The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-09-04

value Of the products OF i've stock wool
clip. butter ana cheese made, End
poultry, eggs ana milk sold ts given
the sane as last year also of white and
sv,eet uotatoes, milIet. and Hungarian.
tame and prairie hay, but the value OF
these products, however, for this year
doubtless will be considerably greater
than last wear. If there is anything
in the declaration that alliance
plans for agricultural sub-treasuries,
for the issuance Of money by
tbe government direct to owners of
homes at one or Two per cent interest.
together with other projects for the
amelioration of the condition of man
kind. that these were the outcome Of
discomfort or misfortune, or both; then,
in view of the agricultural outlook by
the secretary Of the Kansas board of
agricuIture, summarized ia the forego-
ing. the question arises whether the
growth Of the movement is not likely 70
be checked, TO say the least?"
Official statistics should never be
used to prove a condition of prosperity
when they can be Analysed for results
quite the contrary. 1t will not always
do to believe that the reader will not
figure something out for himself For
example, Mr.. POrter's census shows
that the entire population of Kansas
over a year ago was /, 423, 4S5, and had
q u
and It is now safe to put it at
!, 800, 600 Mr.. Walkers census OF eleven
! years ago showed that there were 1885,
5sI farms in Kansas, containing 10, 1885,
/ 500 acres of improved land, and almost
exactly the same amount unimprovel
II the cultivated area has kept pace
with population, now, nearly twelve
years later, the increase has been near
so per cent, or, to bring il to round
mum bers, 200, 600 farms, with 10. GOO, 900
acres i'm proved The fact must be kept
/ in mind that Kansas is an agricultural
state, with a private mortgage debt of
1892, 600, 900, SI7l. O0O 600 of which is on
farms, or over $40 per acre. With thia
statement by way of premise, the Of
fetal figures will sustain the following
propositions:
l. That the gross output of Kansas
farms in a year of exceptional Produc-
ton, and when the grain market is
stimulated by a large foreign demand,
amounts TO but s5.G255 per acre for the
whole area of improved lands.
.. That after one-third is deducted for
necessary outlay for groceries, clothing,
new tools, etc, which would be but
$3.50 for each average farm OF 50 acres,
but s.. 70 per acre, or $500 each, would
remain as the salabIe product of the
farms
3. That the services of at least two
! laborers on the average must have been
required to till, or manage, aud market
/ the product of each farm; that the
wages rate of $3.50 per annum for each
laborer would consume the entire sur
plus, leaving "a great many farmers
wives with nothing but their food and
very little clothes to compensate for
cooking, housekeeping, getting the
/ children off to school and adding to the
saleable product some millions in poul-
| try, eggs, butter and milk.
l. That having reduced the output of
| the farms to zero by these necessary
subtractiOns, it Is not to be forgotten
/ that the live mortgages in the state
amount to about $50 per capita, which,
4 when spread over the farms, would
/ make an average OF something like $3.50
for each family of the distinctively
( agricultural people OF Kansas, or say
/ $3.50, 900, 600, a clearly inside figure, the
interest upon which, say SIS, 900. OCO, is
q deficit at the end of the years trans
actions.
5. That the statement given by Mr.
Mohler, indorsed by Bradstreet's, would
be incredible and discredited, as show
! ing a condition under which no people
could exist, were it not known that
many farmers in the United States real
I ~ give the IaUor or their lives rOr sim
| pie subsistence, aud, as IN this instance.
use what should be theirs for personal
! compensation to pay taxes and usury,
/ fighting almost against hope in their
/ efforts to keep homes over the heads OF
/ loved ones
! These deductions are fairly made,
and in no instance excessive. To the
/ objection that two labOrers to an
| eighty-acre farm is too much, let it
/ be understood that the rate of wages
is so low that help at harvest and at
| other times seems impossible for less,
1 1t is only by cheating their growing
/ boys Of their lessons and games that
many farmers avoid the hiring of help.
/ BY this resort the family. owning a
home and out of debt might enjoy an
/ ideal income from the fathers labor of
a dollar Tor each working day-but the
roast beef of the old agitators would
still be lacking. There is no margin
/ for reduction of mOrtgaged debt and
/ it is only by discrediting Mr.. Mohler's
! estimates as too low that ray of hope
/ is permitted to enter and cheer the
home of the average Kansas farmer
/ National Economist