Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-02-08
Believe In Maine Farms.


ter last Saturday and propose TO call
attention to it again at this time. Inc
citizen was c. E. Smith of Thorndike,
and his communication was IN answer
to a letter which said that farmers OF
the East could not obtain loans on
their farms to the extent that FARMERS
in the West can. In answer 10 TINS
assertion Mr.. Smith relates his own
experience. He says that when ne was
a young man he bought farm ioi
s3oo0 and run in debt $4,000. Later he
had an opportunity to buy another
farm for the same price and II became
necessary for him to borrow $1,000, and
that the treasurer of the bank which
held the mortgage told him that he did
not want him to discharge the debt.
las farm mortgages were their best
security" Several things contributed
to that result beside the simple condi-
ton that farm mortgages, on no more
than so per cent of the farm, are good
security. Among other elements.
doubtless. were Mr. Smiths ability to
pay and his reputation for thrift and
honesty. These count just as much on
a Maine farm as they do in other bust
ness efforts.
But Mr. Smith does not stop with re-
futing the statement that Maine farm
ers cannot borrow just as much or just
as easily on their farms as the West
ern farmers can. but takes occasion to
tell the readers of the New York Sun a
few facts about Maine farming condi-
tons. He says, I'VE raise large crops
in Maine. The yield an acre. OF pota-
toes is more than double that in any
other State and there is only one state
that raises as much corn as we do.
Then he gives the prices Maine farm
ers have received during the last four
years for the products they have raised,
saying that they have received from 10
To 81 cents DuSneI III poldtoeo iiotii
October to May: from so to 50 for oats;
from s. to So cents for corn; from II to
from 40 to As cents a dozen for eggs
during the winter months. He speaks
a good word for potatoes, saying that
our farmers get as much for a bushel
of potatoes as do Western farmers for
a busheI of wheat and raise ten times
as much per acre. while an additional
is that the wheat impalrs
the Western farm ten times as much as
do the potatoes of the Eastern farm.
He also speaks OF the matter of wood,
lumber and apples, and other products,
showing plainly why he believes thor
oughly in Eastern farming conditions
as opposed to Western.
The writer of the letter is but one of
thousands of farmers who believe as
he does and who have demonstrated for
themselves that farming in this part
Of the country is as much a business
and capable of as thorough
development as in the West. The
statement regarding the prices that
Maine farmers have received is an en-
.irely fair one and reveals the reason
why the number OF deserted Maine
farms decreases every year. The day
has gone by when the boys value the
farm principally as place to get away
rom and tell about in after dinner |
'peeches when they have made their |
mark" in the cities.
The old-fashioned farmer of hit or
Miss methods sometimes succeeded in |
gathering a comfortable surplus to
support him in his old age because of |
lis rich farm and a few succeeded in |
pite of the conditions surrounding
hem. The boys could see nothing but
ong hours and hard work with small
eturns) if they stayed on the farm,
While the city was ever calling for new
Hood and paying ready money for it.
few of the farmers of the old school
aw the wisdom of finding new meth
IDS to fit the old farming conditions
Then the movement found favor with
he younger generation and we soon
lad the progressive farmer. 1t is this
farmer who is making
Iaine farms pay and who makes it pos
ible to write such letter as has been
written in this case. Maine farmers
ire not only good security for banks
out they are good investments for in
1ividuals, especially for individuals
who have tired of industrial conditions
in the cities: with the small return for
the tremendous expenditure of energy
and the still smaller ratio of comfort
for the amount of money spent in seek
ing it.