, 1873-05-10
THE sTRANGL1NG OF AGRICULTURE.

Chicago.
THE BTRANGL1NG OF AGRICULTURE.
The farmers. with degree OF unanimity hard
1y ever witnessed hitherto, maintain that the
protective tariff in force since 1860 has burdened
their industry and retarded its progress- The
census Of 1s7oproves that they have reason fo1
their opinion.
During the preceding decade, from 1850 to
1860, when low duties were in force,. agriculture
advanced far more rapidly than population, both
in value Of property and in quantity Of products.
Tie value OF farms increased 103 per cent, the
value OF live stock 100 per cent, and the produc-
ton Of all the important crops Increased from so
to 200 per cent. The increased value Of farms
proves that this advance in production WAS not
counterbalanced by increase in the cost Of pro-
duction, or defeated by failure Of The market
and depreciation in the price Of products.
But the census Of 1870, after decade Of pro-
tective duties, shows that the value OF farms has
increased sincs 1860 only per cent the value OF
live stock less than 6 per cent, and that the pro-
ducdon Of half Of the most important crops has
actually decreased in quantity Only two Of
them have increased as rapidly as in thepreyious
decade, and the gain in these instances has been
defoated by a reduction in price. =
The quantity produced Of corn, rye, buck
wheat, tobacco, and cotton has actually decreas-
ed since 1860, and the quantity Of potatoes has
increased very little. On the other hand, the
quantity produced OF wheat, oats, barley, hay,
and wool has increased, though, in the aggre-
gate, far leas than the same crops
increased during the preceding decade.
Moreover, this increase in, quantity
produced has been balanced by very large nd-
vance in the cost Of production, leaving much
smaller margin Of profit eren it crops had been
sold ut the prices OF 1860. And, to pueh the
farmer faster towards bankruptcy, these crops
have been sold, when compared NTH tho gold
values Of 1sC0, at decline in the price Of every
one except oats. In consequence, the aggregate
value Of all products Of agriculture, which was
estimated at s, ,5a8 so3 se4 in 1860 appears from
the census returns to have been in 1870 only
s2,447, ,53S, $685. in currency equivalent, during
the year 1862 when the crops thus returned
were raised and marketed, to 7519 cents On the
dollar in gold 60 that the gold value Of products
Of agriculture as returned by the census Of 1870,
was only 81, ,84 1891 "a loss Of % per cent. It
is, however, true, that the estimates OF 1860
we're probably somewhat above the actual price
l.; k,x,t -.
cluded only the values Of articles produced,
while in 1870 the returns Of annual products in
cuded not only the prices Of crops, but the value
OF an increase Of stock, and improvements Of
land and other property.
The surest test OF the progress Of agriculture,
however; is found in the yaluo Of farms, live
stock, and implements. The cenBus reports
give only tho crops raised In the years preceding
the enumeration, and, as crops vary widely in
quantity, the test is unreliable. Nine years Of
increasing production and great prosperity might
bo followed, in the very year preceding the CEN
sus, by q general failure OF crops; the yield OF
1859 might have been much above, and that
of 1869 much below, the average. Nor
does comparison Of crops 50 to the
root Of the matter, for it gives no
test OF the relation between the cost Of products
and tho prices received for products during dif
ferent periods. But the value Of farms and
other property at the close of each decade tests
tho average value Of his labor and Investment to
the farmer. The value Of farms measures and
is measured by the average value Of products
compared with cost Of production. II the farmer
has been fairly repaid during the decade for his
labor and Investment, his farms Will surely have
advanced in price, and he will have added largely
to tho value Of stock and implements used. But
if his industry has been embarrassed, and has
failed to secure fair reward, than the natural
increase in stock and implements will appear to
have been checked, and the advance in the price
Of farm 1and--which is natural in country
rapidly being filled by immigration, and develop
ed in it's resources have been retarded.
Now, the value Of farms in 1860 was sc, ,e45,-
OF, ,007, having Increased during the decade Of
low duties 103 per cent. But tho value Of
farms in 1870, Notwithstanding the settlement Of
entire States and the reduction to cultivation Of
many thousands of acres ot land formerly wild,
Was only se,262;3o3,8 861 in currency, or in gold
e6 991 ,216, ,915, an increase during tho decade Of
high duties of only s per cent The value is
reduced to gold ut the average premium for 1869,
both because all land is slow to change
value in correspondence with d fall in
gold, and because the value OF agricultural
land ia measured by the net value OF
crops, and the latest crop prior to- the census
valuation was measured by tho currency
Of 1869. Again, the value Of all live stock in
1850 vas s1,oss, 1925, ,e15, having Increased just
100 per cent during the decade Of low duties.
But in 1870, the 1alue was 81 525 276 457 in cur
rency, or 81, Isl, ,5ss, ,725 in gold-a gain Of 67
per cent since 1860. The value OF farm imp1e-
ments, which WAS s24e, 8,1A in 1860, hav-
ing increased during. the decade GO per cent,
was, in 1870, only 1886, ,s7s, ,429 in currency, or
s254 s43, ,21a in gold, an increase Of per cent.