The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1891-05-23

VI luC udppJ3 CNCOiiua eOho u pASnoJs
contentment and peace, which
should bless the home of the Ameri-
can farmer, we hear the dismal and
universal wall of hard times all
over The land.
Let us investigate, briefly, the
situation and see If we may find the
cause Of this uanatural and danger
ous condition of affairs.
To 1850 our farmers owned over
+ TO per cent of the wealth of the
country; in 1860. about 50 per cent?.
in 1880 about SO per cent. and to
day they own less than rs per cent,
and yet they pay over 80 cents in
ever, dollar that is collected 10
taxes.
From 1850 to 1860 farm values
increased l0l per cent.
From 1860 to 1880 farm values
increased 43 per cent.
Notwithstanding this alarming
decline in farm values, the ag.
gregate wealth. of the country. in.
creased As per cent from 1870 to
1880, and the agricultural popula-
ton increased over % per cent.
From 1850 to 1861, agriculture
led manufacturing 10 per cent iE
increased value of products; from
1870 to 1880, manufactures led
agriculture 27 per cent, showing Q
difference in favor of manufacturing
of 81 per cent.
| The value of the ten leading
staple crops Of the country in 1860
was 2,aO7,462.23l. The value Of
the same crops in 1864, eighteen
years later, $2,043, ,5OO,43l. During
this time the cultivated acreage had
nearly doubled, the farm hands had
doubled, and agricultural imple
ments and machinery had vastly
improved, and yet the crops ol 1884
sold only 2 per cent more than the
same crops of 1865.
The average value per acre in
yield of all our crops 10 1867,
tweaty years later, the average
value was about So.
| Wheat. 1880 to 1870, average
price per bushel, $l.99. 1880 to
1887, average price per hashels,
l$l.U7.
| Corn. 1860 to 1870, average
price per bushel, 96 cents. 1880 10
10 1887, average price per bushel,
III cents.
/ Co,ton. 1860 TO 1870, average
price per pound, 47a cents. 1860 10
1887, average price per pound, Q
cents.
! So that to-day a dollar costs tho
wheat farmer over TIVE and onehall
times az much, and the cotton iar-
mer. over four times as much as il
did from 1860 to 1870,
/ Ii a tarner had given q mortgage
| for 81 100 in 1870, he could have
paid 1t with 1850 bushels of cofu
len 10 seventeen years later, il
would have taken, without interest
l,7U2 bushels 10 have paid 1t, and
50 with bis Other crops. The FAR
mer pays his debts with his laDor
His crops cost him as much labor
now as in 1870, but he receive.
only from oIe fourth to one half as
much for them. Must we be told
that the law OF supply and demand
regulates priees2 How, then, may
We explain that we produced niue
aud one halt bushels ut wheat pc.
capita in 1881. and il was wortl
$l.l5 per bushel; while We produced
ln 1909 only seyen and one-llal
bushels per capita, and it was Wortf
only ~ cents per bushel2 The
operations OF this ancient law ii
trade haze been practically ahnuiIed
or suppianted W the more lmperlous
law oi greed as uow enforced under
. the mandates of monopollstlc com
Dlnatlons Tor the pliiage aud ROBBERY
of honest labor
In tho great States Of Illinois The
the corn crop of 1889 cost lis far
mers $e,935, ,S22 more Than the crop
was wurlh after it was harvested.
The mortgages on land lots and
chattelS in that State in 1850
we're $2O4 ,46: 1874. ln 1881
they were S4l6,379,u68-an increase
oil Indebtedness 10 seven years ol