Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-06-11

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! population, but it was only per cent.
against an average of over 80 per cent
IN The whole of tho United States
The assessed valuation Of property Of
every description shows an increase
OF about 10 per cent, the real cash
valuation has 80 far been given only
for the farm lands, which have in
creascd in area (wild or forest land
brougbt under cultivation) over 300,-
wy acres, or over IL per cent, while
We valuation has increased s4S,000,.
O00, or 81 per cent, tho average price
per acre rising from s33 TO s45, and
tho farm implements likewise i'd
vrncing in value a trinc over so per
cent Were NC to proceed no fa,tLor
we should conclude that in this State
at least, the situation on the whole
was an eminently satisfactory one.--
But when we ask what this increased
number OF acres produces, what has
added this increased value to the land, J,
our satisfaction is changed 10 surprise
and discouragement.. Although wheat
shows an increase of about 5 per cent.
and corn an increase of over Is per
cent, almost all other crops are either
stationary or show decline. Tobac-
co, OF which the production is entire
y nominal, shows largo increase /;
but maple sugar, which is an import
ant crop, shows far larger decrease
Potatoes, hops and oats remain about
the same; barley and buckwheat
show considerable increase, but rye
a heavy falling off. Wool shows n
nominal increase, although tho num-
Der of sheep has decreased 20 per
cent. Horses have decreased 8 per
cent, swine 6 per cent, work oxen
nearly 40 per cent, all other cattle 20
rpor cent. Mich cows alone Of all
kinds of stock have increased about 5
per cent but while the butter pro-
duct has increased 100000 pounds,
the cheese has declined 100000
pounds. In other words, the increased
area of very much higher priced farm
lands produces less OF all the essen
tial elements Of agricultural wealth.
These figures confirm, in the most
striking manner, all recent accounts
of the condition of the farming popu-
lation throughout New England. The
intelligent, capable and wealthy ma
tive farmers have mainly emigrated
to the West or entirely died out, while
their most capable sons leave the farms
for other employment. The farms are
largely occupied by tenants on hire,
who pay comparatively high rents for
poor farms, who have little or no cap.
ital, cannot keep oxen or horses, or
even sheep and swine, to any extent,
and whose farming consists chiefly of
raising a COW or two to supply the
| family with milk and hnitar. and rails
ing succession OF crops of such small
grains as still continue 10 yield mod
crate return to the exhaustive method
Of the Impractical agrculturist. The
change is going on in precisely sim
liar manner throughout New England.
Capital and intelligence can find bet
ter rewards on the broader prairios Of
the West. But a class Of ofindustrious,
though poor laborers can, without
capital, continue 10 find profitable
employment on the farms abandoned.
But their farming is in tho long run
ruinous to themselves. The size OF
farms is continually growing smaller,
the inability to introduce improved
systcmsand machinery becoming more
striking, the general tone of farming
increasing, the average intelligence OF
the population declining, the yield of
labor becoming yearly less. Hence,
though there is, especially at certain
seasons, an ever-recurring clamor for
more help, yet the farmers are unable
to pay their laborers living wages and
earn profit on their expenditure :
Hence, wages are excessively low,
compared to the high prices necessa-
rily demanded for the product of the
soil. A nonresident proprietary,
like that of Ireland, is getting to be
the characteristic of large farming
districts of New England, adding
yearly TO the nominal value Of the
lcasehold farms, advancing yearly the
rent demanded, and steadily degrading
the character Of the tenantry, until,
in place of the boasted intelligence OF
rural New England, a competent au-
thority can to-day write; "Thc gen
eral educational condition Of the farm
laborer is very loo, even below that OF
the factory operative large per
centage OF them can neither read nor
pritc." What wonder, with the farm
ing interest of New England in this
condition, with wages such as these
employers can pay, that the cry goes
forth far and wide that there is ter.
rble scarcity of farming helpy What
wonder that country boys arc inces.
sanity floeLins into the large towns,
fleeing from the wages OF the farm Ia
the greater allurements, tho higher
wages, which an artificial activity il
ariff-stimula,ed industries permits
the city at least temporarily to offer
What wonder that all the adjurations
of the great farmers apostle, Greeley
fail TO drive the ambitious youth back
to the poverty, tho stagnation, ths
retrogression Of tho New England
farm, which his ignorant policy o.
protection only tends to still further
degrade What wonder that the in
auencc of New England has ceased tc
! bo powerful for good, that corporate
corruption, monopoly aud legalzet
, fraud have come to DO the chief intel
lectual crops in which New England
rivals, If IL cannot excel, Pennsyl
vania What wonder that Vernon
votes the heaviest majorities for thu
= the Republican party 4
Q An Indiana lawyer defended maj
5 for keeping his saloon open after tel