The Louisiana Democrat., 1891-03-18
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
THE PEOPLES "sUPERB CoNDI.
TlON.n

A few months ago Mr. Chauncey NJ.
Depew, while hobnobbing with other
nabobs in Europe, publicly declared that
the condition of the American peoplei is
superb. From the standpoint of a
money king who knows little and cares
less about the real condition of affairs
in this country, it doubtless looks that
way. Such men never probe below the
surface of society and try to find out how
people live, what are their reso drces,
their prospects. their opportunities,
their struggles for existence. With the
railroad kings, the Wall street gamblers,
and the great land monopolists, the con-
dition is generally superb" But howis
it with the toiling, struggling millions?
Let us, for example, consider the condi-
ton of the poorer classes, in the larger
cities of the United States. l mean
those who are honest, sober, and will
ing to work for living. Mr.. Depew
must know, or he ought to know, that
ten or dozen of our larger cities
contain hundreds of thousands of such
persons who live from hand to mouth,
and are constantly struggling with all
their might to keep starvation at bay,
and whose best efforts bring results
only sufficient to prevent them from
becoming absolute paupers. The New
York Tribune says that in crowded dis
tricts of that overcrowded metropolis,
hundreds of human beings are slowly
dying from lack of sufficient nourishing
food. The Sun says that 10000 work.
ing women in that city are trying to
exist on wages SO small that they will
in all probability be driven by necessity
to crime or lives of shame. In the tene-
ment house districts, 100000 persons to
the square mile are crowded into tene-
ments and compelled to exist in condi-
tions that are not conducive to physical
health, moral culture nor intellectual
development. In every one of our large
cities, and in most of the smaller ones,
| thousands who have labor to sell find
the labor market glutted. In land of
plenty there is want; in a land of in
dustry there is enforced idleness; in a
land of prosperity there is misery; in a
land of glittering wealth there is pinch
ing poverty; in land of boastful free
dom there is abject slavery. And es-
pecially marked are these contrasts in
our large cities.
And what is the condition of the
| farmers-a very numerous class, and a
| class whose interests are at the bottom
of all national prosperity? A few facts
and statistics, gathered from trust
worthy sources, will tend to indicate
the 'ssuperb condition of the American
farmers
The Bankers Magazine is authority
for the statement that the farm mort
| cages of Kansas amount to $685., ,000, 900;
those of Indiana, S64O, ,OOO, 900; of Iowa,
sse7, ,oOo, 900; of Michigan, $500, ,ooO, 900;
of Ohio, s1,431 ,OOO, 900. At 6 per cent
5000, O,OOO, 900 would be required to pay
the interest on these mortgages, as the
total in the five States is $S,4S1, ,00O, 900.
BY little figuring find that this
grand total Of mortgage Indebtedness on
farm property in only five States exceeds
by $1,s46, 100000 the entire national
debt, principal and interest, as
reported at the close of the fiscal year
ending the Both of last June. What a
Superb condition" and what glori-
GUS outlook for the farmers of those
States! And their circumstances are g
fair sample Of what prevails in nearly
all the other agricultural States. Sta
tistics Of the agricultural bureau o
Illinois show decrease in the value O.
farms and farm property in that State
during the past year of $4,000, ,0OO Gov
ernor Campbell, Ohio, who is farmer
SAYS the depreciation of the same kim
of property in his State, in the past tel
years, aggregates Sso,OoO,0oo. Th'
tenth census showed that the Unite'
States contained one million and TWEEN
ty-five thousand tenant farmers; ant
surely the number has increased rathe
than decreased since 1880. Hugh Nc
Cullough, the great Republican finan
J cier, who was Secretary of the Treas
ury under two administrations, declare
that while rents in cities and larg
towns are steadily increasing, agricu
ture has become SO depressed that goo
> farms offer no inducements to tenant
: to hire them at rental of 6 per cen
u on one-third OF their assessed value.
u An in this connection it is pertiner
: to inquire, who owns and controls MOI
; of the available land which rightfull
J belongs to all the people? Largely
'e is in the hands of wealthy landlord
10 greedy spectators and grasping synd
le Gates. The Schenley estate owns 30
'e acres within the limits of Pittsbure
and Allegheny cities, from which Il
heirs draw S1,000,0 900 rent annual
= Vanderbilt owns 2, 600, 600 acres, Murph
y of California, 1900, 900 (equal in area
y the State of Massachusetts,; Disston,
70 Pennsylvania, 100000; the Standa
: Oil Company, 100000, and railro'
- companies own 21O, 600, 600. Then the
- are 100000 owned by foreign mob
.. men, who are not citizens of the Unit
u States, owe no allegiance to our &c
!, ernment and spend their money eli
u where. A striking instance OF Il
T. kind is .'Lord' Scully, of Ireland, w
q. ., owns according to our laws) 90,t
81 acres of farm lands in Illinois. Tht
- lands he parcels out to small tenan
u' who work like slaves for bare livil
~ and turn over the bulk OF their ca
y" ings to their foreign landlord, his
come from that source being $500,
" per annum. In 1860 the producers
" the United States owned 43 per cent
~ ~ the wealth; in 1870, 36 per cent; in Il
w only 90 per cent: in 1S90-don't m
LIE A.. sxy Agosn 1,~,d 4 se rxypad hu rof lrI