Connecticut western news., 1893-09-28
EFFECT ON FARMING.
WHAT A RESUME INSPIRED BY THE PRESENT CRISIS REVEALS.

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; hoarding ensues; monetary stringency follows; mills, fac 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 are 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. .-.a
 On the 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 are built to meet augmenting 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 the 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 overrun with orders, money is abundant and times 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 52 per cent of all the males following regu- lar vacations 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 49 per cent and is now probably about 45 per cent. After the close of the civil war farm products brought such prices that the52 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 remunera- 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 l activity of the industrial and commer- | 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- | velopment of transportation facilities i served to mask and postpone some of the inevitable results due to the farm CTS 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 it's economic conditions hidden by fictitious prosperity growing out of i 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 15 years-1878 to 1893-
 all the great primary agricultural std
 ples have been declining in price, al- | though there have been periods when | the price of some one was high for a linn ited 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 at the end of each year was lower than at its
 beginning.
 While the cost of production cannot
 have been lessened as much as 5 per
 cent since 1875, prices for the staple
 product of the farm averaged 82 per cent greater during the five years ending l with 1875 than now. This is especially
 true as respects the five staples corn,