Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1890-02-13
WHAT THE FARMERS GET.
NOTHING BUT CHEAPER LAND AND
LARGER MORTGAGES.

the Farmer Uoder tho Present Tariff.
Tax On salt and Timed Plate.
Protection is extolled by the high tariff
party for its benefits to the farmer. II
the farmer and his assistants obtain no
benefit from protection, then the whole
theory falls to the ground, because the
farming interest is by far the largest in
the country.
Among the most important growing
industries Of the country is dairy farm
ing. With a continually increasing de-
mand for its products, IL would be natu-
raj 10 suppose, II not an increase in
prices, at least not decline. Yet fig
ures show the contrary.
Between 1880 and 1888 the average
price OF New York state butter was
30 cents pound. Since 1884 the price
has never exceeded 80 cents, ard is at
present about e3 cents. The average
price of New York state factory cheese
for some years previous TO 1882 was 12
cents pound. In 1880 the price was
from 8 to 81 cents, with no prospects of
improvement.
This means a round reduction Of 25
per cent. in the price of dairy produce.
Judging by the example of wheat and
other export farming products, this re-
duction has come to stay.
A decline in the price of milk preceded
the fall in the average price of butter
and cheese. In 1872 the average price
paid for milk at the Wassaic condensed
milk factory in the state OF New York
was three and seven-tenths cents per
quart. In 1880 the price per quart of
milk at the same factory had fallen to
two and nine-tenths cents. Since 1880
the average price has not risen above this
figure. although in 1885 it was as low as
two and eight-tenths cents per quart.
As the price for dairy products has
declined, the value of the land from
which they are produced has lessened
The United States agricultural report
for 1886, made up by Mr.. Dodge. con-
spicuous high protection man, declared
that farm lands in the state of New Y ork
had deprecated one-third in value dur.
ing the preceding ten years, and, more
over, that 30 per cent. of the farms in
the same state were mortgaged to two
thirds their estimated valuation. Mr..
Wood, who is one of the state assessors
for the present year, bears testimony,
through the columns of the New York
Tribune, that the depreciation in the
value of the farms Of New York state is
still going ON. Farming property, :"
says Mr.. Wood. lis growing less and
less valuable. cannot see any way for
il TO improve. and in u few years you
will see more tenement farmers than
anything else. don't see how those in
surance companies that have advanced
money will ever get out whole"
In Vermont the decline in the farming
industry has advanced a step further.
The New York Tribune had an article on
this subject August IL, 1889, in which
was said, among other things: GOOD
lands are offered for sale as low as 50 an
acre, and II is said that il will be necessary
to make s. an acre the maximum price
for settlers il the new Vermont boomers
expect to compete with western lands.
II may serve rs q vivid notion of the ex-
tent to which the depopulating process
has gone on 70 say that no difficulty was
encountered in finding enough abandoned
farms In one locality to furnish contigu-
Gus farms for the first proposed colony
of fifty families. In fact, four such 10
calities were found"
1t seems then admitted that steady
deterioration Of farm values Is going on
in the eastern states. Cheap transporta-
ton has undoubtedly much to do with
this result. 1t matters little that Ver-
mont Is nine times nearer the port of
New York than Iowa. The difference in
freight charges is so small as not to
count. The western lands have two adj
vantages which last them for the first
few years after settlement. One Is the
relative cheapness of land, and the other
Is the virgin richness of a soil unex.
hausted by overcropping.
But in both these respects time is tend
ing TO equalize the values of farms in the
eastern and western states. There Is no
reason to believe that western farmers
will be more provident in their treat
ment of virgin soil than they have been
hitherto. Farming land in the state of
Illinois is no cheaper than equally good
farms in Vermont.
Many years ago the state of New York
ranked first in the quantity of wheat
grown and exported. With the fall of
this cereal below 81 q bushel came the
end Of the wheat growing on a large
scale. TWAS no longer profitable to grow
wheat in New York. Then the farmers
turned their energies to dairy farming,
and this industry grew and thrived until
the decline of prices TO their present
level Meanwhile, western states were
finding out that the competition of states
still further west was rendering the
wheat crop an Improbable one for them,
and so took, like New York, to dairy
farming
How far this step has been successful
in Illinois may be inferred from the re-
port of the bureau of labor statistics of
Illinois made in 1887 on the subject of
land mortgages.
In this report 1t is shown that while
the aggregate of all mortgages outside of
Cook county increased in amount only
81 per cent. between the years 1870 and
1880, since 1880 the increase in amount
has been 81 per cent. Between 1880 and
1857 the number of mortgages increased
from s0,759 to s0,359, while the aggre-
gate amount of these mortgages increased
from Si03, 525, 237 to 1923, 733, 098. TAX
ing twenty-five distinctively dairy coun-
ties, in the seven years beginning with
1880, fourteen of these show an increase
in the percentage Of acres mortgaged,
while sixteen show an increase in the
average incumbrance per acre.
This does not look much like prosper
ity, and 1t does not seem as IL the farmer
in Illinois was much better of than the
farmer in New York Both are appar
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