Connecticut western news., 1879-08-27
Have We Struck Bottom Prices !?

4ulS 1S Luo BroA6 QuoSIlOu WHICH 1uGer- ests all classes of persons, the richest as we'll as the poorest, and yet no one seems to possess sufficient knowledge of the future to give positive answer. It has been said all along, as prices of farm products declined, that the producers were losing money; and we heard this announcement made when butter was twenty-five and cheese twelve to fifteen cents per pound, and other farm produce brought prices in proportion. But these prices are no longer obtainable, they have declined nearly or quite fifty per cent, and still butter and cheese are made in sufficient quantities to supply the demand, which shows that either what was claimed to be bottom and even losing rates few years since were not in fact, or that the producers are running behind at a fearful rate.
 We do not single out the farmers as being alone in making assertions as to the cost of producing articles which time has proved to be false, for manu- lecturers of articles of every class and kind, from locomotives down to shoe pegs, repeated the same story of losses and doubts in regard to their ability to hold on much longer unless the times which often mean prices advanced. But the old shilling calico can now be had at three or four cents per yard, and the looms still rattle away as lively as ever, just as the reaper and mower glide over the fields and cutting down wheat, which will be sold at dollar or less per bushel, and hay that goes slow at $5 or $6 a ton; and while the consideration of these de- pressed prices may not be pleasant theme, there seems to be no way of avoiding it. Low as are the prices of farm produce, the writer we'll rennem- bers the time when they were lower, and the farmer did not fear starvation, or think he was in any danger of becoming a pauper. There was time within the memory of many farmer now living in central New York when butter went 8 begging at twelve cents a pound in the villages along the line of the Erie canal, and the producer had to take his pay in trade at the grocery or dry goods stores, where the sales were usually made. One dollar per bushel was then considered a good price for wheat, while oats, hay, potatoes, and even the finest winter apples were seldom cash articles at lny price, but could only be disposed of to a very limited extent in trade. Later still we we'll remember seeing choice winter wheat selling in Milwaukee, Wis. markets at thirty-six cents bushel, and in Chicago a few cents higher, and the farmers who brought it in from fifty miles or more back in the country, hauling it with their own teams, appear. ed to be as happy and contented as now when they get more than double the above prices, and that, too, almost al
 their own doors.
 But the high prices which followed
 the outbreak of the late war affected al
 classes alike, the farmer not escaping
 the general tendency to extravaganza
 or, in other words, purchasing articles
 that he did not really need, and ofte1 running in debt for them. These debts
 contracted during the days of higt
 prices, have ruined thousands of ou1
 farmers, and may ruin many more before
 all are paid; and it is this obligation tc pay certain sums at 8 certain date that
 has helped very materially to force prices down to their present level. I
 is quite probable, however, that tht worst time is past; the weakest having
 fallen, the strong will engage in business with more confidence in the stability O commercial affairs, and a general pros porous era will ensue. But we do no believe that former high prices, or sucI
 as prevailed during the war, will agail rule in time of peace consequently ou farmers must needs go slow, and prac , tice the strictest economy in order t.
 escape disaster such as has befallel
 many of their number during the pas , half-dozen years. Farming will continu
 to be safe business, but not, in tn general acceptance of the term, profit able one and those who are inclined t.
 purchase land will find the present
 very favorable time to do so, especiall ! if they are seeking improved farms il
 the older and more thickly settled States
 for farms are cheaper in the East tha the West, if the improvements and near = ness to the best markets are taken int r account. A little money may go furthe . toward buying farm in 8 new countr
 than in on old one, but there are incor
 veniences and often hardships to be CT countered in the former which al ? unknown in the latter.-N. y. Sua. 5 IoAn111N MILLER saHs. C If v0u Wel