The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-06-19
DEPRESSION IN FARMING IN ENG
LAND

Said Mr.. Depew in his address ut the
University OF Virginia: sixty per cent.
of tie accumulated capital OF the worm
has been wiped out by the inventions anu
discoveries of the past. fifty years III
nothing is this depreciation more aPpd-
rent than the cheapness Of food proauc's'
which is due to the improved methous
of preparation of the raw cereals 1or
food and the vast areas Of rich soil when
rapid and easy transportation mas openeu
up to successful cultivation.
The rich prairies of the West the great
plains of Southern Russia and the virgin
fields of the Argentine Republic have all
been brought into active competition win
the hitherto agricultural centres Of the
world.
Our farmers here have suffered, and
suffered severely; but compare their suf-
ferings with those of the English farmer,
as set forth in the London Graphic Of
June %. Says the Graphic:
Mr.. Hunter Pringles report on the agrl-
cultural condition Of Essex IS gloomy
reading indeed. The present year Will,
says MIR. Pringle, in summing up the
situation, witness a downfall more disas-
trous in It's consequences than any
stranger to Essex could possibly appre-
bend. If three-fourths of the farmers
who served notice to quit in 1894 act upon
them thousands of acres will be left
tenantless, and it requires a stretch of
Imagination more than / can make 10
suppose that any new tenants VIII be
found" one has but TO glance at the
map appended to the report which, with
the waste land in the country marked
x1-ft ert-ffr, fnh
effect Of some horrible black death on
human body. in order to realize the full
extent of the evil. The decay of agricul-
ture in Essex began after the year 1879.
and II has been advancing by leaps and
bounds ever since. Since that unfOrtu-
been given up. and the land which Mr..
John Morley. in one Of those odd bursts
Of lyrical enthusiasm of his, once prOphe-
sled of destined 10 be waving with golden
grain, has been left 10 run to weed and
waste. Landlords. tenants and agricul-
turai laborers have. Of course, been suf-
fering with annually increasing severity.
and now the terrible drought OF '93 has
brought matters to a climax. The low
price of prOduce-anH the heavy Essex
clay can only be made TO bear remunera-
tive crops when prices are tolerably high
combined with the increased price Of
labor, has broken the back Of the farmer.
That, too. has come TO pass In spite Of
reductions in rent so enormous that the
figures read more like extracts from
Monte Cristo than the sober statistics OF
the Blue Book. And this is the state Of
affairs nj a time when n Chancellor Of
the Exchenuer blandly proposes 10 lay
heavier burdens on the landed property
The cruel Injustice. as well as the hone
less folly. Of the Radical attack upon the
landed interest Is demonstrated with con-
vincing force by Mr.. Pringle's exposure
OF the condition Of the land in Essex.
What a vivid picture we have here of
the extremes TO which the landholder and
the tenant have been driven by the COM
petition from these other countries. whose
natural resources are greater. Yet from
Essex there comes no cry that gold is
cause Of the cheapness Of the wheat. and
that free silver and fat money will enable
the English farmer in sticky clay on
wornout lands to compete successfully
with far superior advantages.
1t Is hard on the farmer, beyond doubt
but the English lesson is one that might
well be laid to heart by our Populist agi-
tators, that the farmer of Essex Is going
TO give up farming there and turn his
hand to something else.