoon were litho¬ 
graphed, framed and hung up in the dining¬ 
room of every farmer’s home in the land, and 
also in some conspicuous place at each agricul¬ 
tural college, where they are endeavoring to 
educate boys so that they will return to the 
farm. Even if it be true that the farmer is 
borne down by an ud just share of taxation; 
even if it be true that he is compelled to pay 
a higher rate per cent, for the use of borrowed 
capital than other men do, I would yet ques¬ 
tion whether the farmer’s position in society 
can be elevated, or his material and pecuniary 
welfare improved by such pictures. 
But is it true that the farmer pays an unfair 
share of the taxes levied for the support of 
the State government? Here, in Ohio, a re¬ 
valuation of the real estate for taxable pur¬ 
poses is required at the beginning of each 
decade, the practical result of which is—at 
least in this part of the State—that our farms 
are listed on the tax duplicate at, on an aver¬ 
age, about one-half their actual value or sell¬ 
ing price. Owing to the prevailing low 
prices of agricultural products during the last 
four years, our farms have decreased in real 
value, and as a result we are now paying a 
disproportionate share of the taxes as com¬ 
pared with the owners of real estate in the 
towns and cities. Perhaps in no other period 
in the history of our State has this anomalous 
condition of affairs occurred, and this, it is 
confidently expected, will be corrected at the 
ensuing re-valuation of the real estate next 
j ear. Now, will it be said that this deprecia¬ 
tion of farm values—or in other words over¬ 
production—has been brought about by a 
vicious governmental policy? 
Taxes collected on farms in this part of our 
State, range from one to 1 % P er cent., on city 
property from two to three per cent, on as¬ 
sessed valuation We think that they 
are excessive. Taxation constitutes a prob¬ 
lem in the solution of which all honest tax¬ 
payers, whether larmers or others, are alike 
interested. Two reasons exist here for op¬ 
pressive taxation: 1st, high levies for local 
purposes; 2nd, the large aggregate of personal 
property w hich evades taxation. Our legis¬ 
lature has sought and is still striving to cor¬ 
rect the latter; so far with relatively meager 
results. That body is also trying to adjust 
the levying of the taxes, so that the require¬ 
ments for State purposes will be indirectly 
assessed, while for local purposes the assess¬ 
ments will be mainly by direct taxation. 
Concerning local taxation we farmers are 
largely responsible for the huge rates here. 
We want and demand good school-houses, 
good roads and bridges which we have gener¬ 
ally secured; so, according to the old saying 
“ those who dance should expect to pay the 
fiddler.” “ The stream cannot be purer than 
the fountain.” Whether a government is 
corrupt or beneficent will usually depend on 
the character, virtue and intelligence of the 
people of all classes, who compose it. “The 
noble people will be nobly ruled, and the 
ignorant and corrupt ignobly.” 
Our monetary affairs are fortunately 
in such a scuud condition that money com¬ 
mands a definite price in the market, and this 
is much less tliuu it was 30 years ago, when 
farm products averaged about the same 
prices. The price of money here now secured 
by farm mortgages is from six to seven per 
cent., while it more readily brought from 
eight to 10 per cent, on the same kind of 
security 30 years since, when ihe currency 
was less stable and consequently less valuable. 
Now are we to understand that the holders of 
farm mortgages—many of whom are farmers 
—are avaricious and hard-hearted because 
they sell money at market prices? And are 
such mortgage claims to be denounced as 
oppressive and unrighteous? To do so would 
seem like communism. And yet the recent 
cartoon implies as much. 
Our civil courts wisely guard with zealous 
care the interests of the debtor class, and will 
net permit usurious interest to be collected by 
any subterfuge if it can be detected. 
Thousands of dollars have been lost in this 
section by investing in farm mortgage notes 
on account of the subsequent depreciation of 
the security. Have the investors conspired to 
bring about this depreciation? 
I do not sympathize with the effort which 
is constantly put forth, to saturate the farmer’s 
mind with the idea that somebody is trying 
to hurt him. It has been dinned into our ears 
almost from time immemorial that the 
farmer is only a hewer of wood and drawer 
of water, that he is compelled to bear the 
burdens of all other classes. The jocular ob¬ 
servation of Sir Geo. Campbell, the English 
traveler, that “ among the Americans, for 
every man who really works with his hands, 
there seem to be two who seek to live by 
speculating upon him,” is literally construed 
to mean that the farmer is the victim of 
the other two men. 
The inculcation of such ideas must mani¬ 
festly prove detrimental to the best interests 
of the farmer, and. besides, they are void of 
the tiu'h. Form produce always has a 
market value. It is also a cash article, which 
can scarcely be said of any other class of mer¬ 
chandise. Can the farmer reasonably expect 
more for his goods than what they are worth? 
It is true that it sometimes happens that the 
market value of an article of farm produce is 
below the cost of production. Does this not 
more frequently happen in the traffic in other 
merchandise? Even the vicious combinations 
of capitalists to abnormally affect the prices 
of the products of the farm, usually result in 
forcing them above, rather than below their 
real value in the markets of the world. The 
cornering of w r heat last October in the 
Chicago market affords an illustration. 
Farmers who sold their wneat during that 
period, or soon afterwards, realized much 
more for it than it was really worth. Had I 
not “turned speculator” I might have ob¬ 
tained $1.15 per bushel for my 1,000 bushels 
of wheat in the Cincinnati market, which was 
nearly 16 cents per bushel more than it was 
worth the same day in Liverpool, England. 
The abnormal price was the direct effect of the 
Chicago “flurry.” 
That the pernicious and abominable trusts 
and combinations, which seek to interfere 
with the natural laws of trade, prove injuri¬ 
ous to the great mass of people, 1 do not for a 
moment question; that they prove more det¬ 
rimental, in the aggregate, to farmers than 
they do to a vast majority of other citizens 
remains to be demonstrated. These mercen¬ 
ary combinations should be regulated and 
controlled in the interests of all the people 
and not of any particular class. With this 
object in view, the tillers of the soil can very 
wisely and justly unite and cooperate with 
the other classes, in securing equal rights for 
all. 
In that good time coming, when the rings, 
monopolies and trusts,that seek through strata¬ 
gem and tyranny to set aside the laws of sup¬ 
ply and demand, shall be subjected to salutary 
laws, even thtn we tillers of the soil will find 
that our business, our prosperity, depend, to 
a great extent, on what we ourselves make 
them. We will find that social advancement 
is the result of individual advancement. W e 
will find that virtue, knowledge and freedom 
must spring from ourselves; and that it is not 
by socialism but by individualism that the 
world is impelled forward. We will find that 
the road of human welfare lies along the old 
highway of steadfast well-doing, and that 
they who are the ^rnost persistent, and work 
in the truest spirit, will usually be the most 
successful. We will find that well directed 
toil, frugality and prudence will alone sub¬ 
serve our best interests. s. E. 
Montgomery County. 
FROM INDIANA. 
Among the many cartoons that have ap¬ 
peared in the Rural, none, it seems to me, 
among them all is, or was, more telling aud to 
the point than that of February 2. 
It cannot be denied that, in his relation to a 
great many other class interests, the farmer 
is made a patient, plodding beast of burden. 
In this cartoon, the post of honor among 
the parasites is given to the monej-lender, 
and very fitly, I think. The lesson intended 
to be taught is, not that the farmer shall con¬ 
sider his relation to other interests, as shotvn 
in the cartoon, as proper and just, and to be 
thankiully accepted by him, but to show him 
more clearly that a great many other interests 
have, in some way, got him in their power 
aud are using him for their own selfish ends, 
as a beast of burden. But suppose this object- 
lesson should accomplish the object for which 
it is presumably intended—to open his eyes to 
the w r rongs and injustice done him; what will 
it avail him ? A goodly number of farmers 
clearly comprehend the burdens pressing 
down the agricultural classes, who feel them¬ 
selves powerless to remedy the evil. Suppose 
the cartoon should open the eyes of all; have 
we any hope that they would right the 
wrongs? Is it not too much to hope that they 
could be sufficiently united to cast off the para¬ 
sites, one by one, or lestrict them to be con¬ 
tent with what they could justly claim, and 
so no longer be parasites ? 
Let us suppose that the cartoon has done 
its work, and that there is a general feeling 
among the farmers that the work of reform 
should be commenced. Suppose at a great 
convention of farmers a resolution is offered 
that no interest should be allowed in any case 
whatever. 
It would undoubtedly be voted down be¬ 
cause the States have fixed the rate of interest 
the people can afford to pay,—or at least it 
might be said that is a reasonable view of it. 
On the other hand, whenever any of the 
States have proposed to lower the rate of in¬ 
terest, capitalists have threatened to with¬ 
draw their capital from those States, and 
thus greatly diminish the circulating 
medium. So we find the rate allowed by law 
to be from about five to 12 per cent., though 
different States fix the rate as high as six or 
eight per cent in the absence of contract, but 
allow the parties to make contracts for as 
high as 12 per cent. As the borrower is the 
servant of the lender, the highest rate allowed 
by law is the rate generally paid, yet it seems 
to be a well established fact that the annual in¬ 
crease of wealth does not exceed three per 
cent. 
If we apply the examples in our lessons at 
school such as “ If a rabbit runs at the rate of 
100 yards a minute and a houDd gives chase at 
the rate of 120 yards a minute, how long will 
it take the hound to catch the rabbit, the lat¬ 
ter having a start of 100 yards?” It is only a 
question of time when the rabbit will be 
caught. 
If we state the example in a different way, 
thus, “If a community is possessed of property 
worth $100,000,000 that increases at the rate 
of three per cent, per annum, how long would 
it take $10,000,000 of capital to absorb the 
property, the capitalists loaning to the prop¬ 
erty owners at the rate of 10 per cent?” 
As in the case of the rabbit and the dog, it 
will be only a question of time. 
The difference between the two examples is, 
that the former is only a supposed example, 
while the latter is in actual process of solu¬ 
tion. 
When the farmer clearly understands that 
as the problem goes on he will be ruined, he 
will insist that it be discontinued. But what 
is he to do? The capitalist is so powerful 
that he can force State legislatures to enact 
such laws as he desires. 
This cartoon will no doubt suggest many 
remedies, and here is my suggestion as a begin¬ 
ning: Have Congress enact a law that no 
Federal court shall be allowed to render judg¬ 
ments on any note or other acknowledgement 
bearing a higher rate ol interest than three 
per cent, and gradually the States will adopt 
the same reform, and the influence of such a 
law would be a gradual lowering of the rate 
of interest generally to a rate more nearly in 
agreement with the general rate of increase 
of property. s. b. h. 
Crawfordsville. 
FROM NEW JERSEY. 
I have been listening to the parrot’s 
“Farmin’ don’t pay,” until I have wished 
some one would build a good strong tire in the 
stove, and make it too hot for him; but no 
one appears to have the fuel to spare. The 
parrot is right, but he is too much like the 
prosecuting attorney, who always tries to 
make the case look as black as possible. 
Farming doesn’t pay in many instances, and, 
as effect follows cause, I will endeavor to 
point out some of the causes that produce 
failures. 
1st.—Too large farms. Many a person thinks 
that he must have at least 100 acres, or he will 
not be considered a farmer. So he purchases 
a farm, but, as he has not sufficient capital to 
pay for the farm and stock, he pays half cash, 
and gives a mortgage for the balance. I see 
the Rural has the right idea in its cartoon of 
February 2. That big, burly fellow with all 
his evil followers pressing the farmer to the 
earth like a cart beneath its sheaves is, I 
think, ready to indorse the parrot and say: 
“ Farmin’ don’t pay,” whereas, if he had 
bought less land, paid the cash, stocked his 
farm well, bought $100 worth of fertilizers 
and used them judiciously, he could sit down 
in a cosy corner with Uncle Jacob, and laugh 
to scorn the parrot's remark, “ Farmin' don’t 
pay.” 
2nd.—The old-rut routine of farming. Some 
men are so firmly attached to their fathers’ 
modes of farming, that, if you introduced the 
subject of improved methods, they will “Po, 
Ho,” stick up their noses at you, and call it 
book farming, and the parrot may well say to 
such men, “ Farmin’don’t pay.” 
3d,—Routine farming, such as growing one 
crop after another, selling everything off the 
farm, and returning nothing in the line of 
fertilizers except the little made from the 
stock on the farm, which is not one-half what 
it might or would be if all useful materials 
were utilized. This class of men will always 
tell you that farming doesn’t pay. 
4th,—Another class of farmers like to take 
things easy. They never have any system, 
or any plans laid for the season’s work. To 
them, “sufficient unto the day, is the evil there¬ 
of.” To them, the easiest way is the best, 
consequently the straw and other valuable 
materials are burned to get rid of them; the 
fields are overrun with noxious weeds, and 
there is a row of briers growing each side of 
the fences, often occupying a space six feet 
wide. The fences are in bad condition, and 
when the pasture is well eaten off, over go 
the cattle into the standing corn, or other 
crops, and the men and dogs destroy as much 
as the cattle eat, in getting them out. When 
the cattle once get started, it is a hard matter 
to stop them, so valuable time is lost, the prof¬ 
its of the crops are greatly diminished, if not 
entirely lost, and at the end of the year, the 
farmer finds it difficult to meet expenses. The 
next thing is a chattel mortgage at 15 to 25 
per cent, bonus, and he very naturally con¬ 
cludes that “ farmin’ drn’t pay.” 
I think that the parrot must have lived for 
a considerable length of time with this class 
of farmers. 
Kingston. ' J. p. 
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w 
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