334 
Annual Report of the 
success, is the day of all the year, when by questioning and conver¬ 
sation, we may gain that knowledge which will enable us to share 
in the future their more profitable harvests. 
A fair degree of prosperity has been given the farmer during the 
year just closing, and about us on every hand are to be seen proofs 
of a generous harvest. Yet the air has been vocal with sound* of 
murmuring, and one need only listen to realize that all is not well. 
Railroads, monopolies and “middlemen!” How constant, and gen¬ 
eral, and bitter has been the cry against these. I have thought it 
best, in discussing the outlook for farmers to-day, to see if there is 
not some cause for the general discontent and uneasiness of the 
agricultural community, that cannot legitimately be laid at the 
door of either of these several agents. All wrongs that have been 
inflicted by them upon the people, should be summarily righted, 
and for all illegal acts they should be punished. But are they 
wholly responsible for the “hard times,” and for the want of general 
prosperity now said to prevail among farmers? 
I believe middle-men and railroad managers are humanly weak, 
and that they have demanded and will again demand, if left to 
themselves, exorbitant rates of commission and charges for freight; 
but their evil-doings have been thoroughly discussed by others; 
so that I shall pass them by and look for another cause than those 
mentioned, to which, at least, a portion of the existing evil not 
only may, but ought to be attributed. 
The feeling of discontent of which I speak is not confined to our 
own state, but with her cries are mingled those of all the North¬ 
western states. Hence there must be some common cause or train 
of causes reaching over this large extent of territory, as wide and 
general as the effect to which the want of usual prosperity may be 
attributed. 
By the census statistics oi 1870, the nine northwestern states, 
(Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, 
Ohio and Wisconsin), contain 29.1 per cent. (11,245,685) of the 
population of all the states and territories. We may . consequently 
assume that they demand for consumption about three-tenths of all 
the food and manufactures consumed throughout the country. 
Corn and wheat are the leading farm-productions of these states, 
constituting in 1872, according to the report of the Commissioner 
of Agriculture, 65.8 per cent., or nearly two-thirds the value of all 
