The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1890-05-16
THE Farm.
L. l.. Folks Address Before the u.
S. Senate Committee on
Agriculture.

l.. J.. Polk, President of the National
Alliance, made speech before the U.
S. Senate Committee on Agriculture on
April %. Alter stating the depressed
condition of Agriculture as compared
with ether interests of the country, he
showed that this condition was the same
in all sections Of the United State.
We give some extracts from that por-
ton of his speech which deals with the
remedies suggested for this depressed
condition of farming and farmers:
In a somewhat elaborated presenta-
ton of agricultural depression and its
causes" in his March report, Hon. j r.
Dodge, agricultural statistcian, says:
"Diversifcation is essential to agri-
cultural salvation" That is, to secure
reasonable reward for labor and invest
mcnts, the farmers should cultivate q
greater variety of crops. To arrest the
downward tendency in the market
values of crops, and to restore the val
ues of lands, a greater effort should be
made to meet all the demands for all
kinds of food products. Has this sys-
tenn been tried and has it failed? Let
us see. Take the energetic and enter
prising State OF Michigan, than which
no State in the Union, perhaps, has a
broader system of diversified farming.
Its whole surface is dotted with thriv-
ing villages, towns and cities, and the
farmers have easy access to large out
side markets. The State Labor Bureau
of Statistics reports that the farms Of
that State are mortgaged to the amount
ofsl3O, 100000. or Al per cent of them,
and at an average interest of Z per cent.
The wheat crop of that State for 1889
was 23,7O9,OOO bus, required for home
consumption, s,246,5lO bushels. To
pay the interest on farm mortgages for
one year at per cent would require
455, 5l4 more bushels than the whole
net crop.
The commissioner says in his report !:
1.-The indications are that mortgage in
debtedness is rapidly increasing and
that farmers are not getting out of
debt" From his Investigations he de-.
duces the following facts:
81. That one half the farms of Mich.
igau are mortgaged and are paying
double tax.
90 That by reason of this mortgage
Indebtedness and double taxation, bus
mess of all kinds is seriously Affected.
SO. That men who loan money do
not bear their just proportion of public
expenses in return for the protection
given them, while the majority escape
taxation
In the year. 1887 there were 1867
mortgages foreclosed, and of that num-.
Der only l3l were redeemed. In one
Of the leading agricultural counties OF
the State (st. Josepb), l am reliably
informed there were in the year 1888
366 foreclosures of farm mortgages, one
for each day in the year. This, briefly
stated, is the condition of people who
possess peculiarly favorable facilities
for the prosecution of diversified farm
ing.
Let US then come to State possess
ing pre- cminently advantages superior
to any State in the Union for the sue
cessful and profitable prosecution Of
that "diversifcation" which is essential
to our agricultural salvation" l refer
to that beautiful garden spot in the
broad field of American agriculture, the
State of New Jersey. Diversified farm.
ing, l presume no one will deny, should
be most profitable where it has easy &C
cess to ready markets or to great CEN
tiers of population. Not only have the
farmers of New Jersey advanced to the
front rank in all the appliances and
most improved systems of agriculture,
but the whole State is or should be, the
kitchen garden of population in towns
and cities within and Immediately on its
borders, of not less than four and three
quarter millions Of people. The county
of Salem has splendid facilities for
reaching markets. 1t is adapted to
truck growing. The board of agricul-
ture of that county made an official
report to the Governor oil the State only
a few weeks since, in response to in
quiries propounded by him to the var
ious boards, in which it was stated that
the lands of that county had decreased
in value 40 per cent.
Go to the States OF Vermont and New
Hampshire, whose every farm almost is
IL