Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1890-07-17
Does Farming Pay2

In recent issue of Bradstreet's Re-
port, Edward Atkinson has paper in
which he maintained with facts and
figures that measured by the cost of
production. now and in years gone by,
and by the present rs well as the past
purchasing power of what the farmer
produces from the soil. that farming is
lust a profitable as il ever was. Mr..
Atkinson laid particular stress upon the
important factor which labor-saying ma
chinery has become in farming, as in
everything else, cheapening production
and tightening the load of the farmer.
The Fort Dodge Messenger takes up
another phase of the subject, and shows
by comparative figures that the farmer
can purchase quite a. much for what he
gets for his crop as when he received a
dollar or more for wheat, fifty cents for
corn and good round prices for cattle
and hogs The first figures give cost of
farm machinery in 1890 and lSso.
The declension in the price of nearly
all farm machinery since 1850 is from 80
to 10 per cent, and during this interval
the improvement in the manufacture Of
all implements has been so great that
the reduced prices of to-day buy far
more serviceable and effective machinery
than the high prices ten years ago. The
price of barb wire, the item next in I'M
portance on prairie farm, has declined
from 10 cents TO cents pound. Iron
nails were then ST per key, and steel
nails can. nov be bought for SIS Pillow
steel has fallen from l3a cents to 81
cents per pounds, and IA cook stove cost
ing S33 then is now worth s2i. Milk pans
have fallen from So to 81 per dozen,
and propoftionate reductions, ranging
a. low as 20 per cent, have extended to
all articles of household hardware.
Groceries have also declined in "A CORE
spending ratio: Sugar, from Ia to I
cents, graduated; kerosene, from - to
IL cents gallon; flour, from 81 80 to
81 50 per cwt.; salt, from 81 p to 81 -
per barrel; tea 30 per cent lower: crock
erv is about - per cent. lower than in
1850
Though dry goods were already quite
low in 1854, there has been II continuous
decrease in them. Calico Is reduced
from i to . cents; unbleached muslin
from to e; gDgham from ia To 10
cents; and worsted dress goods about -
per cent all around. Ready.madc cloth
ing is down from 30 to 80 per cent, and
boots and shoes have fallen 335 per cent.
Lumber, drugs, furniture and all remain
ing incidentals that the farmer must
purchase have undergone the same re-
ductions. Absolutely no exceptions are
found to this rule. Everything is very
much lower than in 1850. Railroad
charges have proportionatelv lessencd.
The reduction is most marked in every
thing that is made by machinery. This
is notably true of furniture, clocks
watches, sewing machines. organs,
pianos, Sc. The Messenger sup
plcments its statement with fig
ures taken from its own market r.
ports for April, 1850. These show that
at that time wheat was worth but 20 to
90 in Fort Dodge, in April. 1850 Corn
then was Is to 20, aS against Is and 20
now flax seed was then 81 -, now it is
81 % T.; hogs are now 81 - to $3.50, as
against $50 and 81 - oats have fallen
from Il To Il; cattlc from 81 and 81 TO
- and 50 eggs have risen from cents
10 and ., and butter has fallen from
lG and Is to II and L. cents. 1t might
be remarked in passing, however. that
the greatest reduction has been in the
price at which farm machinery is sold
This. too, in spite of the fact that the
machinery men have been looked upon
rs the worst enemy of the farmer.
Next to his Investment in land, machin
cry il the most expensive accessory of
the farming industry. The very great re-
duction, therefore, which has been made
in this department alone should lac an
important offset for the low prices which
prevail But it does not stop there.
These figures are something new in the
voluminous literature now extant on the
subject of agricultural dcpressio The
farmer has gained more by the rcduc-
tions in his favor than he has lost from
the decreased values of his products.
Although the conditions by which the
American farmer i. surrounded are not
50 favorable as they might be, it is
apparent that good many extravagant
estimates have been made upon his mis-
fortunes. \ few more such critical anal
Uses as these will doubtless fully con
vince the public that the agricultural in
dustry ia really in much better shape
than has cone to be believed - OroHae
Ju'M Farmer.