Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-10
THE SoUTH'S. TIME NEXT.
The Boom VIII Strike Dixie Land and Texas
should Get Into the Field to Stay.
New Orleans Picayune.

New Orleans Picayune.
Governor Lee of Virginia is recently
reported to have said that while the
assessed values of property i'll the Vir-
ginia cities were yearly increasing, val
ues in the country are steadily declin
ing The Chicago News. lately speak
ing of country property i'll Illinois, said:
Farms are decreasing in value in al
most every county in the state where
land has not i speculative value on ac-
count of its nearnesS to a manufacturing
town. \ man in this city who represents
large amount of money loaned To farm
ers estimates the decline III the value of
Illinois farming land 10 he from 20 to 50
per cent. since 1880 That COM
paratively few buildings have been
erected ON farms in Illinois during
the last eight years is Il matter of general
observation. Country carpenters, lum-
Der and hardware merchants all state
that such is the case. In the flush
times that followed the war Illinois
farmers erected fine houses and large
barns, but now the sound of the hammer
is not heard on farms unless it is used TO
repair an old building -
In the East ana the West for the two
states mentioned may probably he taken
as representatives of the status Of those
parts of the country, the profits of agri-
culture are declining. This state of
things has been charged to protection,
but il cannot be wholly due TO that, be-
cause a totally different condition of af-
fairs exists in the states of the extreme
South and Southwest, where the land is
rich ana the climate is mild Here in
Louisiana is parish where not a single
mortgage is recorded against a farm,
and there is not parish that does not
show, as far as we have observed, an in
crease in the assessed value of property.
In Virginia the land is worn out by
centuries of cultivation and agriculture
is carried on at Il considerable extra cost
for fertilizers. In Illinois, on the con-
trary, the soil is fertile, but the country
is suffering a reaction from the ex-
cessive stimulus it has enjoyed for
years in the way of enormous immigIs-
ton and excessive railway building
The boom is over and matters have set
tied down 10 mere maintenance of
what has been obtained. The ordinary
profits on food crops must be small be-
cause II Is necessary that the people shall
be fed at u minimum of cost Money
spent IN building railways enriches for a
time the people who get it, while a
great influx of immigration and
capital stimulates industries and gives To
property values rapid accessions which
can only maintain their rate of increase
while the stimulus is IN operation Ex-
haust the boom and all the imitation il
soon lost; the excitement passes away
and values drop TO the dead level of mere
cOnsumptive demand.
When that time comes, the people who
have been living in excitement and under
pressure must suffer more or less Sc
yerely. That is what the great West Is
rapidly coming to- The farms are pIas-
tered over with mortgages An era os
hard work and strict economy has
come, and the people who cannot endure
the stasynation must follow the boom
which 5 moving southwark In our
easy going way we do nos perhaps ap-
preciate) the rapidity with which if is
coming upon us, but it is coming all the
same, and is near at hand. The first
waves of immigration are already pour