The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-01-17

C11 AEItNO "a PACAL IL ANO
b IS been we'll managed. general i'm
prOvements have followed. and this
may well occur around a hundred Car
DINA towns Is in Il Connecticut or
Wisconsin town
HOME AND FARM MORTGAGES.
An Effort to Have the Census Bureau
Undertake Periodically an In
quiry Concerning Them.
/ Three years ago the Western Eco
nomic Association of St. Louis appealed
to the v)yers of the United States to
petition to Congress to have the EIev-
enth-Census show the mortgage in
~debtednesS and tenure of farms and
| homes, the argument being that such
an inquiry would tend to give the ratio
of the distribution Of wealth. The in
vestigaJlOn is~pearly finished, ana IG
will have the percentage OF owned and
rented homes and farms in every city
and county In the United States.
Enough data have already been pub
lIShed TO predict a most startling show
ing Briefly stated, three fourths Of
the city populations live in rented
houses, and III some cities and States 1t
runs as high as ninety per cent Of
the remaining fourth, One half own
their homes, hut under mortgage to
their full credit value; that IS, they
are virtually teuants This means that
under the industrial feudaIism now de-
veioping, seven Fights of our city pop
ulatIOu are liable to be turned out of
work at the end of the week, ami with
their families into the streets at the
end Of the mUutn
The condition of the agriculturiStS Is
but little better. One thlrd Of the
farmers Of the entire country are ten
ants: one third own their farms, but
under mortgage TO their full credit
value; thus rendering them virtually
tenants; and only III third own their
acres free from debt. BY comparison
| with the census of 1886, there hasbeCn
an alarming inCreaS sc III tenant farmers.
In Illinois, for example, the growth
was from "a per cent IN 1880 to Sc per
| cent III 1890; and III Montana il was
ten-fold. In every State IN the Union
the percentage has increased in the
! last decade: and more startling still. IN
nearly every State the absolute as well
as the relative number # farms has
decreased, though the acreage has in
creased, showing the concentration of
farms into fewer hands. and the re
mOrseles5 reduction of the real tIllers
to the condition of serfs. The investi-
cation demonstrates the truth IF the
assertions that the rich are growing
richer and the poor poorer, and that
the American wOrkingmanl Is becoming
the American slave, and the American
farmer the American peasant.
Passing by the causes of this revOlu
| fTNnnr fH1H1.-av ~ - Il - 49,
Importance that this inquiry should be
repeated every ten years, SO that by
comparison we ma di~COver ia which
direction we are moving The inter
rupLed duration Of the Census Bureau
has hitherto made permanent legIsla
ton on this subject impossible, as the
Bureau has existed for only about SIX
years of each decade, every census re.
curing new legislation and a re organ
IL ton with new men. But there is
now before Congress a proposition to
make the Bureau permanent by con
tlnulng SIX or seven heads of depart
ment5 and the necessary staff of
clerks In place during the four inter
Venlng years and employing them on
collateral statistical work, forming an
experienced nucleus around which to
re organize the BIrea u at the beginning
of each decade. 1t is not the creation
Of a new Bureau, but the permanent
continuance of an old and constifu
tiOnal one. There is no doubt that it
will result In better statistical work at
less cost than by the present waste full
and unskilled method. But the gen,
eraI law affecting this reform contains
no provision for a repetition of the
home and farm inquiry" By incor-
pOratIng such a provision now, the in
curry will be permanently established
without any further legislation, and if
a sufficient public demand were made,
such a clause would be inserted in the
bill.
With a vie to evoking such a de-
mand, the Western Economic AssOcla-
ton Of St Louis issues this second an
peal to the people of the United States.
The practical step is for any organized
body to ad opt resolutions of the follow
ing tenor:
WHEREAS, There is now before @ n
gre|s a proposition to place the Census
Bureau on a permanent basis; and
whereas, we believe 1t to be properly
the business of such a bureau to show
the distribution as wei as the prOduc
ton of wealth; therefore be iU by I'm
serG here the name Of the organization
adopting the resolutions and the
lOcality.l
ResolUed, That we favor the perma-
nent establishment of the Census
Bureau, and we request that it shall be
made a part of its permanent duties to
collect data at each d~ecennial period
TO show what percentage of the people
: Of the UniteC States occupy by then
own homes and their own farms, and
what percentage are tenants; and OF