Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-05-04

The census estimates of 1870 We're
made on basis OF currency which was
deprecated about twenty five per cent.
and were consequently about that much
Too hleh. Inc proper correction would
show that there was a smaller increase
between s60an $40 and "a somewhat
larger one between 1870 and 1880 than
1hs hs u5 indicate on Tihs sSse'o Of
TO rcturn 20 the census statistics
The nupber of acres Of improved land in
1880 was ll3.032. GA. and in 1860
I62.i1O, 720. The increase during the
decade was 4a.O7s.1o6 acres. In 1880
tine natssAss- z;ss-- asa n -aaA- The in
66l, 1929 acres. The increase on the value
OF arms between l $50 and 1850 was 90
per cent ; in the next twenty years it
was only fifty-siX per cent.
during the ten wears between 1850
ana 500 the inclease In the value of live
STOCK was absolutely greater than in the
next twenty years, and the rate Of in
crease WAS more than twice as great
1bis result was brought about notwith-
standing that. between 1860 and 1880,
an almost boundless area of natural
pasture land. extending from the Mis-
souri, river to the Rocky Mountains. and
from the Canadian border To the Gulf
OF Mexico, was brought into use
In proportion to their means no great
section of society is SO economical as
farmers. No men are more solicitous OF
acquiring property or more willing to
prive themselves and their families of
the elegancies and even comforts of life.
In order TO enable them to increase their
possessions. Never in the worlds his
tory has the efficiency Of farm labor
been so rapidly enlarged by new inven-
lions and appliances as during the last
twenty-five wears. 1t is probable that
one days labor on the farm is now
the average. more than twice as pro-
ductive as in 1860. During the last
forty years. and especially during the
period between $50 and $50. the great
prairie States were mainly settled. and
sources developed. In the whole history
OF agriculture there has been no such
sudden and amazing increase Of the pro-
auctions of the soil as that which fol-
lowed; In 1860 there was in the States
Of Of; illinois; Iowa, Kansas. Minnesota.
and California but 32.0sI,5s8 acres of
improved land. The number Of acres OF
land subjected to the uses Of civilization
IN those States alone. between 1860 and
1880, was almost as great as all the i'm
proved Ian In the entire Union in $50,
ana IT was on the average infinitely
more fertile. simultaneously with this
enormous extension of the area of cul-
uvated land. the construction of nearly
100000 miles of railways brought almost
every acre OF land in the whole coun-
try into quick and cheap communication
with the best markets of the world
Do not all these considerations point
irrcsistibly TO the conclusion that under
any free. normal, unfettered condition
OF things the growth of farm wealth
should have been at far more
rapid rate than ever before I? 1t is the
universal law that. other things being
equal as capital in any business increases
81.
growth of farm 18th between 1850 and
500 were tas the figures show it was)
at the rate OF 100 per cent. under the
same condition OF things it ought to have
been far greater between 1860 and 1880;
and under the extraordinarily favorable
circumstances l have stated above, the
rate of increase should have been much
very much-greater But assuming
that only the tate of increase between
$50 and 1860 had been maintained. the
first of the following tables will show
what the increase of farming wealth
would have been. and the second table
VIII show what 1t really was in 1870
and 1880:
These tables show that il farmers had
increased their wealth only at as rapid
IA rate between 1860 and 1880 as they
did between 1850 and 1860, they
would have possessed in $50 more than
S2O,O0O,000, 600 more property than
they did possess. II you will deduct
from that sum $1,000, 100000 as their
share Of the cost and losses growing
out of the war, they would still have
had in 1880 twice as much wealth and
several Thousand ilolssrs besides Ii
we could give back TO them the S345,-
100000 which. has yearly been iilched
from them by an unjust law, they
would still he vastly poorer than they
would be under a just law.
The following table shows how much
farmers, comprising half OF the entire
population, and starting in 1850 with
one half the total wealth of the country,
increased their wealth between $3.50 and
1850, and how much the other half of
the people Increased their wealth dur
ing the same period
Farmers increased their wealth, S4.-
122.5Ss,4Sl.
The other half increased their wealth,
S23. 359. a94. sol.
The statistics | have submitted iudi-