The Jackson economist. (Winder, Ga.) 18??-19??, March 16, 1899, Image 8

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

EATING THE HEART. I WANT OF SUFFICIENT CURRENCY DE STROYING SOUTHERN FARMERS. Ttir Hrlplro and IMtlfnl Condition of Cotton Grower* “Condence" Proved n HroKen Stick—Hammond anil Ihe Reform Clul*. Our readers have no doubt beard of tho Reform club, which has its head quarters on William street, next door to Wall, and maiiy of them doubtless have seen the “sound currency” pam phlets which it has been issuing since the beginning of the campaign in 1896 The purpose of the Reform club in establishing its department of pamphlets was to defend the single gold standard and oppose the restoration of bimetal lism. and during the campaign of 1896 and afterward its publications were all directed to proving that the supply of currency was ample, that prosperity existed everywhere in the country, and that low prices of products were miti gated or offset by the increased pnr chasing power of the dollai The writ ers employed by the Reform club were instructed to deny every contention made by the promoters and defenders of bimetallism, and to this they devoted themselves with great energy und in dnstry They insisted that the national bank system was the most perfect that had ever been devised, that the cur rency system would be perfect when the gold standard was established: that people who had nothing to sell could not expect to have money; that no matter how much currency the govern ment might issue or how much silver might be coined, those who were with out money would continue to suffer for tho lack of it, and that the talk of hard times nnd currency famines was simply part of the scheme of the “crazy silver ites” to depreciate the currency und •'rob labor of its just rewards. " Nauseating as was this iteration and reiteration, tho stream of it continued to flow from the Reform clnb Those Who read these publications were told that nothing whatever was necessary to the restoration of prosperity—if pros perity was indeed lacking—but tho res iteration of confidence. That was the one thing necessary to do How was it to be done? By debiting tho Demo *srats, 'ey supporting the "sound won ey” candidates. Do that, said the Re form club, and confidence will be at once restored. That is all that is neces sity. We have had prosperity under <vnj present system, and we will have it ojjttin 9s Suoft as tha business interests of the country are assured that a depre ciated currency will not take the place’ “sound money” under the gold stand trd Wti thrash ovej this old Btruw merely to call attention to tho fact that a change seems to have come over the Re form club in the matter of currency re form One of its recent publications is from tho pen of Mr. M R. Hamniond. Who takes for his subject “The Southern Farmer and Banking Reform. ” and deals with it in a way that shows he is entirely familiar with the unhappy con dition of affairs that exists in the south Though "banking reform” is a part of the title of his subject, he deals with currency reform, and it would have given a clearer conception of his pur pose if be had employed that term. But the point to which we call at tention is that the Reform club, through the medium of Mr. Hammond, admits. bo far as the south is concerned, every contention of those who favor bimetal ism as the means of increasing the money supply Heretofore, when The Constitution, as a part of its argument, has been compelled to describe the ap palling condition of the southern farm ers, due to a lack of a medium of ex change. it has been denounced by the Reform club coterie as a croaker, a prophet of evil, and the condition of the unfortunate cotton growers ascribed to thriftlessness or to idiotic methods in the management of their business, and then figures would be given showing that there had been a steady increase in the volume of money in circulation, followed by the stereotyped declaration that nothing was necessary but the res toration of confidence. Our readers no doubt have a very lively remembrance of these things, for it has not been so many months ago when the gold news papers wore full of them But the publication of Mr Ham mond's nrticle by the Reform club shows that there must be a lingering of the gold worshipers. The article is in the nature of a demand for a credit currency in note form adapted to the needs of agricultural communities. Now. The Constitution, while in favor of the restoration of bimetallism, has for years advocated the repeal of the 10 per cent tax on state banks and the res toration to the people of the right to issue notes on their credit, this issue to be guarded by judicious state legisla tion Then, when the southern bankers convention met in Atlanta and adopted resolutions in favor of allowing banks to issue notes on their assets. The Con stitution favored that plan, but predict ed that such a method would find no favor in the eyes of eastern bankers, who, not knowing the situation in the agricultural regions, do not realize the extreme need of such a measure of re lief. Currency notes, as Mr. Hammond points out. are issued only by national | hanlcs. and these banks are not adapted, as the law now stands, to meet the needs of the agricultural classes The result is that only the dwellers in towns and cities have the benefit of banking facilities, while the farmers, who before the war paid large profits into the hanks of that day. are left ont in the cold Mr Hammond very correctly translates the demand for "more money’ (which rises in the agricultural regions to vex the ears of the city bankers) as a call for the ordinary instruments of credit It is this call for an ordinary supply of the ordinary instruments of credit which the financiers translate as a de mand for a depreciated currency. These | magnates would have had much more repose than they have enjoyed during the past quarter of a century if they had translated the demand for “more money" into what it really and truly means. Mr. Hammond puts his finger on the sore spot in the south. After emancipa tion had swept away the available cap ital of the south and when local and in terior buyers had taken the place of the factors at the seaports on whom the an tebellum planters had depended for funds the small farmers who took the place of the old planters “were compell ed to resort to indirect means for ob taining credit ” They had no commer cial standing and could not borrow cash, so they 7 were compelled to mort gage their cotton crops for the food and supplies necessary to run them until the crops were gathered. This was the beginning, and necessity has brought about its continuance. The farmers, owing to their own lack of credit and to the lack of credit notes, have been compelled to make cotton their medium of exchange. A currency system well enough in its way for dwellers in cities but infamous in its effects on the agricultural classes has reduced them to the necessity of re turning to the primitive methods of barter —methods that are simply ruin ous, but from which therO can be no es cape, except in individual instances, un til our currency system has been so thoroughly reformed that all can share its benefits From the very necessities of the case people must have some me dium of exchange. In old times it was tobacco, indigo and the pelts of wild animals; in the south today it is cot ton, and that is why the crop continues to increase in spite of the fact that each increase carries disaster in its wake All this has been going on for years, and every demand of the farmers for “more money"—for an etiual chance tn the matter at chiTefiey--nfts been met in the money centers by denunciation and by loss of sleep on the part of the gold worshipers. The Constitution has described the situation in the south as pitiful, and it has been criticised for it by those who are either willfully ignorant or selfishly blind. Mr. Hammond, who seems to know all the conditions, justifies every statement The Constitution has ever made He nys that the situation was so serious nnd so disheartening the pres ent season that the tenant farmers in many 7 sections deserted their own crops in the field in order to earn a little money by picking cotton for others Could anything more clearly show the results of a scarcity of money 1 Mr Hanunond also agrees with The Constitution in saying that the contin uance of the all cotton system is not due to the obstinacy of the growers They would be glad to diversify their crops if they could get out of “the clutches of the present credit system. ’ Leases and crop liens do not contain any contract for diversification They call for so many dollars’ worth of cot ton. and the lower the price falls the more cotton does the unfortunate debtor have to pay Mr. Hammond admits that the 10 per cent tax on the circula tion of state banks has practically “sealed np the sources from which the southern cotton growers could hope to secure loans. ” and he adds that the de mand for “more money which has come from the south and west” in the last 20 years has been due to a real need and has not been based so much on ignor ance as some of our city financiers have supposed Asa remedy for this credit system, which is slowly eating out the heart of the south and destroying its most nec essary income, Mr. Hammond urges that a bank be authorized to issue notes against its.general commercial assets to the extent of 40 per cent of its capital at once, and ultimately to the extent of 80 per cent of its capital, and, sec ond, the establishment of branch banks The article of Mr. Hammond, inter esting in itself, takes on new interest as coming from so strange a source as the Reform club. —Atlanta Constitution Tlie Birth of Trust*. When combinations of capital can so control an industry* as to dictate the cost to it of the raw material, arbitra rily fix the price to the consumer, con trol the output of both raw material and finished product and make its own terms for transportation and wages, the next step is not unlikely to be an alli ance between two or more such com binations for mutual security., increased power over producer and consumer and larger margin of profit—Cleveland Plain Dealer DeWitt’s Witch hazel Salve Cures Pile*. Scalds, Burns. UNDER THE TRUSTS: FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE WE ARE RULED BY THEM. When We Get I'p In the Morning nnd When We Lie Dovrn nt Sight, the Trnat Collects Toll From L’—Taxes Wlmt We Gat. Drink and Wear. On the question of trusts a brief con sideration of the figure they cut in sup plying the ordinary necessities is quite astonishing The average citizen is aid ing a trust when he raises a spoon to his mouth at the breakfast table He puts on trust underwear and hosiery when he gets np in the morning, for tho American Knit Goods company is a $30,000,000 corporation that practically controls the trade His shoes are made expensive because the $125,000,000 United States Leather company con trols the leather market. He puts SIOO,- 000,000 trust coal into his furnace and strikes an $11,000,000 trust match to light the gas furnished by the gas trusts. If he eats a cracker he pays tribute to the National Biscuit company, whose capitalization amounts to $55,000,000 The price of his sugar is controlled by the Sugar trust, and if he prefers beet sugar, tin* American Beet Sugar Refill ing company, just organized and capi talized at $20,000,000, controls its price If be prefers glucose or corn sugar he has to pay the price set by a $40.000.000 trust If he enjoys a sirloin steak he has to pay tribute to the dress ed beef combination capitalized at $50,000,000 The wall paper he looks at comes from the Nutional Wall Paper company, a $30,000,000 trust The rock salt pool controls the price of the salt he puts on his potatoes. This pool is capi talized at $5,000,000 His morning pa per is made more expensive because of a $55,000,000 trust in print paper. He cannot eat a broiled whitefish without helping to pay the dividends on $10,000,000 worth of stock of the American Fisheries company He can drink coffee whose value is fixed by two combines, and in some cities the milk he pours into it is handled by a trust, and if he takes an "eye opener" in the morning the price of the whisky is de termined by two trusts, while his beer at noon is probgbly manufactured by a beer trust The filters by which the prohibitionist seeks to keep microbes out ft his drinking water are made by a $2,000,000 trust. His overshoes are made a luxury by the ftibbet* trust, and if his wife wears ribbons he must help pay dividends on tho $18,000,000 capital of the ribbon umfiilfacturers’ trust. If he wears a celluloid collar, he pays trib ate to an $8,000,000 trust, and a linen collar helps the $10.500.600 starch trust. Even porcelain teeth are manufac tured under an ironclad price agree ment, kept up by the American Trade association, which is another name for the dental supplies trust Theaters are under the contiol of combines, and the price of cloth and clothes is controlled by trade agreements that in many in stances amount almost to a trust. Snuff, thread, rubber goods, tinware, pottery, telephones, flour and soda wa ter are all controlled by trusts capital ized at from $500,000 to many millions And there is no respite left for a man even when he is dead, for the ice trust will have its plethoric dividends, and it would be next to impossible for his relatives to buy him a casket without consulting the price list of the burial casket trust, whose capital is $15,000,- 000. and various stone and granite com bines get a good profit for allowing the poor man to have the spot marked of his last resting place. This investigation could be carried on almost indefinitely From the cradle to the grave capitalistic combinations of one kind or another levy tribute from the people, who have no other choice than to yield whatever is demanded. On the other hand, the combines fix wages and therefore the consuming power of a large portion of the people. It would appear from this that the trusts are doomed to failure, because if they don't pay high wages and continue raising them consumption will grad ually lessen in proportion to the in crease of production But when we re alize that labor constantly produces new wealth, that the profit eating mid dle men are being wiped out, that the farmers are entirely unprotected and fleeced by the trusts and that foreign markets are being conquered for the purpose of unloading their surplus prod ucts it will be seen that the trusts can not possibly fail until they have accom plished their mission, when the civilized world shall have accepted socialism. — Cleveland Citizen. That Farmer*’ Party. Farmers of Connecticut. New York. New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana. South Da kota, Wyoming. lowa. Nebraska. Kan sas, Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Arkan sas and California are forming state branches of the proposed new national farmers' party and are preparing to send representatives to the national execu tive committee’s meeting, which is to be called soon by the projectors of the new party movement at Avon, this state. The meeting is to be held prob ably in Chicago.—Chicago Record. Gainesville, Jefferson & Southern Railroad! SAMUEL (J. DUNLAP, Receiver. \ Time table No. 12, taking effect 5. 50 a. m., Jan. 6, 1899, \ MAIN LIISTK \ NORTHBOUND. Between Social Circle jSOUTH BOUND Read Downward and Gainesville. Read Upward.! First Class. First Class. 93 91 85 83 81 STATIONS. 82 84 86 92 9, Sun- Snn- Daily Daily Daily r - r , j o1 ,„ . „ L day clay ex ex ex da ’ ly dail >’ Sun- Sun (only only Sun Sun Sun c' q, x da . v d.y | ' j sun Sun Sun only only C am am Ip m Tv. “ Ar a m Ip m ?T* g 1100 11 OOj 450 SOCIAL CIRCLE 9 15| 3SO s 2(> £ § 11 1® I* 20 505 GRESHAM g 55 3 10 905 § F- 113 u 1140 S MONROE. 835 2 50 8 50 | 5 1145 Hi CAMPTON 815 2 30 835 5 6 1158 a.i BETHLEHEM 800 2 15 8 22 ® O 7 40 130 g )4- 1230 g. 157 648 MULBERRY 7gn 1,0 b 754 TT *1 12 45 g- 2177 03 HOSCHIUN 7 ~£ lz S 739 SS daily Ino 245 723 ~ nrn* * ’ ®e B 710 ex luy § ,46 HICKORY 1 REF’. 645i 30 P lJ daily Sun P* q. ex _ " # ■ Sun 640 11® 7 BELLMONT 40 )() 25 7 14 p m G 45 730 KLONDIKE 6 35; 10 2t 7 If 650 120 -U5 740 CANDLER 63010 15 7 ‘£s 710 145 . 3 "° 800 GAINESVILLE. 610 955 640 720 am P m pmpm Ar . Lv. a m |a m a m p 7 £ 8 7 191185183 jBl j ~ \S2jS4\W\9^ No. 82 will run to Social Circle regardless of No. 83. No. 84 will run to Social Circle regardless of No. 81, No. 83 will run to Winder regardless of No. 84. No. 84 will run to Winder regardless of No. 83. No. 92 wid run to Social Circle regardles of No. 9], JEFFERSON BRANCH. Time Table No. 12, taking effect 5.50 am., Jan. 6, 1899. NORTH BOUND Between Jefferson and SOUTH BOUND Read Downward Bellmont. Read Upward. First Class. First Class. “ 89“ "§7“ STATIONS. “88fT 90" Daily Daily Daily | Dany except except except i except Sun Sun __ Sun | Sun P. M. A. M. Lv. Ar. P. AITA M. 1135 SSO JEFFERSON! -=> 810 11 lu 12 00 615 PEN >ERGRASS 748 10 43 i 13 35 40 BELLMONT 730 10 26 P M. 'A. M. Ar. v.P. M. A. M. j Tj 'So i 7 I 88 I 99 I No. 90 will run to Jefferson regardless of No. 89. >1 [African Limbless Cotton Seed Free.... Anyone who sends one dollar for a year’s subscription to the At lanta Semi-Weekly Journal can get postpaid one pound of the cele brated African Limbless Cotton Seed without charge. A pound of these seed will plant one-fifth of an acre, and with i proper attention should yield enough to plant a crop, i The seed were tested in a list of thirty varieties by the Georgia Experiment Station and a bulletin recently issued by Director Red ding shows that the African Limbless Cotton produced 70 pounds i more per acre than any other variety, and 161 pounds more per acre than the average of thirty leading varieties. The African Limbless Cotton produced 780 pounds of lint per acre, 1 which is nearly four times the average on the farms of the South, i This shows what high fertilization and thorough culture will do with these excellent Seed. The value of the product, counting cotton 1 at 5 cents and seed at 13 cents a bushel, was over $45 per acre. The i cost of fertilizers used was $4.77 per acre. The Journal does not guarantee results, but the result of the test at the Experiment Station makes it worth a farmer’s while to test i these seed when he can get them for nothing. The Journal brings you the NEWS OF THE WORLD TWICE A WEEK with hundreds of articles of special interest about the farm, 1 the household, juvenile topics, etc., and every southern farmer i should have the paper. You don’t have to wait a week for the news, but get it twice as often as you do in the weeklies, which charge the same price. 1 AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE, i Send for a sample copy. Address, THE JOURNAL, Atlanta, Ga. The Jackson Economist and The Semi-Weekly Jovrnal 1 year $125. “Frank's Cough Cure is the best I ever used.” —Rob’t L. Taylor. FEMALE fFRANIf $ FRiEi "5 —— / Celery Compnil w ' BUILDS UP RUN DOWN MEN AND WOriEN. Manufactured only by MARBLE CITY DRUG C 0 Knoxville, Tenn. -VVinder Drug Co*