The record-union., 1897-07-26

such an immense rush of people and
limited facilities of transportation of
freight provisions must be scarce. This
and the cold weather Will test severe
ly the endurance of those who go SO
far out Of the beaten track in search
of wealth Many will become rich be-
yond their widest dreams; many will
return much poorer than when they
went
Some of our contemporaries have
been specializing wildly on the effect
this new discovery would have on the
relative values of gold and silver. 1t
can hardly be appreciable. A few
millions a year one way or another can
make very little difference. Even IL
the country yields largely as did Cali
fornia it would be long time before
any impression was made. The rela-
tive values of gold and silver and the
great depression in the latter ARISES
more from the legal ostracism of 1t
than from any other cause, ana uhll
this is removed in some way silver can
net recuperate.
CONDITION OF WESTERN FARMS.
Oakland ENQUIRER: Not only has the
State of Kansas an immense grain crop
this year and a prospect of high prices,
but it is made evident by recent re-
ports that even before her present run
of luck began the people were paying
off their debts in a most rapid manner
The farm loan companies who are doing
business in that State and Nebraska
agree that they are taking in more
money than they are putting out, and
10 he for TpHnclnU their
mortgages and in many instances WHIP
ing them out. Ex-Governor Morrill, OF
Kansas in a recent interview says:
''IIave beeppaying off tremendous in
debtedness, and have retrenched their
expenditures wonderfully. Everybody
has been practicing economy. Pollt-
ically the State is in the hands OF the
POrulists, but that happened only by
reason of the free silver crusade. 1t must
be said, too that the Populists did not
enter on any course of radical legislation
directed against capital, as many feared
they would. Instead of that they acted
moderately, and thereby induced re-
turn of confidence on the part of mon
ely ed men outside the State. From Ne
braska the report is received that the
farm mortgage debt has been reduced
twenty-eight million dollars in the last
six months. The big crop and high
prices for wheat coming on top of this,
ought to enable a large number of the
farmers to clear off all obligations. One
effect Of the better experience of the past
six or eight years is that there is gen
eral sentiment among the agriculturists
that it would be folly to plunge into
debt again, and it is probable that
the new order of things in this respect
will continue for a number of years.
The farm mortgage companies are the
ones that are in state of uncertainty
now for they are not able to place their
loans.
The improved state of things which
is reported among the farmers of Kan
sas and other States of the Mississippi
Valley, is also noticed, to some extent
III this State OF course, the wheat
growers who We're in the condition be-
scribed by Altgeld as having a great
deal of property covered by a great deal
of debt" have not been able to get out,
but, on the contrary have gone from
bad to worse, though even these will be
helped by the good prices for grain
which now prevail. But the numerous
small farmers, whose debts are of man
ageable proportions, have been making
Roadway even under the adverse con-
ditions of the last three years. They
have done it in the same way as the
farmers of Kansas-by getting down to
bedrock economy. They have dis
charged most of their hired men, and
they use the old pillow and drive the old
buggy This method will eventually
bring prosperity to agriculturists almost
anywhere.