Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-01-24
AFTER THE STORM.

AoohibS ooCh w loJt 10 llhc lOOklnR
at road strewn with wrecks. He who
visits the path of a tornado Tor So
called cyclone) always sees things
which he would consider impossible if
he had not seen them. The destruc-
ton of the tirmest structures, the
twisting of heavy irons into fantastic
shapes, the rending to atoms of the
strongest handiwOrk of man and yet
the sparing unbrOken of a setting of
eggs and saving unframed of u tender
infaLt, and scores of seemingly mircu-
lous escapes amid the evidences of de-
struction by forces inconceivably
powerful, strike the beholder with awe.
What then must be the feelings of
those who were in the path of the tor
nado! a..
So with the financial storms of 1894.
Business men are not yet out of the
tolls. They are still in the snare of
the fowler and would be glad to escape.
Prices have lowered and there is but
faint hope that they can sell goods on
hand for cost. Those with unlimited
capital can charge the shrinkage to
profit and loss and keep in business.
But many must 60 down, and the sales
of bankrupt stock capture the cash,
and merchants in general see their
patrons leaving them and buying at
slaughter prices elsewhere. This
leaves the regular trade overstocked
and takes the wind out of the sails of
legitimate commerce.
The farmer Jared best of all in this
storm, but he did not come out un-
scathed. The drouth came as a chast.
ening rod. He who drew closest to
the hand that smote and was most
willing to learn the lessons taught, re.
ceived the lesser chastisement and was
the better sustained and soothed. Of
all those who passed through the val
ley of affliction the Iowa farmer had
most of sunshine and of comfort.
Kansas and Nebraska have been
practically forced to acknowledge that
the western half of their domains is
uninhabitable in such years. Many of
the farmers have fled for their lives,
and many are the calls for aid from the
starving ones left behind. Counties
have freely voted aid for their starving
inhabitants, but paper aid will not
feed the hungry, and as farmers can
not pay their taxes the treasures are
like Mother Hubbard's cupboard
barren resort for provisions for the
hungry.
In Ohio and Pennsylvania the farm
ers of many sections have supported
themselves by cutting off timber for
sale. Now their timber is gone, their
source of revenue is gone, and their
bare stony hillsides will grow wheat to
keep them alive, but not sell for
enough money to pay cash expenses.
The south has its trials with cotton
and sugar the cheapest ever known,
and its oranges frozen on the trees.
Iowa has had no calamity. Its pros
perity has been lessened, but not killed.
The grain seller has been most pun
ished, and his attention called to his
duty. The dairyman made money
even last year, not so much as in 1893,
but enough for all family needs and
some to spare.
Compared with the previous year,
the butter production of 1894 fell Off
about ten per cent in this locality Zig
ures for the state are not yet at hand
and the net price Las been about 10 per
cent less. This has cut the net re-
ceipts down to about three.fOurths,
but the weather was SO remarkably
favorable for work that the expense
account was made to partially offset
the loss.
Looking the ground over we can see
hope brightly shining through the riffs
of the clouds and a promise OF truer
life and higher pleasures for 1880,
growing out of the loving ministrations
OF sweet charity and the realization OF
the blessedness of the ministry OF sor-
row.-Rural Life.