The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-08-29
THE DECLINE OF IOWA.

The Eastern papers are commenting with
panied surprise on the extraordinary reye-
Iations of the census regarding Iowa. 1t
appears that Iowa, which had 1924, 600 in
habitants in 1880 and 1,753, 600 in 1885, only
shows population of 10000 in 1890. In
other words, alone among the States of the
Union Iowa is going backward and not
forward. The general disposition in the
East is to ascribe the decay of this fine
State to the influence of prohibition. 1t Is
said that the doctrines of the prohibition
lists have not only checked the tide of immi-
grants which was pouring into the State at
the rate of $4,000 year, but have actually
driven larger number than that of the
actual inhabitants of the State to fly from 1t
and seek home in States where their
social habits will not be regulated by law.
There may be something in this, but pro-
hibition alone will not account for the fall
ing off in the population of Iowa The
chief cause of the phenomenon lies deeper
than local legislation. People do not leave
their State in a body because legislators
pass unwise laws; they stay where they
are and vote the opposition down. Men pull
up stakes and 90 in quest of pastures new
when the old field and the old calling fail
to furnish them with the old living, and
that. probably, is the true secret of the de-
cline Of Iowa.
Iowa has been forty-iye years in the
Union. The enabling act was passed in
1888, but the proclamation admitting the
State was not issued till the last day OF
John Tyler's term in 1915 The population
of Iowa was counted, however, III the CEN
sus OF 1870, when tie Territory was found
to have As, coo peor Its soil was chiefly al
luvial, rolling prairie, which yielded easily
thirty bushels of wheat or fifty bushels of
corn to the acre. In the decade 1S40-50 the
population increased nearly fve-fold, to
$4,000, and the same rate of progress was
maintained in the succeeding decade.
When the great tide of immigration set in
during the war Iowa got more than its
share; 1870 found it with over 100000
people ard 1880 with 1,624,CC0. BY that
time most OF the farms on bottom land,
with easy access by rail OF water to dis
tributing markets, had been occupied and
the laws had put stop to railroad eXten
sion, so that wheat and corn raising in
fully half the counties of the State was
futile pursuit The progress of Iowa was
then seen 10 lave eliminated.
Owing to the astonishing increase in
wheat acreage all over the world, the price
OF cereals had declined to the cost of pro
ductiOn, or even less, and land had fallen in
production. Farms which, in 1877 so, were
easily worth SIS an acre could not be sold
in 1853 for SOS. Nor could the railroad CON-
pahies, which had just emerged in a semi
bankrupt condition from the long aDti-rail-
load war, be induced to build branches so
as to open up new country where land could
still be bought at from 81 80 to s. an acre.
StagDation spread over the State, and not
only were new-com ers from New England
and Europe dist outraged from settling with
in Its borders, but young men, sons Of the
soil, departed in search of more promising
lands Of promise in Dakota, Wyoming,
Washington and other States and Terrific
ries on this Coast. 1t is this migration
which the census tables reflect.
Within the past six or eight years the
Iowans have realized that they must adopt
new methods if they want to make living
out of their land. Their wheat yield has
declined from an average OF thirty bushels
an acre to an average below twenty. For
this there is no remedy. except the use Of
fertilizers and more thorough cultivation,
for hich the 1Gwans are not quite ready.
But the corn crop may be turned to profit
able account by increasing the product Of
pork and beef, and to that the more nteli-
gent farmers Of the State are devoting much
attention. A corn crop which Will not real
| iZe over 20 cents a buSbel ON the farm-that
is TO say, less than the fixed charges of the
| grOwer-may pay fair profit if it be
| shipped in the shape of three or four year
old steers. OF course, the I0wan cattle
grower has to contend at disadvantage
with the cattle-groNer of Colorado New
Mexico or Montana, who pastures his cattle
on the public domain. But still, a much
finer grade of cattle can be raised by intel
ligent beef-raisers in Iowa than are shipped
from the ranches on the Canadian. the Par
adox and the Snake, and thus, perhaps, the
man in Iowa, handicapped as he is by llav-
ing to pay rent or interest on his range,
may not do SO badly. But it is evident that
the boom" in Iowa is over. Henceforth
lis growth may be steady, but it will be
slow.