Telegram-herald., 1891-05-17
OUR FARMERS NEED
M Congressman Cutcheon Ably
Discusses Farm Mortgage
ElsTERsys wEsIERsflRNP PRODUCE
Tbs sssmss Shoes 10 be Gssstss ~ nisid
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Consumer q. Freaussr- fssteettss
Fstsetriss Foster % sans - arksts.

To the TusGaAs HEsAtD.
One OF the questions constantly re-
pcated by the press and from the plat
form is w hat can be done or ought TO
be done. to increase the property OF
the fxrmersy''
We have for years heard the charge
rung upon the subject Of farm mort
cages; and We hear OF demands that
the Government shall assume paternai
charge OF the farmers, erect great ware
houses or sub-treasuries'' in each eoun-
~: become the purchaser of the farm
ers' crops At price TO be fixed and
regulated IN some unknown way. when
the open market has ceased TO exist,
and, from the produce so purchased,
advance 10 the farmers ninety per cent
of it's value until the agents OF the gov
eminent sha 1 realize from the sale of
the crops so deposited. Other schemes
are advanced for the loan by the gov
eminent to the farmers, upon land
security, of such amounts as they may
require to take up their debts. at two
or even one per cent per annnm. Why
the farmers should be selected as the
only class requiring this kind of pater-
nal guardianship does not clearly ap-
pear. But whatever the supposed
cause il seems that the census of 1870
is likely to let a good deal Of light in
upon the farm mortgage question.
Already sufficient facts are coming in
to show that the cry about farm mort
gage Indebtedness is largely ground.
less.
Iowa's Mortgage Debts.
Iowa was one Of hose States that was
said TO be mortgaged to nearly its en-
tire value. The returns of mortgages
in Iowa are now complete. and they
show that less than ten per cent of the
real estate Of Iowa is mortgagcd. and
that ninety per cent of the mortgages
are given to secure the purchase price
of the same or other real estate. As
Hon. J.,P. Dolliver, Iowa's brilliant
young orator, said recently in his New
York speech: sour debt stands for our
investments and not for our losses; for
our prosperity and not for our power
ty." There is another thing that is not
sufficiently noticed. 1t is always "the
Western farmer" that is in desperate
want and hopeless debt. Buy why the
Western farmer rather than the East
ern farmer? We have heard no despair
ing complaints from the Eastern farm
er; and yet it Is generally supposed
that the West is the rich farming coun-
try, where if you tickle the soil with
hoe il will laugh with a harvest" NY
attention has just been drawn to this
matter by an album of Agricultural
Graphics," recently received from the
Agricultural Department, showing the
yield per acre or seven leading farm
crops tbesidc tobacco, cotton and hay,
and the average value per acre OF the
crop for q period of ten years.
Yield and Value Per Acre.
These graphics con ist Of maps of the
United States, each state printed in
collars to indicate at glance the
average value per acre of each crop,
with discs or circles printed upon them
| In different colors TO indicate the
| average yield per acre. The states are
divided into five glasses, both as to yield
| and as to value and as | turned over
map after map l was struck with
wonder to observe where the greatest
yield and the greatest value per acre
| was located. OF course we might learn
the same facts by the careful study of
| cold black and white table of figures,
but it ie not so impressive as the coiored
map, at least not TO me. The first map
is devoted to corn. The map shows at
q glance that every New England state
belongs in the highest class as to both
yield and as TO value per acre. Penn
sylvania, Ohio, Iowa and Nebraska
all being in the first class as TO yield,
but Pennsylvania is in the second class
| as to value. Ohio in the third, Iowa in
| the fourth and Nebraska in the fifth.
Michigan Is in the second in yield and
third in value.
| Wheat and Oats States.
Turning now 10 the wheat map.
| emitting the states west of the Rocky
Mountains, whose situation Is excep-
tional. We see at y glance that Maine,
Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecti-
cut constitute the fret class In yield
New Hampshire, New York and Michi-
gan constitute the second class, while
the New England States alone consti-
tute the first class in value per acre.
Michigan is IN the second class as to
both yield and value.
we turn now TO the map of the oat
crop. and We find the first class in yield
10 CONSIST of New Hampshire, Vermont.
Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. The
second class in yield embraces Maine,
Massachusetts,, Connecticut. New York,
Pennsylvania, Kansas and Nebraska,
but Michigan is in the third in value,
Kansas IN the fourth. and Nebraska in
the fifth. New Hampshire and Yer
mont alone constitute the FIRST class az
to value. Next comes rye, with Yer
mont, Massachusetts,, Illinois, Mime
l n Il Ill A.
class as TO yield, bat Illinois. MInnesots
and Dakota are oil IN the third ciass O.
to value. while Kansas falls into the
fourth class. Maine. Vermont and
Maesschusett constitute the first class
as 10 value, while New Hampshire,
Connecticut. and Rhode Island make
4 80. ~ so~s~A rfn a a..