Wichita eagle., 1890-02-18
A HOPEFUL PICTURE.
A Leading Agriculturist Intelligently
Discusses the Cause of Hard Times.


teriai interests of this country are grindlu
down to the level of times aud things be
fore the war, and as they settle back witt
) a logic as heavy as lead, speculative value
: disappear, fictitious features vanish anG
individual extravaganza is plnched int,
original economical conditions. SuperfiI
tiles must give way before the hardest O
necessities and the prices of all things vii
be fixed by their earning power rathe
than by some promised future value. 4
large increase in the volume of currenc,
might temporarily mitigate the squeeze
but no legislation and only great Europ
can war of years duration, or an almos
universal failure of crops on the othel
side, would check Americas present ga
cial grind in the direction of the bed rocl
where watered stocks, fraudulent divi
dends, trusts nor combines can possibly
survive.
To the Editor OF the Eagle.
l cut the above from the EAGLE o1
the 14th inst, and while l agree with
| your statement ''that the material an0
industrial interests are grinding down te
the level of things before the war" dc
not agree with the implication that the
present stringency is due to watered
stocks, trusts and combines, but must
take direct issue with such implied con-
clusions, although | once held such
opinions.
There is just one predisposing factor
causing the present agricultural depres-
sion, although it may be aided somewhat
! by fortuitous circumstances. The pres
ent depression is wholly and purely agri-
cultural, and affects other interests by
the solidarity of commonweal.
The one controlling factor in caus-
ing the present depression was in most
active operation prior to the civil war.
and one the bene1icient effects of that
strife was to postpone, for more than a
quarter of century, the world wide
agricultural depression and crisis, which
stareS the Russian, the South American,
the Australian, the German, the Cana
dian. the Frenchman, the Italian and
the Spaniard just as squarely in the face
as it does the citizens of this republic,
and we must, to understand it, extend
our horizon beyond this county, this
state and country. Yet, it had its in
ception in our country and we have
furnished nearly all the material to keep
it in motion.
l say unhesitatingly, that there is but
one cause, and that most natural one,
and given this cause, but one result
could possibly follow. That cause has
existed and we are now experiencing
the results which is easily seen when we
look in the right direction. While
noon-mataIIicn Drotactiya tariffs
trusts, option dealings, middlemen, eX-
cessive rates for transportation, dressed
beef and other combines and a thousand
and one other things are, by different
people. held responsible for this un-
fortunate condition of the agricultural
interest they are, at most, but auxiliary
or secondarycauses that but aid in in
tensifying the evil, and their action
would not attract much attention but
for the tremendous results of the all
potent factor.
/ have for some years been deeply i'm
pressed with the unsatisfactory results
of the farmers efforts and dissatisfied
with the reasons assigned therefor and
have, by such feeling, been led to look
into this matter and a long seige of i'm
paired health having precluded active
employment | have found abundant
time to quite thoroughly investigate this
and kindred subjects, and the con-
clusion arrived at, after such investiga-
ton, is that we are suffering from
a state of agricultural congestion in a
chronic form. That the worst stage of
the disease itself has passed aud the
painful process of recovery has been in
progress for several years but the patient
weakened and depleted by the fever is
now in that condition when even a
breath of air sets him i'll a paroxysm,
and he has been subjected to a terrific
cold blast in the shape OF the large wheat
crop of 1889, the enormous corn crops of
of 1888 and 1885, and an excessive mar
keting of cattle, all of which has brought
on rigors closely resembling those of
death, vet the patient will recover.
Ten wears after the close of the civil
war we had ninety-three one hundredtbs
of an acre of corn for each inhabitant of
the United States and per capita pro-
duction0ive years average)of "A. 4 bushels.
Now we have one acre and One-Quarter
for each person five years average) and
per capita product of 800 bushels. Of
wheat we had, fifteen years since, a per
capita product of 6.43 bushels, five years
ago 500 bushels, now reduced to 1.24
bushels per capita while the average do
mestic consumption per capita, for
twenty years, has been J.56 bushels, but
our surplus wheat we can always export
at some price which is not the case with
corn.
In 1860 when cattle were even lower
than now there was eightvone animals
of this class for each 100 of the popula-
ton. the ration being reduced at the
close of the war to sixty to 100, about
which figure it remained until near 1880
when the proportions had risen to sew
entv-two to 100 and now we are back
about where we were in 1860 with eighty
animals for each 100 OF population and
prices are near the anti-bellum level. and
this has been the process with all the
other great agricultural staples except
cotton, which would long since have
been in the same boat but for the ret2rd-
alton in expansion caused by the war
\ statement covering but ten lines tells
the whole story.
From $50 TO lsSo population increased 60 per cent
Number of farms increased .---...........Ji
acres in staple crops -.-.....-s5 a. e"
- cattle. ...-..........-. ..-........40
" =" swine e-..-........-..........-.-..g 81 " &"
'' bales coTton. on........-..........s 81 -
8" dcres in corn..................sl -
Ni4estI-.-- ----.---.---AJ = "
oals..----.--..--..-.-iu ." ="
= q tl,a,~ -, -