The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-11-10
OPEN LETTER TO THE GRANGERs.

OPEN LETTER TO THE CHANGERS.
THE GOOD L TINES" COMPARED WITH MOD
ERN DAYs-PERSoNAL OF
ONE WHO HAS SEEN BOTH CONDITIONS,
GENTLEMEN: You complain of hard times
and low prices for your produce, probably
not without reason; let us see whether any
otner people ever suffered so great hardships.
From 1919 to 1880, all through the Western
~States-Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana. and a few
OF the western counties of Pennsylvania and
Nirginia-wheat was selling at from % to IS
cents, corn at 10 cents, and oats az S cents
per Dushel; dressed pork 81 to 81 so per 100
los, hay from 81 to So per ton, good work
horses from $50 to $50 per head, and cows
rom % TO IS each: fruit-apples, peaches
anu plums, of which there was an album
dance-almost without money or price: the
same may be said of potatoes, turnips and
otner root crops and garden truck. Poultry
-~Chlckens, 8 CENTS; and fat turkeys. either
tame or wild, 20 TO 25 cents each: butter. 5
70 Q cents pound; and eggs, 5 or 4 cents per
dozen; whiskey. last though not least in
consumption, from 10 to IA cents per gallon,
GOODS indispensable TO the farmers: Salt.
from 81 80 to So per barrel, depending on
location; iron, from 8 to 10 cents per pound:
nalis, OF which large quantities were needed
Tor building purposes, from s to 10 cents Der
pound by the keg. Cotton goOds-Sheet-
lngs, s~hirtings, tickihgs and pants. at least
twice their present prices. Coffee. tea and
otner groceries, now regarded as indispensa-
Die, but often dispensed with, from 80 TO lee
per cent higher than they are now.
RESULTS
n healthy Except occasional aguesl in
dustrious, ~enterprising and contented pop-
~ulation-no eight or ten hour rule for a
days work then. The men Of
that day felt that they had
Important duties to perform, such as ubdu-
ing the forests, and occasionally the ssvages.
and they went forth to perform those duties
with strong hearts and willing hands. GEN
orally accomplishing what thew undertook.
In the dwellings, among the women folks.
pianos were seldom or never heard, but a
much more cheerful music was common, in
the buzz of the spinning wheel and the clat-
ter OF the family loom. Even then, howev-
er, amusements were not wanting. and the
hilarious dance, sometimes on a puncheon
floor, and exercise on horseback. were
often INDUCED in and greatly enioyed
by the young of both sexes. Early mar
riages were the order of the day and large
families the result. Divorce suits and suits
of afiliation and seduction were rarely
heard of, in fact were almost unknown.
With these facts and consequences compare
the present.. Wheat 81, corn Coo and oats
SOC per bushel, dressed pork IS per hundred.
butter Soc per pound, hay $50 per ton, work
horses 500 to $3.50 and COWS from $50 to SO
per head. Fruits-apples are 81. and peaches
in their season from 81 to S3 per bushel. po-
tatoes and turnips from soc TO 81 per bushel.
Poultry-Chickens from SOC TO 4Oc, and tur-
keys from 81 to 50 each, eggs zoe
a dozen, and whisky from 81
to s. per gallon, Goods needed by
farmers: Salt, 81 so to 81 10 per barrel, iron
from 50 % to 50 per 100 pounds, nails from
50 soto 50 per 1O0pounds. Cotton goods
sheetings, shirtings, tickings and prints, as
well as almost all other dry gooGs-not
more than half their former prices. The
same may bs said of coffee, tea and other
foreign necessary groceries. OF the conse-
quences resulting from the latter facts
and circumstances l will moi speak,
as my judgment may have become
weakened from age, and my ideas of tenn
perance and morality morbidly sensitive.
| can not, however, forbear TO add that
farmers in the former period received for
their whole crops of grain less than you can
receive tor the straw and husks OF corn,
and yet were able to raise and educate their
families, and, in most cases, ultimately to
acquire a competency. Truly the farmers
of the present day are an Oppressed people!
AN O-CToGENARIAN.
TNnT ANAD Orrc Oot d 1874