Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1885-01-17


capital This lust principle Of valuation
has been applied to the extent of dOub-
ling. many times, the price of Kansas
farms. town lots and OtheF real estate
while comparatively only a small per-
centage has in any case been added to
the original cost Of the railroads as rep
resenting their present enhanced value,
consisting in part OF right right Of way, depot
grounds, terminal facilities and that sta
bility of track which is Of so much value
and which time alone can give. If this
can be charged up as a watering Of
steek" by the railroads. In any offensive
or illegal sense, then the Ou6n6e OF " a
tering is still greater In the case Of other
real estate in Kansas. The principle IN
volved is identical In both cases, the real
estate In the farms and the real estate in
the railroads, each having added 10 the
value of the other, though IN practice 1t
has been carried much further In one
case than in the other.
The wheat growers of Kansas, as a
class, cannot be in a condition of distress
and suffering. after a period of prosperity
such rs is shown by the Mcpherson sta
tistics. Evidence from many other
sources confirms this view. A well in
formed newspaper recently had occasion
to investigate the subject, and published
the following:
From county officers, from abstractOTs
from real estate agents, from money
lenders, from all persons who have facil-
ties IOr knowing, comes information
that in the past four or five years, Kan
sas farmers have removed mortgages
from millions of acres. Most of our far
mers have enough to live on, no mattar
what is the price Of wheat. They know
that there will be a change in times, and
they are prepared to wait for IL. There
may be some cases of great hardship,
but they are exceptions, not the rule. If
the Ohio river should overflow farms
and destroy crops and cattle again next
spring, Kansas farmers will send out
corn and wheat as they did last year"
The large Loan and Trust Companies
report that 80 per cent oftheir maturing
loans are being paid up, and that 1t is
impossible to replace the loans, except to
immigrants who are just beginning to
open new farms. Seven per cent Of the
balance IS being replaced. and consists
mainly of money loaned to farmers who
wish to enlarge operations, or who have
INDUCED in the luxury Of speculation.
The other 3 per cent requires fore
closure, and was loaned to men who
proved to be hepelessly worthless, with
rare cases only among these where some
stroke of misfortune brought on the
trouble.
If, here and there, cases can be found
where farmers, through imprOYidence or
misfortune, have accumulated indebted
ness, the interest on which they find it
difficult to pay, we would suggest as only
fair that any scheme for their relief
should include the banking, money loan
ing and other well to DC classes, as well
as the railroads. 1t is not Just, if reliGfis
required during time Of temporary de-
preston, to throw the burden upon One
class Of property alone, and
no freight tariff or other
charge can be more severely
felt than the tariff of high interest.
It is of the utmost Importance to Kan
sas interests that such facts as these
should be known and spread abroad.
The newspapers Of Kansas are as much
interested as the railroads or any other
interest. A false alarm at this time,
such as Illinois has suffered during the
past few weeks, would paralyze the inn
migration, which IS preparing all over
the country east of US, to again enrich
Kansas during the coming year. Already
a number of sensational articles have
been spread abroad to the effect that
Kansas farmers are at the last extremity,
and, as a class, would leave the State if
they had the means. This agitation is
undOing the work which the railroads
! are trying to accomplish by large exp6n-
| ditures for advertising the advantages of
the State during the current year, thus
saving to the State the expense of an I'M
migration Bureau. In startling contrast
to this is the condition of the farmers in
Great Britain and France, where g large
part Of our surplus is consumed, and who
are known to have suffered such severe
losses during the last four years, in many
cases amounting to the earnings Of a life
time and in all cases leaving them in a
crippled condition. This result in those
/ countries cannot be charged to the rail-
roads, as the crops are there consumed
almost on the ground where they are
produced All the evidence tends to
show that sections like Kansas best
adapted to the cultre Of grain in the
| largest amounts at the least expense
! have about finished the process of re-
ducing and croWding out the culture of
grain in its former large amounts in
/ those sections where costly artificial fre~
! tilizers and other expensive methods
are necessary. The struggle Of the sur
vival of the fittest is about ending and it
/ is ending in our favor.
FUTURE PROSPECTS.
The most conservative authorities in
/ their reviews of the past year show that
we have not anything like as much rea-
/ son for apprehension as lnseVeral former
years.
/ we quote rom q IaJ6 uuanClaI review
as follows:
'The rate of export has been suff1c.
iently vigorous since last harvest to
make it by no means certain that we
shall have on hand one and one-haf
bushels per capita in wheat and -four at
the date Of maturity of our next crop,
aud that it is a reserve so small that It
may be regarded as absolutely unsafe, to
say nothing about its not being a heavy
load to carry. The present prospect is
that this reserve will be little more than
a bagatelle in comparison with the les
sening of the worlds wheat crop the
coming year owing to the recent terrible
reduction In prices"
The nlnnra .acfir,na ate ircIrrSnr not nnIrr