, 1873-05-01
Hard Times.
The folle wing extract from an addre

Ihe folit wing extract from an addres.
deli, cred before Farmers Club i,
Oregon. by T. W. Davenport, con
tains more practical common sense thar
we have ever found in any other lecture
upon the subject:
The causes which have led to tn
present uprising of the agriculture
population are HARD TIMES, by which We
understand that money is tight, and thai
there has been falling off in the de.
mand and the price of some of the
prime articles upon which we have de-
pended to settle our yearly accounts
Several years ago we heard the same
story of hard times and no money, when
the price of sheep and cattle was less in
this valley than now, and wheat was
scarcely saleable at any price above SO
cents per bushel. A few years after that
was similar revulsion, when cattle,
sheep, hogs. wheat, oats, etc., were p
drug upon our farms. and no apparent
prospect of ''good time coming" !"
These periods were of short duration.
and, notwithstandiIg the chronic la
ment of some croakers, the people of
Oregon have been favored and blessed
up to their deserts. / lived in the State
Of Ohio for the year 1886 until 1850, a
period of fourteen years, and up to the
discovery of the gold mines in Califor-
mia there was no time when the wages
Of farm and house laborers and me-
chanics were as high. and but few times
when the prices Of general products
were as high as in Oregon now. The
farming population thought they had
pretty good times when eggs were worth
Sc. dozen, butter &c. to l0c. per h.,
cheese &c.. corn 20c bushel. oats 25c.,
potatoes 20c. to 25c., wheat 5Dc to 60c.,
apples. green. Csc. per measured bush
el, pork sc. per h., beef &c.. mutton
sheep 81 so per head. maple sugar 6 to
&c., farm laborers 81 to s12 per month.
hired girls 75c. to 81 25 per week, car
penters 81 per day in the country, and
school teachers $26 per month. and
other things in like proportion. At that
time oats and wheat were reaped with a
sickle, and the threshing was performed
with Lorses, and cattle or fails. They
also had their hard times, when a quar-
ter of dollar would bny eight dozen of
ggs, at the stole, and bit 8 lbs of
cheese while pork was worth less
than the salt and barrel in which it was
picked. Then farmers would pick up
the little apples, make them into cider.
which they would sell for SOC. barrel.
and as an inducement, would lend the
sack to the purchaser until next cider
making time. At the slaughter house
where the sheep were killed. in the fall,
mainly for their pelts and tallow. bit
would buy fine mutton ham weighing
from 8 to II lbs. and good COW and
calf could be bought anywhere for SO
Orleans sugar was worth. retail. fro nj
to &c., according to grade, and calico
&c. to 10c.; farm laborers Sc to So a
month, and hired girls SOC. to 81 per
week.
In the summer of 1916 I worked four
months for the sum of S2S, and pnt in
more than 12 hours each day Of Eard
labor. An extra hand, who could be
trusted with the management in the alb
sence of the employer, received $l1 per
month, and considered himself fortu-
nate in being able to lay up $100 a year
He soon became the possessor of money
enough to go west and purchase a
quarter section of land. Here, in Ore
gon, a good, steady hand, such one as
have just alluded to, could command
$500 per annum, out of Which. with
old-time economy, he could lay up twice
as much as in 1916. Good and bad, or
hard and easy, are very much like heat
and cold-only relative terms. The
hardest Oregon winter would be con.
sidered mild, if not warm. to an Esqui-
naux Indian, while an inhabitant of
Central Africa would shiver with cold at
the approach Of our summer evenings.
Cold is warm and warm is cold,
according to the temperature we
are accustomed to bear So, our pre-
sent condition is hard, when compared
with the half-dozen years of intoxica
ting affiuence from '49 to '55, but it is
as good as compared with the hard times
referred to. and which the people of the
Northwestern States endured frequently
prior to the year 1850. The cry of hard
times comes u. from all over the States
Of the Mississippi Valley and the Pacific
Slope, but am sure that all the people
are in real paradise when CT impaired with
the inhabitants of the stony pine ridges
in Lucerne County. Pennsylvania.
Why, one of those hard-fsted Dutch
men. clad in homespun, brogan shoes
and a rye-straw hat, at cost of five or
six dollars, and accustomed to his daily
rations of sour kraut, and rye and In
dian bread, and perhaps once a week
cup of store coffee with sugar, would
smile audIbly to see Webfoot proprie-
tor of half-section of lind, dressed in
his imported goods abont as follows: A
$12 coat, 81 vest. So hat, So pair of
pants. with proper underclothes, and
sporting a $50 Waltham watch, at
total cost of 800. and liz ing every day
upon nice wheat biscuits well buttered