vol. Lxvn
INDIANAPOJ   i, SEPT. 7, 1912
NO. 36
•<*-
Views on a Farmers' UniVh
Wealth of Our Nation is
Due to Agriculture.
HOW   FARMING   HAS    BEEN    SET
BACK AS A RESULT  OF LACK
OF BUSINESS  METHODS.
[Written for the Indiana Farmer by
H. H. Brown, Spencer, President of
Farmers' Union of Indiana Division].
The average American citizen who
boasts of his  country's  greatness  sel-
om   realizes    that     the    	
asis of our prosperity is
igriculture and that the
rue promoter of our
irogress is the farmer.
The entire area of the
Jnited States is approxi-
.ately 2,000,000,000 acres,
.nd half of this, or 1,000,-
'(10,000 acres, is in farms.
00,000,000 acres are in
ultivation. Therefore
aeh year the plows of
he sons of Uncle Sam
ash a splendid princi-
'ality, equal in area to
feat Britain, France,
ermany, Italy and Spain.
ne-third of our popula-
oa lives on our 6,300,-
20 farms and annually
reduce about 9,000,000,-
00 dollars worth of farm
roducts,—three times as
ai>y dollars as there
>ve been minutes since
dam was created. If they
tre siher dollars, lying
dws touching, they
ould make a glittering
lver ribbon eight and
"f-half times around the
lr'h. or if turned side
uching, would make a sil-
r r<>Pe that would reach
r°ss the Atlantic ocean 9
""Ms The price of one
°» of the American
"ner would cover 2,000
res with a silver cover-
and   all the    gold coin    on    earth
°»'d not    equal  it  in    value.       Yet
y   four    per    cent of the American
^■"s are prosperous,  and   fifty  per
°f them  aro    homeless,—renters,
°I>Pers  and   hirelings   and   have   not
n title to a grain of sand on earth.
Wo
.__   produc6 22,000,000    carloads  of
Ucts-     That would load a train of
reaching six times    around    the
The selling    value     of    these
"cts amounts    to  $30,000,000    for
' *ork  day  in  the  year.       Each
*(,in        r Earth sucks up from her
muld   a    magniflcent    harvest    that
upen   make her  tillers the  most  in-
tenCnt People in the world.   With-
1 do h*arS  the  pr0auct   of   our   soil
'lied       e<1: 'n    a dozen    years it has
jc. .u„r>  the  incomprehensible   yield
'so*ooo,ooo.ooo. •
from which humanity is clothed and
pouring into the marts of earth the
sustenance of life itself, are working
for their bread and clothes. Think of
it! A century ago the farmer of this
country owned nine-tenths of the
wealth of this country. Now they
one one-fifth. The American farmer
began a lonely wayfarer among forests,
mountains and prairies. He has
changed them into fruitful fields and
converted marshes into beautiful
meadows.    His trusty rifle and gleam-
buildings, Queen cities, or fastest
trains in the world. The Income of
our great railroads would dwindle; our
great ocean steamers would float
around empty; the strong arm of labor
would fall helpless by its side; our
corn, cotton and wheat fields become a
Sahara Desert; a nugget of gold would
not buy a loaf of bread; hunger and
want would knock at the door of all
men; civilization would cease and humanity perish. Yet this class of producers who hold in their hands the
comfort, happiness and destiny of all
mankind and the key to human life itself have so neglected the business part
of their calling that they are making
no  profits,  declaring no  dividends and
Gathering an apple crop in the orchard of Joe A. Burton, Orleans, where the recent  State  Horticultural Society meeting was held.    (From Purdue Circular No. 30.)
■rili
But
Sluch Credit Due Farmer.
*°ugh
the
patient    toilers,       who,
summer heat    and    winter's
• *ork n„  .
""tsnti Iron» season  to season,
eaith   V    lnereas|ng     the     National
' Producing    the raw    material
ing ax cleared a pathway for the oncoming hosts of civilization. Where
once were heard the howl of the wolf
and the scream of the panther, where
the wild horse grazed and the buffalo
roamed we now hear the scream of
the locomotive, the hum of busy machinery and the songs of millions of
industrious farmers. Not only has
the American farmer shown his
strength, courage and patriotism in his
battles with forests and wild beasts
but he has been ever ready to fight
or to die under the folds of the flag of
his country. The farmer has helped
to fight the country's battles. His
blood bought our liberty. He is the
corner stone of our wealth; the mainspring of our progress; the bulwark of
our defense, and the entire greatness
of our country rests on his shoulders.
He produces the prime necessities of
life. Let the farmer take a long vacation and his crops stop laughing
with the delicate green of spring, the
mellow glow of Autumn, and earth
will no longer yield a regal ransom
from starvation. Stop and eliminate
the crop and there would be no tallest
have actually lost one-third of their
proportional holding in sixty years.
Nations Wealth Controlled by Few.
The farmer has produced enough
wealth in a quarter of a century to
buy all the property in the United
States, yet they are not holding their
own for twelve years ago they owned
one-fourth of the wealth of this
country and now they only own one-
fifth. They have produced and have
failed to manage until the land which
once belonged to them is owned by a
few. When capital increases it seeks
investment for its surplus. Already
owning practically all other wealth, it
is now being invested in land. One
man owns 30,000,000 acres of land,
another owns 14,500,000 acres, another owns 14,500,000 acres, another
owns 14,080,000 acres, another 7,000,-
000 acres, seven foreigners own 15,-
000,000 acres. American and European spinners own one-fifth of our cotton lands. In five years $9,000,000,-
000 have been invested in land in the
United States by home and foreign
companies. Sixty-three large land
companies   and   rich   Individuals   own
175,000,000 acres in this country. This
equals over one-third of our land in
cultivation or one-eleventh of all our
land. We have let a few men get
possession of our wealth. One per
cent of the families own 90 per cent
of the wealth of 92,000,000 people.
Twelve men control one-third of the
wealth, and a quarter of a million men
own three-fourths of the wealth of
this the richest country in the world.
One man controls $12,000,000,000
worth of wealth—nearly one-tenth of
the nation's wealth. If Adam had
begun when the Lord made him and
worked until now at $5,000 a day and
had saved every cent of it he would
not have as much money as this Money
  King of America controls. Think of it! Nine-
two million people, supposed to be free, under
the domination of a mere
handful of men who can
levy tribute at will upon
the richest nation under
the sun!
Nature put into the
farmers hands the commodities that succor the
world. The only reason
he is not King of creation is he has been outgeneraled in the battle
of wits. Farmers of America, should we go out
without a protest, while
trusts and corporations
are constantly knocking
at the door of Congress
asking for special privilege to rob and oppress
us, and men are making
more net gains speculating and gambling in our
products than we are
making producing them?
Can we stand idly by
without a protest, while
our children are ground
into dividends and our
wives working as field-
hands? Being a patriot
to the manor born, looking back over the records
of the past, taking a historic view of the, graves
of dead nations that have
wabbled out of the orb of righteousness and died with an overdose of
graft and concentration of wealth and
knowing that the United States is
loitering in the Primrose path of dalliance, so to speak and knowing that
the prosperity that comes by accumulation instead of production, the prosperity of graft, the prosperity of injustice, the prosperity of extortion, the
prosperity of tribute, the prosperity that
thrives by oppression, the prosperity
that depends on mastery and servitude,
cannot maintain a republic or foster
our liberties (Egypt, Rome, Assyria
Greece all tried this gilded pathway
and they perished), will the American
farmer willingly see himself chained
to the rock while the vultures of despotism prey upon his vitals? Knowing that a republic once fallen has
never risen, that the ruins of Freedom
have never regained their youth, will
we not change our course? Are we
willing to continue to be nailed by the
nail trust, doped by the drug trust,
skinned by the doctor trust, plugged
by the dentist trust, sacked by the
Continued on page 8.