The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-06-21
A FARMERS SOUND SENSE.

MORAN, Kansas, June 10, 1895.
EDITOR REGISTER: l find that we
are very apt to think the last cold
snap the coolest, the last dry spell
the longest, and the present time the
hardest that we have ever known.
We are apt to forget how things have
been heretofore, AS the majority of
voters of today have reached their
majority since the close of the war
and many of the older ones have for
gotten, l will try and give you, from
memory, few prices that we had to
pay for the necessities of life and also
a few of the prices that We (as farm
ers) received for our produce and la
Dor. These prices are all from men,
DRY and, while they may seem inn
possible to many, yet L can assure
you that they are not the highest that
were paid, but have tried as far as l
can to make an average of the prices
during the years of ga and 5.
During the fall and winter of '65 |
paid in the city of Chicago, S45 for a
suit of ] cotton clothing. A suit as
good can be bought today for s. or 50.
Ten dollars for a pair of common kip
boots, SIG for pair of fine ones, and
$50 for shoddy overcoat, that had
to be careful of in order to make it
last me one winter, 81 suit for knit
underwear and IS cents a pair for
socks that l could only wear one
week. l also paid Sl25 pair for
home knit wooden socks, $3.50 for
gloves and other things in proportion.
For coffee we had to pay about go
cents, calico was 30 cents, muslin 60
so cents. Fair flannel from 81 to Sl.75
per yard.
There was no coffee and but very
little tea used by the farmers, because
they could not afford it, but the SUBJ
stitutes were many. There were no
organs in farmers houses those times
and l do not know of a farmer in cur
locality who owned buggy, neither
did any of the farmers sons carry
watches. Those were the times when
people complained that you took
your money to town in basket and
carried your goods home in your
pocket.
But have not given you any of the
other side of the question. Wheat
rose at one time to near 50 l think,
but the averi ge price was about S2.35.
remember distinctly of parties get
ting $40. Wool was $3.50, corn
about rs cents, fat hogs 124 cents and
sorghum syrup 50 cents, which was
used in place of sugar to great ex-
tent. Z ggs were about 20 cents and
butter ranged from 10 to 80 cents.
Coal oil was so cents per gallon and
common glass lamps 1.25 to $50
apiece.
1 received for my labor, S25 per
month for spring, summer and fall
anu ~ IcI DlOHlH lOI thO "ihtCl
and after we had clothed
ourselves up for the winter there was
but a small amount left for us to spend
for lCxuries. 1t kept us busy to get
the necessities of life. The usual
price per day for farm hands was
sl.5O, in haying time g and in har-
vest $3.50 aud 1 have known of few
cases where they received as high as
3 for few days.
This was in Illinois when they had
The credit of paying the highest wag-
IS of any state in the Union.
Now the advocates of free silver are
citing US to those good
lines We had at the close of the war,
lnder an inflated currency, and they
llso claim if we had more money, no
Inference how we get 1t, we would
nave better times, but having passed
one trial of it, do not feel as