The Penn's Grove record., 1899-09-08
The PENIS Grove Record
FRIDAY, AUGUST s, 1899
FODDER FOR FARMERS MINDS

August I'd found the crops on about
100 farms damaged one.half or more.
One of the most striking assertions IS
that of the 100 farmers s. were tenants
and 40 will have to quit farming II re-
lief does not come to them The WOOD
bury Democrat pertinently asks does
the tenantry of Ireland show a larger
percentageY DO these figures show
general prosperity among the farmers:
F~oREToLD.
About twenty years ago when Inc
money question was a prominent issue
the N. Y. Times, a capitaiistic paper
now owned by j. Pierpont Morgan and
battling for a gold standard said:
s'There seems to be but one remedy,
and there must CONT a change OF own
ership of the soil and a creation OF a
class of land owners on the II hand
and of tenant farmers on the other
something similar to what has loug eX'
listed in the old countries of Europe.
Let us see what statistics show mas
happened since then.
INCREASE OF TENANT FARMERS
Fred. Perry Powers, in an article
published in Lippincott's Magazine ior
February, 1895, gives some important
statistics, complied from the Census
Report, in regard to the rapid increase
of stteuant farmers in the United
States:
"Betw een 1880 and 1890 the number
of owning farmers decreased III every
New England State, and the number Of
tenant farmers increased. In each oil
these States there WAS a marked IN
crease in the percentage of farmers VINO
ploughed the fields of another man, ana
in the sweat of whose brow somebody
in Boston ate cake. In the SIX States,
in the ten years, the owning farmers
diminished "a, ILL, and the tenant farm
ers increased 7,246. The percentage OF
tenant farmers in Massachusetts,
though not large in 1890, was nearly
double what il was in 1850; over seven
teen per cent. OF the farmers il YER
mont and Connecticut and twenty live
per cent. OF the farmers i'll Rhode Is
land were tenants in lS9O.
SIN each of the foul Middle States
the number of owning farmers decTeas
ed. and the number OF tenant farmers
increased. In the group the owners
decreased AZ, 304, and the tenants III
creased 3 .075, In New Jersey the
tenants increased from nearly il fourth
to nearly a third of the whole. In New
York the loss OF owning farmers was
26. 534, and the gain of tenant farmers
was II. Jos. For PennsS lvania these
figures were IL, 292 aud 9,222 respective
ly. OF twelve Southern States SIX snow
a decrease in the number of owning
farmers. In the group there was an
increase Of IL, 9lJ owning farmers ana
2T5,7S5 tenant farmers. In three south
western States, Missouri, Arkansas and
Texas, there was a gain OF 4i,So2 own
ing farmers and ia ,51Otenant farmers.
Each of the three States of tie Middle
West. Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, gives
evidence of the same change, and the
group lost 31,259 owning farmers and
gained As. S64 tenant farmers. In Lii
nois the tenants increased from 3l.3I to
36.72 per cent. of the whole. In eight
States of the Northwest, in several OF
which public lands have been obtain
able till quite recently, the number OF
owning farmers increased l29,3 ~ and
the number of tenant farmers increas
ed S.5O7, In Iowa the number OF
owning farmers increased 3,j2l, Whit
the number OF tenant farmers increased
1868. In Kansas the owning farmers
increased LII and the tenant farmers
increased 3O,463 In the Pacific and
Mountain States and the Territories
the number of owning farmers incIeas
ed 65, 512 and the number of tenant
farmers increased 2O,3jO.
'In forty-seven States and TerlitoT.
les the number OF owning farmers III
creased l5S,9 5l, and the number Of ten
ant faI III, ~ inci eased 599,337. In lSS(
81 90 per cent. of the farms were cul
tivated by tenants; in 1890 34l3 pei
cent, of the farm families hired"
Mr.. Powers in commenting on ihl'
says: '.The American farmer is follow.
ing the English yeoman into extinction
and the creation of landlord and tenant
classes has already made considerable
progress here. The race of farmers
who supplied most of the Fathers o.
the Republic, who were for many year,
the controlling power within it, ar,
o losing their lands, and with i
their political weight. The American
farmer is being detached from TIN
earth.n
John Sietz, of TIllln, Ohio, in re
vie W the condition OF the farmer IL
that State says: ,"By the most rigiC
economy he manages to hold to VIVA
he accumulated years ago. lt.has be
come IL grave question whether /,
change the style of living to conform
to the peasant standard of Europe, o.
consume the accumulation of II life
lime and leave nothing to the children
The hired man, at SIS or $20per moutl
and board, will have more at the enc
of The year than his employer"
We venture to say that owing to The
sheriff sales in the past ten years thu
next census will show "a larger percent
age of tenants, as this canvass proves it
Where are the Old sturdy Quake.
farmers of Warrington and PilesgroyI
who were foremost in political though
and action twenty five years agoy ID
their sons own their fathers farms
Are they getting as rich and influential
Nayl Nayl If their SONS are on TN
farms they have long and weary hour
of labor before them and are carrying
mortgage. Most of the farms have ten
ants, many tenants being foreigners o
their Ons.
TIE CAUSE.
What has been the cause of thiaY 1
is the great fall in the plIce of farm
products within the past twenty livl
years while their debts do not declinl
with other property,
~ NJ. Xv,,lr g.. -, a., nlla a1f