The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1885-06-04
WHEAT FARM MORTGAGES
IN THE NORTHWEST.
One Of the Hardships Of "Frontier~
Life as Described in Brad
streets" of Jan'y II, 1885.
Continued from last week.

I0erc Is Sllll auOLucI luuuSlIv 1dp1u
" coming to the front, which prom
Uses to dwarf even wheat--aising il
comparison. This is the dairy inter
lest. One hundred and sixty-on,
varieties OF grasses suitable for for
age grow here, and sample OF eacl
Il is now on exhibition at the world
Exposition in New Orleans. Twenty
eight million pounds Of butter were
made in the creameries OF this state
alone during the year ending No
vember 1, 1884-an increase o.
nearly 100000 pounds over 1883. II
creamery neighborhoods there has
been no stringency Of money the
past year. The fact was also
brought out in the late Dairymen's
Convention at Austin, OF this state
that on the oldest farms in Olmsted
county Zone Of the oldest counties OF
this state), where dairying has been
introduced. more wheat is now rails.
ed per acre than ever.
There are millions Of acres in the
lately settled parts OF the northwest
as well adapted to creamery and
dairy products and stock-raising as
those above noted. That this bus
mess will be largely extended and
alternated with wheat culture, and
continue to be one Of the main re-
sources OF the northwest, is one oi
the surest promises OF the future.
! That some of the newer parts Of
the northwest are now suffering
from the effects Of low prices no one
attempts to deny. There is much
extravaganza and lack of adaptation
| in the early years of every new ter
ritOry. This is especially true in
this case. That half a million people,
new to the country and to each
other, and many OF them new to the
climate, could be poured on
the north western frontier inside
OF the last six years, and have every
one happily and comfortably suited,
is about as nearly impossible as to
except the millennium next week.
The fact is, very few of these people
have gone there for their health ;
therefore it must be expected that
this pinch Of low prices will cause
complaint, and a good deal OF 1t.
But the experience is healthy; al
ready it has killed booming and spec
ulation, so that their friends can
have no hope of immediate resur-
rection at last.
The trouble up here, however, il
merely local, and really confined to
narrow limits. Taking the north
west as q whole, there is not Sec
ton Of country in America, east OF
west, north or south, that now has
better prospects, or shows more &C.
tivity or signs OF substantial growth
and progress. st. Paul, the finan-
cial gateway where the northwest
pays tribute, reports ut the close o.
1884 the astonishing fact that her
capital and surplus aggregates near-
" $4,000, 0O0-an increase OF nearly
81 ,OOc, 900 since 1883. In bank ex-
change there is O total Of $lOS,9G2-
365-an increase Of $5,279,2S6 since
1883.
That the northwest could go
through the wildcat times that fol-
lowed 1857, when wheat sold below
the cost OF production fou: years in
succession then quell the savage
Indian outbreak OF 1862 and drive
the whole Sioux nation beyond the
Missouri; then re-peoplc frontier
almost wholly depopulatcd by the
terrible massacre Of that year, and
at the same time fully supply its
quota OF soldiers in the great cisil
war, and pay heavier interest and
larger mortgages than the Dakota
farmer now pays: then stand the
financial depression Of 1874 and
breast the cbbing tide which came
Of that, and then meet the grass
hopper scOurge OF 1867 and IS,
and come out OF all with such favor
able results as we see around us to-
day, is the surest kind of guarantee
that everything is not going to the
dogs up here because wheat in re-
mote settlements happened to auer-
age but q few cents over cost OF pro-
duction from September ! to De-
cember 81. 1854.
/ now submit some facts which
drive and clinch the nail directly
through the falsehoOd that mort
cages are impoverishing the north
western farmers.
/ have devoted my entire time
during the past ten years to placing
farm mortgages in the northwest
At present we have nearly five
thousand OF these mortgages on our
books. The average Of all the loans
we have made in Minnesota and
Iowa is less than S3 an acre. OF
those we have placed in Dakota the
average is but u little over 50 an
acre. Our loans In Dakota are
mostly on double minimum land,
which cost at the start from the
government nearly 50 an acre.
Whether in Minnesota. Iowa or Da-
kota our loaas are confined almost
wholly to improve farms near to
railroads. We loan in Dakota as
we do in other widely separated
fields OF the northwest, to eqnalizc
the risk--the same principle upon
which IA successful fire or life in
surance company is conducted.
Now mark our experience in this
business. We carried our loans
through the depression following
1874, and the loss OF crops In the
northwest occasioned by grasshop-
pers in 1867 aud rs, and up to
this time have never lost one dollar.
But this is not all. Our interest, as
a whole, has not been paid SO
promptly in the ten years as 1t is