Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-11-10
THE DARK SIDE OF FARMING.

A significant parabraph under the head.
ing, Some Soberine-Down Evidence"
appeared IN the market report of the New
York Weekly Tribune early in October
II reads as follows:
THE volume of general business is
somewhat less marked for the week, but
the rush to use SeptemLer's fine weather
TO advantage has given that month an I'M
usual record OF activity. The reduced
southern dealings In both produce ami
merchandise are TO be deplored. Fear OF
sickness, added To limited ready money
in many parts Of the south where poor
pay ing cotton Is of fell significance has
indefinitely QGellcd the chance of once
possible interchange. The free marketing
oil rice is helpful incident for some
pionts. The west. east and Canada, how
ever look for the consummation of a pros
porous line OF general trade"
Note some facts: Cotton was never
so .ow as at present; the production WAS
never so large as At present; the south is
very poor; a country must be poor which
is all the time importing products while
IL does not export enough To pay its bills.
The extract from the Tribune gives. us
may be supposed, true picture of the
south. There is saying in the cotton
states that IL takes thirteen months in a
year TO make a crop OF cotton, for before
one crop is well out of the way, work
must be begun on The land for the next
years crop Cotton is n costly crop to
grow from beginning TO end, but that is
not the trouble. The trouble is with the
price. In 1872 ii was twenty-five cents per
poind. Now IL is between FIVE and six
cents, As cotton is about the only thing
the farmers OF the cotton belt have to
sell, IL must follow that the southern cot.
ton farmer is growing poorer and poorer.
Where il will end no one knows.
But why write about cotton farming to
Vermont farmers? Because according
20 some writer's, New England farming
is fast drifting into the same predicament
as the farming of the south. i dislike to
make such a statement but | bring for
ward as proof the following extract
from the Rural New-Yorker of October S.:
FARMING IN NEW ENGLAND.
We have just been Interviewing a man
who has travelled extensively throughout
New England. chiefly in Massachusetts,
going from house To house among farm
ers. We asked him what he thought about
the prospect for the small New England
farmer.
with agriculture in this part of the coun-
try" he says, Certain II is, that practi-
cally the only farmers who are succeed
ing I'm a moderate degree, are those who
are killing themselves doing it,"
hat do you mean by that?"
generally those who are hustling from u
to IL hours day, and who have the APP
pearanoe of old men before they are %, 80
"WAal seems 10 be the chief reason for
it,"
Almost every man meet has some
reason of his own, but the Fundamental
trouble seems to he that the farmer, from
mis- peculiar position, is unable, unlike the
manufacturer or tradesman, to make the
price OF his product above the cost of pro-
duction."
That seems strange talk from New Eng
land, where one supposed that the home
markets in towns and cities gave farmers
an advantage"
WHAT is THE MATTER?
Even here, farmers meet with fierce
competition. In nine cases out Of ten,
when a farmer buys ut a store, the ques-
ton is asked, How much is IT? When he
has anything To sell, How much will you
give? This tells the whole story. and
country people will generally understand
IL"
What other reason can you give?"
with us another trouble is that farm
ers are paying a great deal moro than n
fair share of taxes, 1t Is hard for the av-
eraSe farmer to see the difference be-
tween footing the bill for the village pco-
pies water system, sewer fire department
and sidewalk, and settling the bill for AN
rural New England Is, too often. heavily
assessed to pay for improvements in the
town or village, and the farmer does not
receive ccmpensating advantages"
Then, you say, that New England as-
riculiure is at a low ebb?''
In one way, farming in New England
IL enjoying the greatest degree of success
i am certain that most of the farms In
my own town are producing more than
double the crops Of - years ago. The
ship OF agriculturs is coaled for Ions
trip. She is making lots OF steam, her
hun Is strong, and she is manned by a
brave and intelligent crew, but in spite OF
this, she is sinking. from a dozen great
and tagging leaks. What we need to-day
Is the man with the wit to find them, and
the intelligent courage to stop them"
Dark picture? Yes Rather pessimis-
ticg Yes. True? Too true, at least som,
parts of II. Remedies? Well we found one
In looking over the same number of tn,
Rural or At least found some very valu