Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-09-30
effect ON FARMING.
WHAT A RESUME INSPIRED BY THE
PRESENT CRISIS REVEALS

WHAT A REaUME INSPIRED BY THE
PRESENT CRISIS REVEALS.
The Value Of Farm Products Hes had
Rapidly Declining Tendency Since 1870.
Looking For the Causes Of This Very Un-
satisfactory Condition
When By reason of unfavorable con-
ditions nearly half Of the population is
deprived In whole or in part of Its power
to purchase of the products Of those en-
gagged in manufacturing industries, the
whole commercial and industrial world
suffers from paralysis; the exchanges
become deranged; boarding ensues;
monetary stringency follows; mills, rae
tories and furnaces close; operatives,
ceasing to earn, lose their power to pur-
chase the products Of their own labor
as well as of the labor of others, and the
circle Of declining activity constantly
widens
Such arc the conditions now exist
Ing, and they are largely If not almost
wholly due primarily to the loss OF the
power on the part of some 45 per cent OF
the people to purchase other than the
veriest necessaries-
On tho other hand, whenever this
great multitude of people have large rev.
enues, their purchases are of such vol
ume and the character and quantity
bought so constant that manufacturing
plants are fully employed, and new ones
aro built to meet auginenting demands.
The mill owner buys raw material in ad-
vance of consumption; operatives and
artisans have constant work; the wage
scale being an ascending one, the ability
of tho worker to buy the products OF
his own labor and of the labor of others
is enhanced; money seeks employment
with confidence; the merchants stock
rapidly disappears and is constantly re-
plenished; collections are easy, and, In
short, labor is fully employed, manufac-
turers are oyerrun with orders, money
Is abundant and tines are good.
AS the prices of farm products have
fallen, so has declined the purchasing
power of that body of producers consti-
tuting nearly half the working force of
the nation, and so has waned the pros
perity of all.
At the taking of the census of 1870 SO
per cent of all the males following regu-
lar vocations were engaged in agricul-
ture, and this was approximately the
proportion of the people living upon the
farm, but by 1880, owing to the growth
Of manufactures, the proportion had
been reduced below 40 per cent and Is
now probably about Is per cent.
After the close of the civil war farm
products brought such prices that the %
per cent of the population then directly
dependent upon agriculture had ample
revenue. Their purchases of the prod
ucts of manufacture were so liberal that
many establishments ran night and day.
The mill owner, the producer of raw
material, the merchant and all those
engaged directly and Indirectly In dis
tribution or construction, as well as
those employed In the subsidiary indus
tries, were fully employed at reinunera-
tive rates, the result being an era of
prosperity never eQualed In our history,
as neither before nor since have those
prices for farm products been equaled.
As the power Of the farmer to buy de-
clined, SO has declined measurably the
activity Of the industrial and CONNER
cial world, except as an impulse has
been given to commerce and manufac-
lures by the construction of an immense
railway mileage, often in advance and
excess of local needs. While the de-
yelopment Of transportation facilities
served to mask and postpone some of
the inevitable results due to the farm
er's loss of purchasing power, the almost
entire cessation Of such works tends to
emphasize the loss of that power, which
the farmer exercised in such way as to
cause rapid extension of the industrial
equipment Of the country, until it has
become more than sufficient to meet de-
mands reduced By reason of the loss of
revenue suffered by the greatest body Of
workers in the country.
The nation Is likely never again to
have its economic conditions hidden by
Fictitious prosperity growing out of
great railway constructions, as such
operations are no longer possible, there
being no region, except very limited
southern areas, where expenditures could
be made to appear as promising returns
to tempt the possessors of available
funds.
For more than Is years-1S79 to 1893
all the great primary agricultural sta
pies have been declining In price, al
though there have been periods when
the price of some one was high for linn
tied time. This is more notably true as
respects secondary products, especially
meats and lard, but the trend of the
whole scale has been constantly down
ward, and the general price level ct the
end Of each year was lower than at its
beginning.
While the cost Of production cannot
have been lessened as much as per
cent since 1875, prices for the staple
product Of the farm averaged SO per
cent greater during the five years ending
with 1875 than now. This is especially
true as respects the five staples corn,
wheat, oats, hay and cotton, which en-
ploy 1O5, 100000 out of the 2O6.0OO.OOO
acres now devoted to staple crops.
The following table shows in five year
averages the gold value per acre Gin the
local farm markets) of the product Of
the five staples named for quinquennial
periods since 1866 and an estimate Of the
the value, with average yields, of an acre
under each such staple In 1893 at present
prices:
VALUE OF AN ACRES PRODUCE
1866 ISL 1876 1881 1885 1893
10. rs so. S. 90.
Corn. .Sn.ei 1i.6o a62 1925 SSl as5
Wheat. 80. 1910 ll.e0 la.oD 1890 N01 eco
Oats........ 1882 asl s5S alt 80 sis
Hay........ 1925 1883 LIST 1l.l5 1910 1000
Cotton S3U 2S65 1SG5 13GS 1884 1O65