The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-05-16
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.


THE PEOPLES "SUPERB CONDI-
TlON."
A few months ago Mr.. Chauncey NJ.
Depew, while hobnobbing with other
nabobs in Europe, publicly declared that
the condition of the American people 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 trees.
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 how is
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. ! 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, 900, 900 persons to
the square mile are crowded into tene-
ments and compelled to exist in condi-
tons 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 a land of
plenty there is. want; in 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 q
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 superb condition" of the American
farmers.
The Bankers Magazine is authority
for the statement that the farm mort
cages of Kansas amount to $685., O00, 900;
those of Indiana, 500, 600, 600; of Iowa,
$780,, 900, 600; of Michigan, $500, 000, 600;
of Ohio, 81, 431, 200, 900. At per cent,
soc, 600, 900 would be required to pay
the interest on these mortgages, rs the
total in the five States is s., 4sl, 0OO, 900.
By little figuring I find that this
grand total of mortgage indebtedness ON
farm property in only five States exceeds
by 1,s46, 000, 900 the entire national
debt, principal and interest, as
reported at the close of the fiscal year
ending the 30th of last June. What
superb condition." and what a glori-
Gus outlook for the farmers of those
States! And their circumstances are
fair sample of what prevails in nearly
all the other agricultural States. Sta
tistics of the agricultural bureau of
Illinois show decrease in the value of
farms and farm property in that State
during the past year of $4,000, 900. Gov
ernor Campbell, Ohio, who is farmer,
says the depreciation of the same kind
Of property in his State, in the past ten
years, aggregates $50, 600, 900. The
tenth census showed that the United
States contained one million and twen-
ty-five thousand tenant farmers; and
surely the number has increased rather
than decreased since 1880. Hugh Nc
the great Republican finan-
cier, who was Secretary of the Treas
ury under two administrations, declares
that while rents in cities and large
towns are steadily increasing, agricul- |
ture has become SO depressed that good |
farms offer no inducements to tenants |
to hire them at rental of 6 per cent |
On one-third of their assessed value.
An in this connection it is pertinent |
TO inquire, who owns and controls most |
Of the available land which rightfully |
belongs to all the people? Largely it
is in the hands of wealthy landlords,
greedy spectators and grasping syndi-
Gates. The Schenley estate owns 1900 !
acres within the limits of Pittsburgh |
and Allegheny cities, from which the |
heirs draw $1,000, 900 rent annually. |
Vanderbilt owns z, 900. 900 acres, Murphy. |
Of California, 100000 (equal in area to |
The State of Massachusetts,; Disston, Of |
1900, 600; the Standard |
Dill Company, 1,000,0 900, and railroad |
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