The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1893-05-24
A CHAPTER ON THE SUBJECT OF
PROSPERITY,


leVe is prevalent IN our land.
No doubt the reader Of daily papers
has noticed the advertised prosperity
that exists, and the excellent conditions
of the people; and lastly, how the banks
of the country are going to the wall at a
rapid rate, until within the last forty
days some sixty-fve banks have sue
cnmbed to the inevitable monetary sys-
tenn of the gold-bugs. The daily papers
of May Is gave to the public the news
that twenty-five banks failed in one day,
aggregating a loss Of 100000. The
majority of these banks were under the
thumbs of the large banks Of the east,
and they were forced to the wall on ac-
count, as they say, OF "stringency in
the money market"
l wish to call your attention to the re-
port OF superintendent Of banks and
trust companies Of New York, for 1889.
Turn to pages 80 to 36 inclusive and you
will find, in speaking about the advan-
tages of western farm loans, he says:
"When it is considered that most of the
farming districts from Minnesota to Texas
are already heavily burdened with mort
cages bearing interest at a rate from to II
per cent. per snnum, it will be difficult to
realize golden harvest, as is 80 extern
sively advertised throughout the eastern
states.
"The state of Kansas, for instance, whose
farming land is said to be the finest in
the whole country, and whose mortgage
companies are represented in every city in
the east, furnishes striking example Of the
fallaoy of the So called guaranteed prlDoi-
pal and interest of western farm mortgage
loans.
ga recent inquiry into the condition of
western farmers has elioited the remark
able statement that the whole Of central
and western Kansas is covered with mort
cages, and at least 5000 farms have been
abandoned, owing to the inability Of the
mortgagors to meet their obligations, and
no immediate prospect exists of being able
to do 80. In many instances the farmers do
not realize enough from their industry suffi-
oient to pay interest on the mortgages, not
to mention the principal.
"Reports come from farms situated in
central Kansas to the effect that the corn crop
gathered last year (1888) was only One-tenth
of the normal average yield, and as corn
is the staple production of chat section,
difficulties with which the farmer is obliged
to contend, whose holding is burdened with
a mortgage, can be more easily imagined
than described, especially when it is con-
sidered that out Of tenth part of an ordi-
nary harvest he must make provision for
the support of his family, the payment Of
taxes, and the interest on the mortgage
Bankruptcy ls staring hundreds
of them in the face, and many Of them have
decided to fight no. longer"
How will the demo-republican pluto
cratic press answer the above descrip-
ton? The vivid outlines Of the above
report come from q man who is not q
Populist, but plutocrstic superintend'
ent Of banks and trust companies OF
New York. Is it a calamity how'll Bear
in mind this report was made March II,
1889,-some time before the political
revolution struck Kansas. POpulist
speakers and editors have been and
are called calamity howlers for even in
timsting the half of what the above re-
port describes. Concluding the report,
he says:
"With the failure Of crops the interest on