The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-04-01
Hard Times for Farmers.

rlCulture. LII ID greater at the west
than in New England; but, as things
are, many of our farmers find it increas-
ingly difficult to keep out of debt.
Apropos to this we present our readers
with the following editorial utterance
from the Ohio Farmer. 1t is good ad-
vice for others besides farmers:
This story is told of a thrifty old
Scotch farmer, nearing his death.
Accusing from bis stupor he said to his
son, who was to take his place on the
farm, Andy, mon, niver rim in debit"
Then after time arousing again, he
uttered the same words with increasing
earnestness. Accusing for the third
time, the thought was still in his labor
ing brain. candy, mon,-river rim
in-debt. But whan-thot ye-do-rin
in debt-rin in debt-fer doongl' And
he lapsed into his final sleep.
1t was his way of warning against
debt, and in the same breath guarding
against wasting the inherited fertility
OF the soil. We quote it chiefly for the
first part OF the advice-not TO run in
debt. Sales and collections were never
before so slow and difficult, especially
IN the agricultural regions. How can
1t be otherwise? The farmers are not
getting, on the average, more than half
as many dollars for their crops, stock
and products as they did twenty years
ago, and they are paying the same old
rates, on the average, for taxes, insur-
ance, interest and especial, principal
of debts, and for various other things.
The surplus left is terribly small, and
the temptation to run in debt is increas-
lngiy great. We strongly counsel
against debt-making now, except from
sheer necessity.
Fay as you go, and if you can't pay
then don't gol How many farmers ran
in debt for land, implements, vehicles,
and even dry goods and groceries, in
the flush times of imitation, when wool
and corr were dollar and wheat two
dollars, and now have TO pay with wool
at eighteen cents, corn at twenty three
cents, and wheat at sixty cents! Do
not do it again for anything not abso-
lutely essential to your money.earning.
Steer clear OF debt. Reduce your ex-
penses proportionate with your ilncome.
Buy at wholesale rates whenever pos
sible. Carefully estimate the necessary
farm and family expenses of the ensu-
ing year, and arrange your farm opera.
tions 80 as to surely meet them at exist
ing prices, 1t may require the surren-
der OF cherished luXuries. 1t NAV re-
qulre some OF the heroic spirit Of your
fathers in pioneer day. Don't run in
debt.
The difficulty of keeping out of debt
is ably discussed by writer in the
Country Gentleman. First he looks
back forty years ago, when he was
farming in Southern Michigan on
newly. cleared land. He says:
The big stumps and the charred
ground over which the heavy drag was
drawn, because it was impossible to get
a pillow into the land to cover the seed:
the old hewed Lighthouse, rough on the
outside but comfortable within; the
vast solitude around, broken only by
the sound of neighbours ak; without a
road, but only trail through the forest;
no carpet on the floor; homemade
furniture; rough clothing; no kitchen
range or other cOnveniences; the post
Office ten miles away; the only market
railroad camp nearly as far off; the
best of timothy hay selling at SO for a
four-horse load of at least thirty hun
dred pounds; oats bringing seven cents
bushel, potatoes ten cents, butter as
good as can now sell for thirty cents a
pound bringing only a " York shilling +"
Ola cents) pound in trade at the vii
lage store, and 30 on and 80 on.
Aa I racall this in NV p;oalx, f,,,
nished parlor, a telephone in the house
and all the modern conveniences
around me, wonder when the depres-
sion in agriculture really existedl Ger
tainly we felt no such thing in those
days. We had all we wished for, and
really needed. Everything we wanted
we had, and don't remember a COM
plant made by my wife or myself
about any depression or depressing
: thing in our situation. Every neigh
Dor had too much to do to depress him
self by unnecessary worry. Then we
saw no money for months; we bought
little, and that we paid for in trade.
But now it is one continued strife for
money to spend. The hand is in the
pocket all the time. There is a piano
in the house to be tuned, and the mu-
sic teacher FOR the girls to be paid; the
hired girl wants her $40 every month,
the hired man carries off the money
brought in by the grain and the hogs
sold. Always there is pinch to get
money to meet. the expenses of the
day-by day living, and the annual set
Element with the storekeeper is too
often made by a mortgage. And then
the milestone is around the farmers
neck. Is there remedy?
The business is not depressed in it,.
self, but by the weight thrown on it by
this never-ending spending, too often
before it is earned. Is it not that we
are living too fast and suffering from
the effects of gone-by wasteful times,
when money was easily got and prices
were high, as was the case thirty years
ago? We have not kept pace with the