Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1892-06-08

ing estimate every available item Tor
market Ii accounted for, the Quantities
given as sold Of each item, being the Of
fetal figures a. given by the secretary
of the state board of agriculture In his
official report for the year ending De-
eembsr 81, 1891. The total estimate q
gross amount Of products sold varies
from Mr.. Mohler's estimate a. given 10
the press and to Bradstreet's CONNER
eial agency in July. 1891, In the sum Of
only $500, o,54S, his estimate having been
900. 900. $50.
This includes butter, eggs and poul-
try, garden sass" wood, and eyery-
thing that could possibly be thought of
as q possibly available asset in the
hands of the farmers of Kansas The
prices given for the leading staples arc
also very liberal, and IL L. very doubt
ful If such prices were realized, taking
the average of the whole state. And
yet when it is all counted, we have
for each agricultural family the
paltry sum Of $500, or $5.as DOR
month for each member; or ss6. e5
per month for each family. Out of this
insignificant remuneration there is vet
to be deducted a sinking fund for the
repair of and final replacement of the
buildings, fencing, work animals. ma,
chinery, tools and implements. which
cannot by any means be estimated at
less than 10 per cent. of the first cost.
upon everything but buildings, and
even upon buildings we find that insur.
ance companies, in settling losses, figure
10per cent. depreciation per ann um upon
frames Horses, available for use at the
age of years, at the age of IA would
be superannuated and useless. Farm
machinery, II we'll housed, may posi-.
bly, last ten (1o) years, but even then
10 per cont sinking fund will not
moro than keep up repairs and buy new
machinery as the old becomes useless.
From the Indiana Farmer dip a. fol.
lows
'Mr. Meader's estimate of ten wear,
for a hou sed binder is all right, but he
has certainly overesti mated 1t in max.
ing it last five years if unhoused. AZ
the end of three years 1t would only be
worth the price Of the old iron. 4
binder that costs $1e5, II unhoused. ~
loss minus the use Of it"
Assuming then that the average value
OF the buildings, fencing, work stock,
machinery and implements, upon our
hypothetical average farm of 1s5 acres,
is only $s00-we have the sum of $50 per
annum which the farmer must save and
lay by, unless he expects to sooner or
later to quit the business for lack
OF working capital This leaves us the
sum OF s24o to the family, available for
furniture, groceries, clothing, Doctor
b1lls and medicine, school books and
literature, fuel, and the thousand and
one items which enter, or should enter,
into the daily necessities Of Q family.
Just think Of it-s9o per month for
each family Of Ave psrsonsl But II the
Kansas farmer receives any economic
rent, or interest upon the value Of his
bare land, his paltry wages, as shown
In the above estimate. must be stiN
further reduced In the sum Of ses.T rs, OF
8 per cent, upon 125 acres Of land at aiS
per acre And this amount would bs
the single tax which he must pay under
that system. II is conceded, however
that as an offset, he would escape the
payment Of e2A75 direct taxes,
and also the sum Of about $50 which he
pays as tariff and shifted direct (7) taxes
upon the groceries and clt thing, etc,
which he buys, so that the single tax
would worst him in the sum Of &so A
critic OF mine, writing TO tho Cincinnati
Golden Rule, thus sets forth the greet
benefits to be derived by the farmer
from the single tax: ?.
The single tax would bensAi the
farmer by forcing dle land into usa,
increasing production, and employing
surplus labor. thus causing a greater
demand for food products"
This instead Of bsnefiting the farmer
would injure him. Whyq
Ftrst-Those who went to farming
these idle lands would thereafter pro-
duce their own farm products, and thus
the number Of the present farmers'
customers would be decreased, not In
creased
Second-Ths yell is now continually
raised of "overproduotion," " and II doos
seem as though the more the present
number of farmers raised the less they
got for 1t. Each additional acre of land
PAs 49, W SuASAN6StOA "Ou1o luCIC68G L0O
exporting surplus of farm products.-
George G. Ward. in Topeka (Kan) Ad-
vocste.
TEXAS TALK.
The Fort Worth 0azsste Forced To Adum
That tho Alliance Farmers Are JoinIn0
the Peoples Party.
The Fort Worth Gazette, a democratic
organ, Is forced to admit that the slli-
ance farmers are all going into the poo
pies party, and that the new movement
is pushed with an energy and systsm
hitherto unknown to our politics" Il
continues: ut is madness to deny this
menace, or TO treat 1t as another
greenback craze, to vanish as rapidly -
1t came. It is a movement with largo
energies to push 1t, and with undis-
closed resources to back 1t. It is using
with no little effect the treacherous
course Of congress upon the financial
issue, and the seeming indorsement
by the legislature of Mr. Mills.
views on the subject Leading
southern senators, including Mr.. Coke,
have openly expressed the opinion that
the democratic party is likely TO lose