Evening star., 1896-10-31

/ skein silk SIS sds. calico. :..:. 2 80
An item eG credit is found that suggests
the rate Of wages for transient labor in
community of farmers. viz. 'one-half days
work. 25 cshtss In the same region the
cheapest fafIn labor is now 81 per day. and
s1.75 in harvest. With farm labor at 50
cents, one days work would purchase
yard Of calico. Now an hours work in
two yards of calico, If a, farmer needed
garden hoe, he could possibly buy one with
veal at 5 cents per pound at retaiD for
thirty-three pounds of veal, unless the
dealer should deman wholesale rate for
purchase of meats instead Of barter that
promised him no profit. Now a smaller
quantity Of veal would suffice to purchase
a half dozen hoes. The cost of farm imple-
ments, manufactures in iron or steel
crockery and nearly all manufactures is
cheapened in similar proportion, enlarging
the possibilities of comfortable and luxuri-
Gus living to extent that few Of the
present generation can appreciate"
In nothing has the farmer been more
benefited than in the reduction of the cost
of iron and steel.
In 1872 steel rails cost, per ton.......$f12OO
In 1884. 21OD
By this means the railroad, companies
were not only enabled to greatly extend
their lines all over the west, but also to
use heavier rails and cars, and thereby
reduce the rates of freight immensely. AS
stated in the agricultural report of March,
from Chicago to New York had been re-
duced from 30 cents In 1870 to Is cents in
1es9-one-half. That. Of course, added If
teen cents to the price of every bushel of
wheat sold by the farmers of the west.
The freight has been reduced still more
since then, and yet there are people who
grumble a the rate, although two-thirds of
the railroads are in the hands of receiv-
ers, and in 1894, according to the report of
the interstate commerce commission, their
total earnings were $29,O00OO0 less than
their expensesi
Before the advent of railroads the west
ern farmers, on the average. realized only
about half as much for their wheat as did
those of New York and the east. In fact
there was con- paratively no market for it.
except for use at home. My brother-in-
law. living In central Wisconsin, sent a
lead from Waupun to Milwaukee through
the woods, by wagon and four horses,
more than paid the expenses of the man
and team! * F~%c--7
A farmer, writing to the Prairie Farmer
says that when he first, began, raising
hauling It to Chicago through the sloughs
and mud with an OK team, sold 1T for forty
cents b1shel, and took his pay in brown
sugar at fifteen cents pound, and cotton
cloth at thirty cents a yard! --.- '-gf~'
And SC right here in Virginia, when a
free silverite was complaining this sum
cents for his wheat, his old mother said to
him: John. when you, were boy, your
father hauled his wheat all the way to
Alexandria. and got only fifty cents a
busEel, and then paid thirty-seven and
for me-"
I could fill The star with similar illustra-
tions, but what's the use? They are simply
what every intelligent person must admit
If he will only stop B think.
A great ado has been made about farm
mortgages; mo- and yet record s shows that
farmers than any other class of property
holders. AS the Kansas City Times Of a
year ago Well said: b'tAs long as sixty-six
States own thefr farms. more than half
of them without any incumbrance what
ever. IT will not be NECESSARY to waste any
sgmpathy SYN pat over The aSTntrodden n tlers Of
renting population, of seventy-seven out
of 100. while the mGftgages of those who
own cover alm6st h44f their number The
things considersd." And this is fully con-
f1rmed by the American Agriculturist Of
the the present g,as wesk as already published in
Another point thatfis overlooked also is
the improved c5ndition of the hfe of the
farmer and his family. A writer for one
Of our agricultural papers, IN speaking Of
farm life at the present time, says:
And another cause, cause more poten-
tfai than all others, Tor increasing content
ment on the farm Is found in the improved
conditions indoors and out Of doors. Ma
is time for reading and for music, and there
are books and musical instruments. The
farmers and their wives have their full
share in the advantages that have resulted
from advancement in practical science"
AS another has well said:
nShe last fifty years the Improvement
in the home life Of the American farmers
and their families has beer. the most pro-
nounced feature Of our social progress
Invention has done away with most Of the
dreary drudgery of the house and The hard
est labor in the fields The development OF
manufactures and railroads has added BILL
lions to farm values and furnished innu-
merable accessories Of comfort and luxury