The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-11-22
:
THE DR0UTH'S ALLY
High Interest and Commissions
Make the North Dakota
Suffering.
A Financial Problem That Is Hard
to Solve by the Set
tiers.
The People Are by No Means Anx-
ious to Leave the Country,
but Their Resources
Arc Exhausted.
The Mortgage and the prouth.

The Mortgage and the Drouth.
CANDo, N. d., Nov. 14.-In several
sections of North Dakota the misfor-
tune of the present is overshadowed by
the prospective necessities of the fu-
ture. Immediate want may not, in
many instances, be pressing. Such is
not claimed in the sense of a direct ap-
peal for charity in behalf of universally
starving people. But the mortgage of
last year has been renewed for the
present year with, in too many cases, an
increased rate of interest Such an
imperative accumulation of debt signi-
fies its own disastrous result. A simpler
computation shows that at present
prices of grain or stock, crop yield
largely in excess of the most sanguine
hopes would be necessary to overtake
and pay yotf the increasing interest-an
interest which has already dwarfed the
principal. In some quarters tho plan of
removal has been freely ventilated.
The question arises, how can people be
removed, and where to, with their real
and personal property moFtgaged. and
the notes following them from place to
place? Here is financial proble..
worthy of IL expert
This condition represents the present
attitude of many farmers. a large ma
jority of them in the counties of Ro-
lette, Towner, Pierce, Benson, Ramsey
and Nelson. Immediate and substantial
relief for some is required and is being
received. But permanent relief can
only come through the establishment
of some system whereby the present
high rate of interest, which ranges,
with commissions from 3 to 5 ,jer cent.
month, can be reduced to limit that
will allow good crops in the future.
aided by careful management, to benefit
the present unfortunate mortgagor. 1t
is condition, surely, and not theory,
that now confronts the farmers of this
section of North Dakota. BY the time
a farmer in this locality receives money
borrowed on real or chattel security. il
has passed from the original eastern
loaner through five or six different mid.
die men, each extracting commission
that in the end renders the use of this
money by the borrower the most luxuri-
GUS and ruinous eNtravgance. 1t is nc
eXaggeration to say that this element
of high interest is one that has worked
against the farmer hand in hand with
partial failure of crops for the past
two years
Il borrowed $50 eighteen months
ago." said man to me in Ramsey
county. To-day the original loan looms
up to $265."
"And has the security been increased, y
asked.
"once; but it was pretty largo at
first"
.sWhat was the price of seed wheat
last spring?'
s'i'rom Sl.35 to S155 per bushel."
slow much did you raise per acre
last season.
81 threshed four bushel per acre from
thirty acres"
This illustrates the point regarding
the condition of the farmers in this
section. One hundred and twenty bush
els OF wheat. at present prices, 81 cents
represents $Gsd0. 1t required to seed
thirty acres at least forty-tive bushels
purchased, say at Sl.50 per bushel,
$67.00. Net profit on cash investment
with nothing for labor. 30 cents.
Considering that the frost ruined thu
crop in 1888. and that drouth caught il
tho present season. it can readily be seer
that new settlers in this locality mus
necessarily be in scvcre financial straits
Now the time has come when they car
mortgage no further. But the prcser
liens must be met. Thus the appeal fo
aid. The people are by no mean.
anxious to leave the country. Their al
is invested here. their locations good
land rich, hay plenty. They are pluck,
to an eminent degree. But their indus
try for the past two years goes unre
Wardcd. True, some have left, bu
their last words left no stigma on th,
country. These very men know them
selves to be the victims Of an unusua
series of events. They were new set
tiers, and, of course, were caught in
misfortune which, while distinctl,
local, would not occur again for serie
of years. But the question how to re
gain footing was one they were un
able to solve satisfactorily.
talked with man on the train from
Bisbee, Towner county, to Cando. He
with his wife, was on his way to Illinois
he said: 81 have been hero two years
but believe myself to blame for com
ing here with SO small a capital. Has
secured one crop out of the two,
guess could have weathered it. Blu
now don't own thing. COW, pig o
horse, yet if l should try to pul
through the winter, the cows, pigs AM
horses would look to me for support.
propose to let them accept the charit,
of the mortgagors. l don't want an,
charity myself. r.. F. S.