The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1901-10-31
FARMERS HAVE MONEY.
They Are Making Exceptionally
Large Deposits.


A few days ago the Toledo Weekly
Blade, which has an enormous circu-
lation among the farmers Of the en-
tire west, received a letter from q
farmer In Wisconsin, asking advice as
to investing $4,000 of his savings In
government bonds. He said no one
wished to borrow money in his sec
tion, and the banks we're paying only
2 per cent. This shows remarkable
contrast with the conditions prevail
ing few years ago, when money In
the same locality loaned easily at 8
and 10 per cent, and the farmers we're
all endeavoring to borrow on mort
gage.
The testimony Of bankers all over
the West affirms these conditions. The
farmers are making exceptionally
large deposits, and appear to be con-
tented with the way the world Is using
them. These reports carry the greater
weight because Of the old tradition
that the farmer Is never satisfied. The
suggestion Of the present situation is
that the agricultural population has
been slandered, but the explanation Is
the exceptional degree Of prosperity
which they are sharing in common
with every one else in this country
who Is Industrious and frugal
Not only are business conditions all
that could be desired in furnishing an
active market for the product of our
farms and plantations, but the wealth
er itself has conspired the past sum-
mer to keep prices at a high figure
During the period Of drouth .lere was
q wall over the fear that the corn and
wheat crops would both be short, YET
we have a surplus of both to ship
abroad. Then 1t was declared that
there would not be enough potatoes
for the American people to eat, but
the late crop proved q good one, and
there are plenty and to spare Of pota-
toes. Then 1t was announced that
there would be fruit famine, yet tens
Of thousands Of bushels have gone tc
waste in the orchards, been fed to the
hogs, or given away. In point Of fact
the same thing is true Of every agri
cultural article Of food. AS a sequence
OF the scare about corn, the prices o.
meat went UP on the theory that there
would not be enough to fatten stOcl
for market, but nothing Is called fol
in the meat line that can not b,
promptly provided.
The farmer is prospecting addition
ally because of these scares. He Il
receiving the top-notch price for ev
erything he has to sell. But asid'
from the favoring conditions Of wealth
er and crops, there is behind the pros
perity of the farming interest for tn
past few years the fact that business
conditions have been SO excellent sine
1897 that every workingman In tn
land is steadily employed, and at goo
wages; therefore he has the money t
buy freely an abundance Of food 70
himself and his family, and that o
the best quality. This increases tn
local demand and reduces the amour
for export 1t keeps prices up to
paying figure. The farmers OF Obi
should consider these things, and b
sure that their votes this fall are cas-
for the party whose governmental pol
.icies in the nation laid the foundation
for all this prosperity. A vote for tn
Republican ticket this fall is q vot
Of endorsement of the Mckinley poll
cies, and vote for their continuation
under President Roosevelt. The latte
Is anxiously awaiting the result in hi
predecessors own state, for he desire
above all things to have the endorse
ment which Republican victory i
Ohio would be, Of himself, his purpose
and his administration.