The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-11-30
CONDITION OF WESTERN FARMERS.
Some Facts To Be Considered by Those Who
| Have Listened to False Doctrine.
Boston Journal.

Boston Journal.
Statements are constantly being made by
those who are endeavor;ng 10 array the agricult-
wrists of the West against the policy of protec
ton that the farmers of that section are far from
being prosperous and are in fact losing money.
These statements are based chiefly upon the de-
cline in the price of wheat. The Financial
Chronicle, which cannot be accused of being an
advocate of protection makes this assumption
the subject of exhaustive article. which con-
tains many points of interest. 1t says that
the price of No. spring wheat in Chicago
from Jan. 1860, to Jan. l, 1886, was
9os cents bushel in gold, while the
average for 1884 was 63 cents and for 1885, 832
cents. Thus the decline from the average of the
last twenty-six years to the average of 1884 and
1885 is IA per cent. From the indications the
average price for the present year will be n
cents. which would make decline of about 20
per cent. This is quite a decline, but when it
is compared with the decline in the prices of the
articles which the farmer has to buy, the farmer
stands as we'll as he did when he got higher
prices for his wheat. For instance, the Nc
Cormick harvesters, for which he paid $500 in
1881, are sold for $175 at the present time. A
Chicago firm which manufactures agricultural
implements says that the decline in the price of
the whole list has been from % 90 30 per cent,
while the prices of wagons and minor farm tools
have fallen 80 per cent. since 1881. The one
thing which has not fallen is the cost
OF labor, but in the case of smaller
farmers. they and the members of their
IdtnlIeS 90 the Work themselves. Inc decline
in cotton and wooden goods, sugar and other
staples has been quite as marked as that Of
wheat since 1881. The Chronicle also calls at
tenton to the fact that bankruptcy would over
take and overwhelm thousands of farmers if for
three years they had been raising and selling
wheat at loss. The fact that failures in the
agricultural regions Of the Northwest are no
more numerous in proportion to the population
than in other parts of the country disproves the
assertion of bankruptcy. The testimony of
agents who have millions loaned upon West
err farms that interest is promptly paid;
that the principal is paid when it falls due
and that there is no special demand for mortgage
loans, also dIsproves the existence of condition
of bankruptcy. The facts, also, that the distr-
button of merchandise the present season mas
been very large in the West, and the enormous
amounts of money which have of late been NOV
ing eastward, go to show that the farmers must
have money with which to pay for the goods
they buy, else the retailers could not be sending
1t to those in the cities of whom they have pur-
chased their stocks. A fact which is lost sigh.
of is that the farming industry, like other indus
tries. has made great progress during the past
few years, thereby enabling the Western farmer
TO produce crops at much less cost than he did
ten or twenty years ago.