Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-05-22


All indications point to an unusual
degree Of prosperity OF farmers. Pseudo
statisticians have cudgcled their brains
to prove from statistics the irrevocabiy
downward tendency Of prices and profits
and rural prosperity. Others, possessed
Of q desire to find = crumb Of comfort
for \ despairing class. have sought 70
distort facts to show that the limit OF all
farm production is near, and the future
consequently reseaie with glowing
results Of high prices and large profits;
and, further. that the only chance for
future prosperity is thus hinged on the
firm belief that the doubling OF our pop
ulation would be nearly equivalent to
prospective starvation.
The Western prices Of corn and oats
are more than a hundred per cent.
higher than they were IL months ago.
wheat and meats very much advanced,
and an upward movement in nearly all
rural values, those Of lands included,
has already commenced, in spite of the
fact that there has been no reduction OF
area planted, no dead line Of limitation
to rural exploitation found.
The forces Of nature and the revolu-
lions of time and circumstance have
worked beneficent change. First, q
bad season cut down the crops Of corn
and oats. and eliminated q surplus that
had reduced prices below the cost Of
production. Next, two years of under
average wheat production of the world
have reduced stocks and advanced prices,
while the unfavorable foreign advices of
| the present season. coupled with the
high prospect in this country, render 1t
probable that our surplus Of the present
crop will be large and prices high. Fl
n4lly, the prices of all meats, as was
indicated in the Statistieian's Report for
January. have materially advanced, as
also those of the different grades OF
beeves. Chicago prices. as compared
with last year, are as follows:
Choice to Good to Common
| Date. fancy. choice to fair. Texans
Apes - 7oa65e q eoa5 90 q soa4 30 o. ooa5 2;
Apr $3.50. 4.6osi.5o 3.sos45o s,25as.6o 2.2Ss3.At
Here is an advance in IL months of q
per cent. for choice beeves, 32 for good
to choiee, 32 for common. and 81 fol
Texans. This results simply from re-
| duction of numbers by the severity OF
winter mortality. the heavy shipments Of
which depleted the herds. and the mar
keting Of cows induced by necessity OF
disgust with an Improbable business
There was an excessive production and
natural cure which for time made
prices lower. These fluctuations in agri.
cultural prosperity are inevitable, and
they are intensified by inequality Of dis
tribution, which might be partially
avoided by wise forecast.
| Everywhere hopeful feeling is voiced
in our official correspondence. A letter
| Just received from a veteran observer
says: ";he agricultural prospect Ii
certainly encouraging, and the genera
aspect as compared with several years
past is more than encouraging" He
says that bluegrass pastures are being
broken up fer corn planting in Illinois
and that land is in great demand; that
the old rule of two fifths to the land.
owner and three-fifths TO the tenant is
going out of existence, land being rent
ed at half to each; in some cases with d
dollar per acre rent additional to the
owner. In one case, half the crop and
SO 50 per acre were offered for thou
| sand acres.
He instances a case illustrating the
advance 10 prices of beeves. On one
farm are $50 steers fattening that
cost So per hundred last fall
which could now be sold for August de
livery at Sc per hundred, with prob.
able average gain of 800 pounds in flesh
More than $4,000 for grass and care
ought to cure considerable amount OF
depression in agriculture. The same
farm was stocked with feeders in 1855
at $40 per hundred, which sold al
1915 in the very midst of an area of dis.
couragement, which is rapidly passing
away.
These indications of marked improve.
ment are stimulating demand for farm
lands and advancing the offerings as
rent and also the price of land. A high
agricultural authority in Iowa estimates
the advance in that state at SO per acre
1t is confidently believed that farm
lands generally now promise to be good
investments at present prices.
| lf now imprudent settlers on the des.
ert areas could be relieved from the
disabilities induced by their overcon-
fidence in the abiding resources of the
"rain belt" in the absence OF irrigation,
there would be little cause for discOur
agement in the present aspects of agri.
culture in the United States.-Monthly
Report of the U. S. Department of Agri.
culture for Nav.