The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1885-05-28
WHEAT FARM MORTGAGES
IN THE NORTHWEST.

IN THE NORTHWEST.
One Of the Hardships Of Frontier
Life q Described II Brad
streets" Of Jan'y IL, 1855.
Continued from last week.
We will assume that these newer
wheat fields averaged no more per
acre than Minnesota In 1884. Al
Minnesota has been IN wheat 20 long
that many think the soil has become
impoverished, no one will object 70
such comparison. This gives
about sixteen bushels to the acre as
the average yield Of Dakota Ia 1884 ;
1O4c. q bushel average profit on
average wheat gives 81 ,60 an acre
net income in this year OF extreme
low prices. The farmer gets pay
for his time and teams and tho va
ges Of his help out Of the 1Oc. cost
Of production. Many q laborer In
our large cities, who has nothing but
his hands and team, IL working to
pay OF q larger mortgage on his
house and lot than the average
farmer has on his farm, and people
think nothing Of 1t.
We compute by averages, because
It ID the only correct way to make
such comparisons. A year Of low
prices Is usually succeeded BY one
Of high prices. It y as unfair to
take the low year alone for COMPARE
son as Il u the high. one. So there are
many OvermOrtgaged farmers, re-
motely situated and subjected to
extortionate elevator and railway
charges, who are now In distress.
Thes also are exceptions, and no
one In his sober senses will attempt
to prove rules by exceptions, Mr..
Wilkinson to the contrary, not
|withstanding.
The above table show these facts
/. That Ave times during the past
twenty-seven years the price o.
wheat was lower than present quo.
tations; that December 81, 1873, II
was only Sc. = bushel higher; that IL
three Of the years above mentioned
| It ranged from tOc. toc0c. q bushel
and that the fourth year 1t rose only
to CSC bushel. No railroads within
! q hundred miles, and wheat cleal
below the cost Of productoni In 81
interior towns four years 10 success
sion. Times were pretty snug herr
during those four years. lnteres
more than twice as high as Il is now
wheat way down and prices tor ev
erything the farmer needed way VI
where they had to be reached will
pole, and very few had the pole
Old settlers will remember Their
we're lugubrious Wilkesons in thos
days also, who wrote and talke'
about the northwest going to tn
dogs. But It didn't 60. And nov +
think OF such . thing In these day
when every dollar is worth 100 cent
land nearly every farmer within eas
reach Of competing lines OF raiiroat
| Please note another thing, for To
Iaboye table Is very instructive:
| 2. That the average price
wheat for the six years ending ID
lcember 81, 1884, the period durtn
which this new emigration VI
looming into the northwest most rel
idly, was but . fraction under 81
bushel, and the average price durin
the past nineteen years Was g fra,
ton over q 81 q bushel. The =
ports OF tho Commissioners Of Ct
ltistics Of this state show, turtle
that the average product OF Whe
Ifor nineteen years last past has be-
within q fraction Of fifteen bushe
per acre, which is under IL. avcIal
product OF the wheat crop Of ii
northwest for 1854. As have i
cluded In the above estimate Il
three years OF failure and parti
failure Of the crop Ia some Of d
best wheat counties by the rayag
OF grasshoppers, l shall not be q
cused Of lodging figures when TIN
happen to be unfavOrahle:
The above table shows anoth
interesting fact.
3. That nearly every alterna
year since wheat has been syst
matically graded, prices have be-
low and every other year they ha
been higher again, and that I
twenty-five years the northwest b
not seen extreme low prices I
wheat two years In succession. WI
such q record behind, It seems az
there ought to be some little comic
in the prospect ahead.
Another weighty fact In connecti
with this table ts also worthy
consideration. The average pri
OF wheat for the past twenty-sev
years is93c. Now, I am prepared
prove
4. That the farmer could IA
the 76c. that he got for his bushel
wheat on December 81 1854, and b
more OF what he uses lm0nee
mortgages included) than BIO ooA
have bought for the CSC. during {
average OF all these twenty sew
years. II any one says that I
unfair III applying averages 10 81,
a manner I am ready to prove Il
the farmer could have bought me
with the 76c. on December 81. Il
than he could-h have purchased vi
the highest market price per busl
on December 81, during each &C
secutive year from 1868 to 1876,
cl9sjye- the year 1871 alone excel
ed.
The article OF Mr.. Wilkessn is NJ
unfair in another regard also.
says wheat was selling In the VIII,
bolt Of Kansas. December l, 1884.
an average 0f &c. bushel, q
leaves 1t TO be Inferred that i sc
at that rate on the same date In
northwest. A table carefully co
pllsd by the Pioneer Press. Of q
city, January Z, 1856, gives the pr
OF wheat at prominent AZ we'll
interior stations In Dakota. Min,
sofa, Iowa, Nebraska and Kans
The price IN ST.. Paul, December
1884, was Zoe. the lowest point reac
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