Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-12-18

say they, "look at the bankruptcies of the
towns and cities, at the rate of hundreds of
millions yearly. One-third of all the bust
ness men in the country have failed in the
last four years. Who ever hears of a farm
ers failing You can always make living,
at any rate. Hard times only mean the
cutting off of a few luxuries to the farming
class" And the best of the joke, if joke it
is, is that these city scribblers actually be-
lieve what they say on the subject, which is
by no means the case with all they write.
There is some excuse for their delusion,
because, as rule, when farmer fails he
pays his debts, and has nothing left Such a
thing as that is not understood in the cities.
We once knew an enterprising New York
merchant whom a friend had asked why he
did not lend hand to help brother who
was struggling to extract living from the
stubborn and exhausted soil of the old
homestead. "What is the usel" cried he.
"There he has been, muddling away his
time for the last fifteen years, without max
ing or losing cent, whilst |, in the same
time, have failed three times, and neither
time for less than hundred thousand dol
lars"
There is not much splash when a strug-
Cling farmer goes down. The mortgage
takes the place. the stock and implements
are sold to pay the small debts, and the
family and furniture are moved to tene-
ment in the village. 1t is not called a fail
his health" or his wife wanted to live in
the village to school the children" Per-
haps, now that our Shylocks have got their
chattel mortgage law through the legisla-
prospective losses in the shrinkage of farm
values below the amount of the mortgages,
a farmers failure will make little more
disturbance, among his small creditors, bat
not much. That farmers, and plenty of
them, do fail, or lose their property" as it
is euphemistically called, is too notorious for
denial. Probably not twenty per cent of
those who in buying a farm are able to pay
nv iuoic thdl hall uhc pllCt uOhll, tNci WI N
out of debt. They struggle along for years,
the bond slaves of usurers, and when they
die there is not cent for the family. Some
die of Encouragement, some of hard work,
some go insane, some commit suicide. 1t is
so in the East, and far more so in the West.
The evil was STAYED off during the flush
times, and few prudent and lucky ones
mastered the situation. But now the only
thing that prevents foreclosure on half the
farmers in New England, and on three.
fourths of those in the Western States, is
because the holders of the mortgages dare
not throw so much landed property on the
market. The depreciation already is fear
full, but general foreclosure and sale, sup
posing that it could be peacefully effected
would utterly ruin the whole country. Land
would not sell for dollar an acre. There
is, in fact, nobody to buy.
Maurice Thompson, of Indiana, writing
in Scribner's Monthly for September, says on
this subject" The recent years Of financial
trouble have induced many farmers to mort
gage their lands heavily, for a series Of
years, at the rate of nine or ten per cent, tc
Eastern capitalists. The amount for which
the mortgage is written usually somewhat
exceeds one-third the value of the pledged
lands. The per cent per annum is more
than can be realized from the crops over ant
above the farmers living, and the outlool
is not cheering for many" "B. +. j." fo
years the well known and able Illinois cor
respondent of the Country Gentleman, I
man of wide acquaintance throughout the
Central West, writes as follows in a recen
issue of that conservative and reliabl,
Journal
/" suppose it will surprise many to learI
that farms are now selling in this count,
and neighborhood at the present time, hav
been for months, and will continue to be TO
months more, as they have never been sol,
before. The prices are low and the sale
expeditions, if they are costly, being most o
them made at the court house door. Tn
average price for fairly good one hundre,
and sixty acre farms, with improvements il
buildings, fences, orchards, pastures, mead
ows and the like, common TO the country
does not exceed twenty dollars per acre; tn
twenty-five dollars. These farms can b
most of them bought on easy terms if on,
third or quarter down and ten per CEN
interest, in trust deed for security, ar
thought easy terms.
"But the reader inquiries, what does thi
mean How is it that improved farms i
the very heart of Illinois sell for such lo'
prices Is your soil exhausted ? Do you
crops fail Is the country so sickly ths
the people are compelled to leave it to say
their lives? Is there no security for Lii
and property, or what is the matter I
all Of which | answer no, no, no, no. III
soil and the country, its capacity for crol
of all kinds, its healthfulness, and every az
vantage for corn, grass, stock, wheat an
fruit the safety of life and property, are
as they have been for the last forty year
and are such to-day as to have justified a
the panegyrics bestowed on it in the lor
eleven years of this correspondence, and wi
justify eleven years more. The truth is, Il
very richness of their acres have been,
many cases, the farmers ruin. "Whe
the carcasses are, there will the eagles
gathered together" Those who are col
PEELED to sell their farms now borrow,
money in flush times, promised to pay hil
rates of interest, and failing in both int.
est and principal, their possessions are so
to satisfy mortgages and trust deeds. F
the last three months, and indeed for
longer period, the seven or eight county !
pers have contained weekly, all together, n
less than thirty distinct and separate motto
of sales and foreclosures, under mortgag,
and trust deeds and these numerous fore
sales it is which force prices down to seldc
more than enough to meet principal, inter,
and costs.
Since the flush times of the war, far
have fallen off in price fully one-half, if |