Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 March 1898 — FARMERS ARE MADE POOR [ARTICLE]

FARMERS ARE MADE POOR

While the cotton manufacturers of New England are facing hard times in spite of the protective tariff, the farmers of New York are in tne same condition. There is something radically wrong with the economic candi toons of the country when all branches ot industry are suffering. The report of the New York oom* missioner of labor statistics contains a sad story as io the farmers of the Empire Aate In summing up this matter the commissioner says: “The farming industry in our state is in a most deplorable condition, with exceedingly poor prospects for recovery or improvement in| the immediate future. “Hummed up, the correspond ence shows that, as a general rule, no interest has b°en realized on farm investments during the years 1894, 1895 a d 1896; that where there were no mortgages requiring interest payments, a farmer was considered almost miraculously fortunate if his income irom products could be made to pay the cost of production. “Even that degree of success was only attainable by stinted al > lowanoes for household expenses and by starving the soil; and when the farmer was hampered bv a mortgage indebtedness he ran behind and incurred the penalty of foreclosure ” Under a healthy condition of business the Ne v York larmers ought to be prosperous. They have the advantage of an adjacent market, reason'd ly low frcig t (rates,, excellent soil; cheap '.aboisaviug machinery, low wages and the great demands of the largest c ty in the United States to supply ” T hy should the farmers of New York be noor? Why should the non-oroducers of the metropolis be rich? Whyfhould the men wao raise the food'products be unable to piy expenses? Why is it that the value of farm flands has fallen from 50 to 75 per cent? These questions have been answer .d by the royal commission on agriculture of Great Britain. The gold standard has impoverished the farmer; it is impoverishing the manufacturer, and it is beneficial to no one on th face of the globe except the men who deal in money.