Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-09-04
LOSSES TO FARMERS
WHAT THE FINANCIAL DEPRESSION
MEANT TO THEM. M.
Growing States $3.50, 976. 944-The
Cause of this Financial Depres-
sion Was the silver 10 to De-
lusion-Est9blish Good Money and
Prosperity VIII Return to All
Branches. of Industry.

S~AS
grain growing states Of the upper
mississippi valley, Ohio. Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Mime
sofa, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Mis-.
;souri. The center of power now lies In
this section. }
The area of these states Is 6O5,S5O
square miles and they now produce
over 70 per cent. Of the corn, wheat
and oats of the nation.
In 1862 q large portion Of these states
was unorganized territory as yet un-
touched by the plough. Only six and
half per cent, 24,OOO,OOO acres, was in
corn, wheat and oats. In 1891 q little
over 20 per cent, over SO,OO0,O00 acres,
yielded 100000 tons which at $15.S3
per ton farm value brought to farmers
within fraction of $92O,OOO,O OO. The
value per ton had fallen from $24S3 In
1881, but was equal to that in 1871.
when it was 1851. 1t was worth per
ton more than in 1862, value then
SLAP, all on a gold basis. Facts from
advanced sheets of a report Of L. G.
Powers, Chief Of Bureau Of Statistics
Minnesota.)
1t is manifest that the changes in the
coinage act of 1873 had not changed
the conditions materially, unless to bet
ter them, because the highest returns
for grain ever secured had been In
1881, eight years after silver is said to
have been demonetized. In the year
1881 short crops Of wheat in Europe
brought an export equal to barrel OF
-four year for forty million people
nearly as many as were supplied at
home.
Nearly all of these farms We're either
under mortgage In 1862 or they have
been bought and put under cultivation
since that year with money borrowed
on mortgage. From 1891 to 1 S9o more
than two-thirds outside districts were
free Of any mortgage on the land and
were well stocked.
There was no great change in the
general conditions in this period. The
year 1892 was one of general activity
in business and Of general prosperity
in all sections Of t..e country. A
change in the protective features In the
tariff was made in 1893 L.. which wool
was put in the free list; but except In
Ohio wool has not been a product of
any moment in any of those states and
in Ohio itself the annual value Of the
wool is less than the value Of hens
eggs annually produced.
There are very extensive manufac-
turers in these states but to the extent
Of at least 95 to 81 per cent they are
of goo6s and wares that cannot be i'm
ported from foreign countries. Acc0 a.
ing to the census classlticat1on OF ma III
facturers, which included Touring 4 Ills
f00f0rSn0
creameries, their manufactures are
very largely exported.
Yet between 1891 and 1895 something
happened which has reduced the value
of the grain crop from 1883 per ton
to $9.42 or from a farm value Of $685.
741, 3O4 to $531, 764 800, making DIFF
ference to the farmers of $3S6,976,044.
The crops Of corn. wheat and oats Of
those ten states in 1891 and 1906 were
as follows:
1s31-Ac-es, So,O3S. las; bushels. q
O75, 785 900; tons, 58,039, 56S; farm
value, s91S,741, 3O4; vs per ton,
$15.es. lSO5-Acres, az. .Jq517; BUSH
els. 2,2lS. 6S6,433: tons, 56,479, AIS; farm
value, $531.764, 800; value per ton,
1912.
What do these figures mean? Per-
haps an object lesson will show.
In 1892 the farmer averaged for lis
grain crop 1883 FER ton; 1895, $o.<l;
loss, $0.41.
At a LOGS Of $O.41 the cost Of f1nan-
cial depression to tue farmers Of the
grain RrowiEg states was 1885, 970, ga.
What caused financial depression7
All the national conditions OF 1895
were as conducive to activity and pros
perity as in 1891 and 1892. Prosperity
exists when the distribution Of all
products IL regular and continuous.
That means steady consumption for
the SUPPORT Of life, to which about 30
per cent Of each years product 10 de-
voted, and en-. equally regular con
sumption for the increase of capital in
improvements upon land. In the con-
struction Of railways, factories. work
shops and new buildings, to which 10
per cent of or product may be usually
applied. The traffic or exchange for
the support Of life must 60 ON, but
when constructive enterprise is
stopped, products pile UP In excess Of
s to 10 per cent, prices fall very low,
while all over the country workmen
who need 'cse products stand idle
There ere now 24,0oO,OO0 men,
women and children occupied for gain
In all the arts on which life depends.
If constructive enterprise Is paralyzed,
as it has been and only 8 per cent are
idle. that 'nea1s 1.2OO.OOO men out Of
work and -.eArly A.. "ole SUI
fering want, while the --'ould
CONSUME chokes the farms ', i un-
salable products. If 10 per cent are
idle, 2,4O0, 900 need work and 1920, 900
people suffer want while the food rots
and wastes In the farmers bins.
The curse Of bad money is upon us,
and millions are now suffering for the
want of the very products which can
not he sold at cost upon the farms.
Establish good money and the
change would come with such GER
tainty and rapidity that men would
wonder at their own folly in so long
submitting to the demands Of those
who have put this curse Of bad money
upon them.
What the farmers are trying to ind
out is what did happen in that period
between 1892 and 1895, each being
very conscious of the loss to himself.
In 1898 there was sudden financial
panic, widespread discredit, an in
dustrial paralysis and almost COM
plete stop to ell constructive enter
nrises having reference to tho futuro