The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-11-16

satisfactory Condition,
When by reason of unfavorabie 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, fac
tories and furnaces close; operatives,
ceasing to en-, lose their power to pur-
chase the p, cducts 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 thu part of some 45 per cent Of
the people to purchase other than the
veriest necessaries.
On the other hand, whenever this
great multitude of people have large rev.
enues, then. 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.
Tho 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; TIE 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 50
per cent of al The males following regu-
lar vocations were engaged in agricul-
tdre, and this was approximately the
proportion Of tho 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 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-
cined, 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-
velopment 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 shch works tends to
emphasize the loss Of that power, which
the farmer exercised in such a way as to
cause q rapid extension Of the industrial.
equipment Of tbs country, until it has
become more than sufficient to meet de-
mands reduced by reason Of the loss Of
revenue suffered by tho GREATEST body of
workers ia the country.
The nation is lilssly never again to
have it's economic ceaaitions hidden by
Fictitious prosperity growing out Of
great railway constructions, as such
operations are.n longer possible, theirs
being no region, except very limited
southern areas, where expenditures cou;d
be made to appear as promising returns
to tempt ffIs rossessorg Of available
funds.
For moro than 10 years--1S7S to 1898
all the great primary agricultural sta
pies have beer. declining in price, al
though there Rave been periods when
the price Of soIae one was high. for lin
tied time. This is more notably true as
respects secondary products, especially
meats issld lara, but the trend Of the
whole scale, las been constantly down
ward, and the general price level at the
end of eachs5ear was lower thai, at its
beginning.
While the cost Of production cannot
have been 1essened as much az per
cent silsce 1875, prices for the staple
product Of the farm averaged 81 per
cent greater during the five years ending
with 1875 than now. This'is especially
true as respects tie FIVE STAPLES corn,
wheat oats, hay and cotton, which en-
ploy 1G5,0o0.o00 out Of the 10000, 600
acres How devoted to staple crops.
The following table shows in five year
averages the gold value per ACRE lin the
local farm markets) Of tie product Of
the five staplesnamed for quinquennial
pericds since 1866 and an estimate of the
the falue, with average Yields. of an acre