Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-04-10
WHY FARMERS FAIL.


Cropb DepreGtated. But tnterest
Charges lseutnin this same.
LANCASTER, Pa, April 4.--The length |
ening list q Lancaster county farmers
who have failed this spring received but
one addition TO day, when Berj 'min |
dunlap OF Salisbury township, made an |
assignment for the benefit of his creditors,
with assets OF $500 and liabilities Of $7l3.
This is but q trifling affair compared with
the assignments of yesterday, but it goes
to show that the small farm re- are
affected no less than the large ones by
the prevailing agricultural depression.
Add to these failures the disappearance
of Abraham Elrhart, well. known
farmer near Mannheim, because of hnaR-
cial troubles, and it will be seen that
there ia apparently something out of joint
in farming nowadays.
It should be borne in mind, however,
that these failures come with the annual
s,ttiing up and moving day in the coun.
try-April Island that they represent
the financial difficulties of some 1000 or
5000 farmers. special causes have com-
bined with more general ones to bring
about the downfall IN some OF The assign
menSl recently made.
Thus, one farmer WHOSE liabilities are
big, lost nrch money in lumber Ypeou-
la,ion; another, no. content with three
farms, borrowed money to buy fourth
and got nipped in the operation, while
third brought trouble upon himself by
too Rreat willingness to indorse the notes
OF friends These things happen in other
lines OF busiuess as we'll as farming.
Yet, putting aside these special CAUSES
OF trouble, which 80 TO show that farmers
ore pretty apt to make botch of it when
they turn aside from the pillow TO spec
ulate and dabble in other matters, there
is no denying tina. farming is much less
profitable than it was some years ago.
Within the past decade the value OF farm
lands and products in this county has
fallen of millions OF dollars. Some 20
years ago farm near this city WIS sold
J for 100000, of which 100000 was paid
in cash and $40 900 remained on mort
, gage, 1t was sold while ago Tor $3.50, 600,
, and the farmer who had imagined him
self worth $40, 900 was really bankrupt,
, with his liabilities "a, 900 greater than his
assets.
! This depreciation in farm values has
! been going on for years. consequent Oh
, Western competition, railroad discrimi-
! nstion and the shrinkage in nearly all
> prices following the initiation of war
times, but just ct present there is another
reason tor the fiuanoigl distress among
: the farmers. Tobacco is the staple crop
I of Lancaster county, and out OF it most
profits have been made. When II sold az
8 25 cunts per pound, as it did at one time,
l farmers frequently cleared from an acre
o OF tobacco profit twio3 Us great as the
4 land upon which it grew was worth.
a Those days have gone. however, never to
return, and by the composition of i'm
ported Sumatrs tobacco and the in
Q creased production of the plant the
: prices have fallen greatly. Add to this
4 the fact that the long continued wet
. weather Of last year damaged the crop
3 enormously, and it is easy to see that
there 10 no. great deal of money in the
D weed for the growers.
/ Some OF the tobacco is SO poor that
I purchasers will not offer mora tran one
Z cent per pound for il. The price ranges
. FROM that up to 10 cents, the average
price being from $ 10 10 cents per pound.
q Out OF this return il takes q Icing headed
0 farmer to make m"nay enough to pay the
? interest on the farm which he bought
, when tobacco was selling at as cents per
/ pound and land values were fixed on that
I bs,Is. Sooner or later he must GO to the
y wall, and SO many have bsen doing for
: Lancaster county farmers are very
thrifty claRs OF men as rnle, and their
land has been kept up 10 the highest
point Of cultivation. Though farms have
deprecated fully "a third in vaiuo on the
:" average, their owners have not neglected
them, and look hopefully forward to the
q time when, with the great west more set.
3 tied than now and land VRiuBS increased
n there, something Of the departed value OF
r their own land will return. Ia the
present depression it is interesting tC
u note that the Aui5h mon, whose broad
II hrimmed hata make them q picau-e.qut
d feature of Lancaster county life, are moi
10 found among the unfortunates. Those
r. who are in tronble are tidcd over theil
a difficulties by their brethren, and failursr
t. are unknown among them. The same i.
/ true, though TO a less extent, OF the Men
B. nonites. These clanniso people oonsti
s. tule no small part of the county's farmins
in population, and this trait OF characis
ID among thom stands as tower OF strength
rs against any widespread financial troubl
Id among the farmers.
While the recent failures have cGuset
n considerable comment, il is not lisel
that they will have any more lasting effac
g. than to make the money -lenders, VIII
N abound, more csutious about their loans
10 That, in itself, would not be q ad thin
m for the farmers, who have found the grea
st readiness with which they could b0rro'
so money Oh their lands temptation to ru
OF into deht, while they should have acont
a mizad their expenses. There ara no les
1d than twenty. 1.-Two rational banks in Lsr
90 caster county, besides private bankers
'r- and thess do q big business in lendin
ng money 10 the farmers. 1t is very likel
that the failures OF late will tend to IL
Is, ducs these TO be very careful Of oollatera
IN and the farmers will thus be compelled 1
ais live clos r to their means and make then
he selves leas liable to failures.
nut
'uo For dyspepsia
ny UAe HnrsfOr5'e A.,a PHOSPHATE d. T.