430 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY . 
THE FARMER’S COMPLAINT—ITS CAUSES. 
The complaint of the farmers may be briefly stated thus: Their 
labor is not fairly rewarded ; they have to sell their products at 
too low a price, and to pay too much for that which they buy. 
In answer to the question, why ? a Babel of voices respond, 
each one insisting on giving the one great cause. Loudest is the 
cry of railroad extortion and unjust discrimination. Rivaling this 
is that against lazy and dishonest middlemen levying a heavy tax 
on all the farmer sells or buys, for allowing it to pass through 
their hands. Other voices tell of the agricultural implement mo¬ 
nopoly ; of the patent laws ; of the tariff; of our general financial 
system. Some lay all blame on the Republican party ; others on 
the Democrats, who thwart its desires to do good. A few farmers 
say the credit system is the one great curse; while some business 
men are unkind enough to say that the trouble is that farmers do 
not know enough to manage their own business. 
This is a formidable list, and there is some truth in each charge 
but there are other causes equally important, but of a very differ¬ 
ent nature. We have a country of almost boundless extent, and 
it has, apparently, been thought essential that every available acre 
of it should be made use of at the earliest possible moment. Na¬ 
tional, state and territorial legislation has been lavishly given to 
securing the building of railroads to far distant points in advance 
of settlements. The railroad companies have naturally sought to 
secure immigration, and have sung in sweetest strains the praise of 
valley, plain and hillside. We have all urged the peasantry of 
Europe and the residents of our more eastern states to settle on 
the fertile lands of the far west. Most of these settlers had little 
capital; many at once involved themselves in debts large for 
them. They engaged principally in the production of the bulky, 
raw materials of farm products, which had to be transported hun¬ 
dreds of mile3 to the centers of consumption. When this was 
fairly started out great war came, taking away immense num¬ 
bers of producers, and by its waste greatly increasing the consump¬ 
tion. Prices advanced and the nominal prices became higher than 
ever before, because of a depreciated currency. Many farmers 
plunged again into debt for more land, new houses or other im- 
