The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-09-05
FROM ABANDONED FARMS.


Some OF the Thoughts That Came to .
Man Who Occupies Two of Them.
have lived on a farm all my life, and
now occupy two abandoned farms which
adjoin my own. Their former owners
got into debt and the farms were sold at
iheriffs sale, and are now owned by men
who are able to live without working a
farm. / remember the hard times of the
''ffties" before the war, and also the
good times just after that unpleasant
ness" when money was abundant and
all the products of labor brought good
prices. All kinds of business were brisk
and all classes seemed to be prospecting,
in spite of the fact that we were then
paying a large war debt. [Oh, we are
paying it still, and our taxes are just as
heavy now as they were when the debt
was more than twice as large.-Ed. ]
The public officers, apparently jealous
Of the prosperity of the people, had their
own salaries doubled, and these have
generally remained unchanged to the
present day, while the prices of the
half, and in many cases more than that.
We were told that the prices of those
days were fictitious" on account of the
prevalent ''infation," and that we must
come down to a ''gold basis" and of
course the way to "come down" was by
contraction, and the way we have come
down has been fun for the bondholder,
but death to the farmer. Although in
figures we have already paid more than
one-half Of the national debt, it will take
more of the products of labor to pay the
remainder than it would have done be-
fore cent had been paid. This is not
an accidental condition; it is a premed-
itated scheme to rob labor of its just
dues We all ought to know that scare
ity of any necessary or desirable thing
makes it high in price, and money is no
exception to the rule; but money being
tho measure of value, the ordinary mind
fails to grasp the idea that money can
be high in price.
But many farmer knows to his sor-
row that it takes double the amount of
produce to get dollar that it did twen-
ty-fve years ago, and hence they have
tried every means to increase their crops
only to make the matter worse by helping
to bring down prices. One correspond
ent of The Rural mentioned laziness as
one of the causes of the existence of so
many abandoned farms, but human nat
ure is just the same today as it was
twenty-five years ago, and young men
are just as eager to own a farm and
home of their own as ever; but they have
seen too many caught in the agricultural
trap to feel like trying it themselves.
They have seen men grow old and gray
in useless toll trying to pay for a home,
and after they have made improvements,
and in part paid for it, it has perforce of
hard times been sold out, only to help
enrich the money shark and to add one
more to the list of abandoned farms.
The farmer labors under too many dis
advantages. Let me mention a few.
IF he waters his milk he is fit candi-
date for the state prison, and sojourn
there would serve him right; but the
railroad man waters his stock for the
same purpose Ito get something for moth
ing), and ne is fit candidate for the
United States senate. The farmer issues
his promise to pay, and pays the interest
on it. The banks issue their promises to
pay and get interest on them. Real es-
tate pays an outrageously large dispro-
portion of all state taxation. If the
farmer is in debt on his farm he is taxed
for the full amount, while the man who
holds the mortgage often gets off scot
free.
Again, our tariff system on the neces-
saries Of life causes the poor man to pay
as much of the tax as the rich man, and
causes millions to accumulate in the
United States treasury, and these are
lent to the banks free of interest. Farms
that were bought twenty-five years ago
at $40 per acre will not sell at the pres
ent time for $50. But United States
bonds were bought at forty cents on the
dollar, and were then refunded in such a
way that they are now worth $1.2S. The
cause Of all this is that we have voted
for money sharks and corporation law
yers to make our laws, and they have
made them in their own interests and
those of their clients. Now, if these
conditions continue to exist it is only a
question Of time when the farmer who
owns the land he tills will be a person
of the past, and his place will be filled
by the miserable tenant farmers so ON
mon in the Old World.-W. w. Coats,
Alleghany county. New York. in Rura1
New Yorker.
Vote Your Own Sentiments.
There seems to be complete awaken
ing among the people of this part of the