Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-03-12
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
THE PEOPLES "SUPERB CONDI-
TlOE"

few months ago Mr.. Chauncey NJ
DeFev, while hobnobbing with other
naf,obs in Europe, publicly declared that
the condition of the American people is
superb From the standpoint OF
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 I'D try to find out how
people live. what are their resources,
their prospects. their opportunities.
their struggles for existence. With the
railroad kings. the Wall street gam lers,
and the great land .nonopolists, the con-
ditior is generally superb" But how is
il 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 a 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 starr .tion 1T bay,
and whose best efforts wing results
only sufficient to prevent sham 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-
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
land of prosperity there is misery; in
land of glittering wealth there is pinch
ing poverty; in a 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
class whose interests are at the bottom
of all national prosperity? \ 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 S235, 900, 900;
those of Indiana, 500, 100000; of Iowa.
1857, 200, 900; of Michigan, $500, 900, 600;
of Ohio, 81, 431, 900, 900. At 6 per cent,
$500, 900, 900 would be required to pay
the interest on these mortgages, as the
total in the five States is So, 431, 600, 600
By little figuring l find that this
grand total of mortgage Indebtedness on
farm property in only five States exceeds
by S1,S46, 100000 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 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 a farmer,
says the depreciation of the same kind
of property in his State, in the past ten
years, aggregates $50, 900, 900. The
tenth census showed that the United
States contained one million and TWEEN
ty-fve thousand tenant farmers; and
surely the number has increased rather
than decreased since 1880. Hugh Nc
Cullough, 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 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 CT wealthy landlords,
greedy spectators and grasping syndi-
Gates. The Schenley estate owns 1000
acres within the limits of Pittsburgh
and Allegheny cities, from which the
heirs draw $1,000, 900 rent annually.
Vanderbilt owns 2, 600, 900 acres, Murphy,
of California, 100000 equal in area to
the State of Massachusetts,; Disston, of
Pennsylvania, 1000, 900; the Standard
Oil Company, 1000, 1000, and railroad
companies own 80, 100000. Then there
are 100000 owned by foreign noble
men, who are not citizens of the United
States, owe no allegiance to our gov
eminent and spend their money else
where. A striking instance of this
kind is Lord Scully, of Ireland. who
owns according to our 1aws) 10000
acres of farm lands in Illinois. These
lands he parcels out to small tenants,
who work like slaves for bare living,
and turn over the bulk of their earn
ings to their foreign landlord, his in
come from that source being $500, 900
the United States owned 43 per cent. of
the wealth; in 1870, SO per cent; in 1880,
only 20 per cent; in 1S90-don't men
ton it! More land is owned by railroad
companies than would make six States
as large as Iowa. Since 1861 no less
than 1S1, 000 900 acres of land have been
given to railroad companies-of which
the Illinois Central got a subsidy of
2. 500, 900 acres. Facts like these could
be multiplied almost indefinitely, but
enough have been presented to show
what a superb condition" the Amer
lean farmers are in, and why they are