The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1881-05-05

hAhRk bAt = beh kHcA property - cioac'
oui 81 fuioea sale 81. even GOV. goes ~
tnailall, los Various r,4sons might .,
riscn for utss state a ilnugs but .he shol
nlatlsr j. cAriully reversed ~ Di Hos
ktns Is lt,ter 70 ile spunGeld Eeaudltan
which We cannot DO better than 10 qaoi
almost caiils
Iaunas he are "a, 81 debit ',rfs ney
ia dong sus better Il a. acii az ,,os
1i5ty baet Is disposition 10 sell their farm
80 any less price than they paid for them
Everything that ever paid N the way o
farm products still pays A. veil ~ ever
fAsrr never Was time v ben our staples
batter cheese. sugar. potatue- OF hay
were e1changablp for So much that farm
e. buys a. duung tho past year The only
reason WhS farms eau l'e bought for less
tiisu iialt th,s, cost ia every town ia the
STATE Is list iuer, err hpfdly any hnyers
( LAT Why bo buyers i tanning remains IS
I profitable as e,er simply because the
hundrcis n DO would hike TO bny these
farms hays no money 10 buy with, even al
tho low prices o, which they stand IA the
market IAs men Who have money, aud
kaou hos and want to farm. are lacking
/ 1 lat farming should have been profitable
during al lat Two o. three years of the
past iacnty aud yea HAT there should llow
bc next 10 40 money IN the State ready 10
be invested IN farms, is no less truo than
4 Is strange The reasons for this strange
state Of things are, however very plain to
ans one WHO has iutelIigenily observed the
daitgs II our farm population since 1866
AZ the close Of The war there was more
money and less debt among Vermont farm
ems than Was ever known before or since.
Most 81 the farms were free from incum-
brance The farmers were receiving high
prices for all their products. Their sons
had been getting large bounties as soldiers,
or had made money in trade, and there
farms Under the existing state Of things
the owaers out Of debt and doing well.
aud the buyers with considerable cash in
hand, purchases could only be made at
high prices The result was that many
old farmers whose sons had died or been
killed, or had omigrated TO the cities in
the West, sold their farms, costing rom
So, 900 TO s., 600, for from s., 600 to $50,
600, taking part pay in cash and mort
gage as security for the remainder. Those
old farmers are now mostly dead, and the
mortgage notes are in the hands of heirs,
or Of money lenders, TO whom the heirs
sold them. The purchasers were to great
extent young men who had got that money
easily They were married to girls who
had got Beyond economical ideas Of their
mothers and grandmothers. Both man
and ~ife have too large notions for people
heavily in debt. They werc however, in
receipt Of good incomes from their mort
gagged farms. They paid their interest,
fixed up or rebuilt and added to their
houses and barns New houses called for
new furniture New barns called for fam
cy stock. A great many store bills were
made, and various new debts contracted.
Still things went on with seeming prosper
ity for while But when the dark days
OF 1874 and began to spread over us,
when every creditor clamored for his mon
ey, and farm products fell 80 per cent in
price, interest began to be defaulted on
every side The mortgage creditors were
patient Indeed, like the Dutchman's
wife, they hat to be. They got what in
terest money they could, and waited.
Times got no better Then those who
needed their pay pressed, and the mort
cages changed hands at higher and high
or rates Of interest until a great many of
the mortgaged farmers were paying 10 and
IL per cent The new creditors got law
through the Legislature permitting the
Of personal property, and Sc
cured themselves as well as they could !
with blanket mortgages Settlement has
been slowly going on ever since Thous- |
auls Of our sanguire yenng farmers Of
1850. now miadlo.aged men with weary
looking eyes. have surrendered their
Lims and are roughing il on homestead
lots all over the far West The girls who |
must have carpets on all their rooms,
black walnut furniture, pianos and organs
aud silk clothing are now keeping house in
prairie '1uR-outs, with packing boxes for
furniture. The land is in tho hands of the
note holders, and fot sale often for very
much less than the face Of the notes. But
there are 40 buyers II IS difficult to see
where buyers are TO be found. Onr money
lenders have Whole herbs Of elephants on
their hands. Yet on tho whole, with big
interest for ten years OF more, they are not
to be piticd They still have money %
lend, aud viii sell their elephants low, Tor
small cash payments and slow notes The
chance Tor men who are fl to be farmers
was never so good Men IN Massachusetts, /
who have money and want good Vermont
farms at one.ihirl their value never will
have better chance BvI1Ei&uT,
Taa Returns,