Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1890 — AGRICULTURAL-DEPRESSIONS, [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL-DEPRESSIONS,

It Is Gnttu in Other Countries h America—A Statistician's Vi own, The prevailing depression in limirTljm agriculture is treated by the statastichrif; J. R.Dodge, in the March report of tte Department of Agriculture. The prevaK ence of low prices is noted, and a feeling of discouragement in rural circles thgopghoutthe world is indicated. It has Been especially severe in Great Britten, and ia the subject of complaint, discussion axtfl official investigation in Germany, France, Italy and other countries. It is present in monarchies and republics, under diverse currencies and economic systems. But it is less severe here than in other countries. Though prices of implements, utensils and fabrics are also low, the farmers' interest account is unreduoed and his mortgage arder to lift. Tho main oaus of low prices is referred to the inexorable law of supply and demand. Corn and wheat and other staples are cheap because of overproduction. Immigration has increased the population five millions in ten years. Intercontinental areas have )>een carved into farms free to natives and'foreigners, opening millions of acres to cultivation. Railroad extension has stimulated prbduction and overwhelmed the East with Western products. Mr. Dodge says, that while there is an excess of products of a few staples, like wheat, etc., there are insufficient supplies of many other necessary products, and a total absence of scores of others which should furnish profitable employment to rural labor. There is too narrow a range of cropping. Diversification is essential to agricultural salvation. There are imports costing $240,000,000 per aunum that should be produced here. These are sugar, animals and their products, fibers, fruits and nuts, barley, - leaf tobacco and winesFanqere are suffering for waist of hundreds of millions of dollars that tho sweat of brows aud dexterity of hands might produce in “raw materials” for scores of old and new industries. The Statistician treats of what he char, acterizes as the folly of wheat growers in insisting on going to the-antipodes for binder twine, while a million acres of flax fiber is wasted oin adjoining fields, and when they could grow hemp enough in six months to bind the wheat of the world. This is, he says, exceeded only by the twin folly of the cotton growers, who are wild to go to India for jute, when it will grow in their cotton fields as readily as weeds. Depression more intense will result, it is predicted, if farmers continue to restriot their efforts, walk in the furrows their fathers turned, seek to live and die in tho same overdone and profitless routine. Another serious cause of depression, he says, is the exorbitant share of the farmer’s products taken by the middlemen and carriers. The army of dealers in futures disturb the natural,flow of trade, check exportation by a temporary raise, to be followed by lower prices when graneries are full, and a boom when farmers have nothing to sell, as at present. The community is infested with swarms of non-producers. The curse of speculations blights and consumes the result of honest industryLeeches fasten on every product of labor, and suck from it the life blood of profit. Men who produce nothing, who neither toil on the farms nor spin in the factories, are absorbing the wealth of the country by combinations without conscience and service without equity. It is suggested that farmers may be compelled to retail their own fruits and vegetables, sell their own meats and manufacture their own flour.