Rensselaer Republican, Volume 23, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1890 — Senator Wilson on Iowa Farms. [ARTICLE]

Senator Wilson on Iowa Farms.

The Senator wants to know why ■ it is that Jowa has 'not got the grent money fortunes that are possessed in New England. Mr. President, I might ask the Senai tor in response why a boy of five I years of age has not the strength and endurance of a man in his ■vigor. But the Senator from Ar- : kansae need not shed tears over ■ the condition of leaps in lowa j even, for I have here an extract from an lowa newspaper, the Delmar JdurnaT, in regard to mortgages in Clinton county, which says: “The abstract, of the mortgages on farms in Clinton, makes ing in which the people of the county may take pardonable pride. Mr.J£. A. Miller, the census abstractor, informs us that ndt more than one-fifth of the farms of the county are mortgaged, and many of them are drawing but 5 to 7 per cent, interest.” Another curious fact you will find in the towns in lowa, and that is you can scarcely go into one of the towns, and especially the county seats and the villages of any considerable size, where you do not find numbers of farmersand farmers’ families who have retired from the farm and are living on the result of their industry. You will find another fact which may seem curious, and that it that in proportion to the number of retired persons living upon their iiicomes the percentage of farmers is greater than that of men from other departments of business. # * * * * * * It was stated that in lowa the farm mortgages amounted to $567000,000. When I saw that I had a profound conviction that it was not true, and I tet about to discover if possible where the inventor of this falsehood obtained his data. Turning to the compendium of the census of 1880 1 found there that the aggregate valuation of farms in lowa in 1880 was $567,000,000. That the people could understand how dreadful their condition was, they took the assessed value of the farms and told the farmers that the mortgages on the farms amounted to that in the State of lowa. Our governor set about a line of investigation to find out how much of a lie this was, and he found that the outside limit of the farm mortgages in lowa would not go beyond $71,000,000. There is a little difference between $567,000,000 and $71,000,000.

That amusing paper, the News, wants to know what measures distinctively Republican have been passed in the House by the aid of Reed’s new rules. It knows of but two such bills. The Journal is too busily engaged to undertake the colossal task of telling the News all it does not know, but the ignorepce in this case is so pitiful that a chapter of enlightenment cannot be refused. Here are some of the measures that are properly classed under the designated head: The customs administrative bill, a much needed measure, now a law, to pass which Speaker Reed was obliged to count a quorum; the McKinley tariff bill, which was passed by virtue of the new rule which gives the majority power to fix a date for taking a vote; the present silver law, which was passed in tjhe House, in the first instance, by assigning a day for taking a vote under the present rules; the socalled original package bill, passed under the operatidn of the same rule; the compound lard bill, the anti-lottery bill, the federal election bill, which the News, borrowing the prattle of the Democratic press, calls the force bill; the eight-hour and the contract labor bills, none of which could havfe been reached under the old rules, for the reason that all measures on the calendar, must be considered in the order they are reported, unless otherwise ordered by a two-thirds vote Furthermore, none of these measures could have been passed if tne Speaker was not authorized tq refuse to put dilatory motions. These are a few of the measures which the Republican rules, enforced by Speaker Reed, have made it possible for the majority in the House to pass. There will be more legislation of the same excellent character to report later, no doubt, and if the. News’s political ignoramus will study the Journal’s columns from day to day with care he will learn many things to that paper’s advantage.— Indianapolis Journal