The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-09-26
A CANDID VIEW.
OF the Causes of the Decline tn Vermont
Farm Values.

OF the Causes of the Decline tn Vermont
Farm Values.
1t is true that farm lands, especially
in Champlsin Valley, can be purchased
at lower rates IN proportion to actual
value, than in any other sections of the
country. Here farm machinery may be
used to as good advantage as in most
sections of the West, while statistics
show a much larger average yield per
acre of most, if not all, farm crops.
There are various reasons for the de-
cline in land values, most Of which are
not at all discreditable to our State. One
is the alarming draft which the world
at large, and especially the West, is con-
stantly making upon our vital sources,
in the form Of enterprislng, energetic
young men. The reputation of our
State for this most important of all her
products, while greatly benetiting other
sections, is blighting curse to the State
itself.
There is another reason for the decline
in land values here, which is not so
creditable to our people. That is fact
that large proportion of our surplus
capital is invested in the 81, 900, 900, 900
of Western farm mortgages which have
been thrown upon the market. A large
proportion of our people are looking to
this SOURCE for their income, rather than
to the development of their farms and
the material interests of the community
in which they live. This is both unwise
and discreditable. Such parasite life
is not calculated to encourage enterprise
and advance property values at home,
while it has aided in developing a ruin
GUS competition from abroad.
The inventive genius of OUT people
also, while benetiting other sections, has
seriously injured our pecuniary inter
ests. The dairy belt" once talked OF
by Harris Lewis, Prof Arnold and 9th.
ers, has been vastly extended by YER
mont ingenuity. The demonstration OF
the practicability of the deep setting Of
milk for cream raising purposes, and the
invention of appliances for utilizing this
discovery by VermoDters, have revolu-
tionized the daily practice of the country
and developed a serious competition in
our butter markets, which otherwise
would not have existed,
| When we take into account the ad-
vantage for physical, educational, moral
and social development which Vermont
presents, and as basis for these, her
agricultural and other resources, !
challenge comparison with any other
State in the Union. l know Of no other
conditions, where beautiful scenery,
pure cold water, etc., so essential to the
perfection of home life, can be procured
in such perfection and so cheaply, as in
Western Vermont, to-day, and for rea-
sons, some of which have given, not at
sN0l 10 30 kA IL -
State, or to this section, as a place Of
residence.-F. d. Douglass, in Hodrd'S
Dairymdn.
In the discussion as to the causes
which led to the state of affairs which
the Commissioner of Industries finds in
Vermont, one large factor, it seems to
US, has been overlooked. It Is true, as
Mr.. Douglass well says, that our young
men have gone and are continually go
ing West. 1t is equally as true that YER
mont capital has contributed as fully
large share towards building up the
West in dollars as she did in her young
men to recruit the Union armies, as was
shown by us last week in review of the
report of the Inspector of Finance, and
continued elsewhere TO day. But, what
of those sons of Vermont who went into
the army in 1876 From hillside
town and village, they came by thous-
ands, by thousands they died. and of the
survivors, iUhO of them came back to till
the farms they had left? Army life gave
them distaste for living on the farms
where their youth had been passed
Where score returned to this State to
till the soil, thousand went West, re-
manned South or turned their attention
to other occupations. When the parents
died, the farm became the property of
others, the consolidation we hear of now
began, just as the desertion had preced-
ed it, and twenty-five years afterwards
we begin to comprehend this logic of
events. We are the more convinced Of
this because, with some exceptions of
course, the matter of abandoned"
farms is no new thing. Very little of il
is of recent origin. The State has begun
to uncover the facts that have existed
for years, and is now looking the sltua-
ton squarely in the face; this is all there
is Of it. We hope our readers, both at
home and abroad, will give Mr.. Doug
lass's article, above, careful considera-
ton. Already the tide is beginning to
ebb. There are numerous instances Of
proposed emigration from the West and
South to Vermont, and we hope these
proposals will mdteridlize.