Complaining Of Hard Times

Britton, the Detroit News correspondent, bas been riding about Washteuaw the past week aud otherwif-e f han c mtiacting a "hard coldt in the 'ead" from gazing npon nature's broad domains from some farniír's buggy. he reports havmg had a very pWasiint ■week. His report ia not tiuted in rainbow oolors of brightuess and prosperity. He tells his readers that Wasbtenaw farmers, r;ght in the midst of tht garden of the statft, are hard up, so hard np that they cannot afford to ufe any tallow 011 their boots this winter, too poor to assume the national debt, too poverty stricken lo indnlge iii a dress snit and shino in society. The Argns prints two interviews xvith wel! known Washtenaw farmers. There are othors, bnt these are characieristo of them all : "One of the great agricultural conntes of this state is Washtenaw cotmty. Two other geueratiuus of its farmers have enjoyed the advanfegea of close proxirnity to two leadiug state educational ínstitntions. so tbat here, if auywhere, might bo expected to be fuund 'farmers of intelligent direction and niethod. The county's uearness to tioit aud its own centers of considerable population furnish a conveuieut market for a great variety of product s outside of the síaple grains and vegetables. Most important of all, the land s excellent. In faot, it is said tbat ;thereis not in thewhole country a similar are of laúd better adap ted to general purpose farming than that occupied by the many beautiful farms between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. The west end of the county, up to the road n the Wayne county line, was first ex0 lored bx á with a pair of gray roadpters. " s Out on the so-called West Mouroe rnad. which anglos through the co;inty tosouth aucl east in a manner that shows little regard f or the section lines, Uves James L. Lowden, the ex-legislator, lives is five rniiesfrom Ypsilanti. He was ioTind at home in a couifortable farm house near which stood a whirling windinill and surrounding which were big barus and stacks. Mr. Lowden is an unusually well informeel man, and during the 1891 Bession of the legisiature served in the important position of chairman of the ways and rneans commiitee. "I am not," said Mr. Lodwen, ' a calamity howler. Still - Mr. Lowden iu mind toöfc a brief retrospect of the labors and "profits and , experieuces in the farming line for a considerable period in the past. "Still," he coutinned, "wherethings ! have b?en going on in a certain direc tiüu for a long space of time, where the tendency has been f rom bad to worse and eauh year sennis to show even less sign of iruproveiDeut than its predeces: sor.there comes atimewhen a condition ! nf ironr orf-nt disRonragement may sult. This ís the situation in wdk h most of the farmers of this conuty fiud themselves - those, at least, who are depeudent on faruiing for their income. For eight years- yes, or ten years- there has absolntely been almost no proflt in f armiug. Wben the farmers at the expiration of half of this 10 year poriod were discouraged, how can they be expected to feel nowV" "Does this year show no improvement at all?'" "Iinprovement! This is the worst year of the whole period of depresión. For those who have mortgaged farms, there is almost no hope. Yon can imagine just abont how hopeful those fooi TirVir. Vinvn farms -ntirelv clear of debt, when they not only do not get a single cent of interest ou their investment in farm lands, but receive only the smallest of wages for all their hard work. I notice that farmers generally are coming to dress more poorly and live more poorly than formerly. They are coming to adopt more the style of living of their fathers in the oíd days wben the country as a vhole was poor, and before there were the benefits o improved transportaron aud near markets." Being asked to give details illustratiug the unprotitableness of farming, Mr. Lowden said that the total be will receive for all stuff of every description, raised on his farm this year, would be less than $1,000. gross. Now, if yon want to figure what the net will be, just bear in tnind that in the aggregate of less than $1,000 are inoladed considerable sum which I have already actnally paid - repairs on roacbinery, cost of help threshing, etc " Mr. Lowden, in addition to being a careful and conservative man. has the air of being also a good business man In almost any other business he ougL to oommand a good deal moro than $1,000 a year for his services alone This year, at'ter deducting his aotua outlay, he receives only a few bundrec dollars to represent the value of his se: vicea for a whole year, and the interen on a farm which ought, even in a tim of depression, to be worth at least $12, 000 or $13,000. Mr. Lowden discussed the causes of the excessively hard time for farmers. A cause which had em phasized itself on farmers in direct f orm was the drouthe which have prevaile for some years and which had been more severe during the past than an; other season. This cause, whic might be due to cntting off the trees o; something else, had reached a poin wbere t-erious alarm was oocasioued and the questiun raised whethur it would be possible to do any thing to relieve them, or whether the farmers wero to continue to see the greater part of their work go for nought in a permanently raiDless región. "How are sheep?" Mr. Lowden was ïsked, the polioy of the government relative to this animal boing a question inore c is nssed by farmers than any other qne.ítion just now. "Of the less Üiau $1,000 which I shall receive tbis year ironi the sale of all producís of my farm, $110 will be representad by the sale at f 2 each of the lambs from my fiock of 50 sheep Tbat will be the most easily earned ïuoney I get from my farm this year. The sale of the wool prai tioally def raying the c-üüst of keepirg the flook and the money froui tbe lambs beiug chieiiy profit. " Perhaps of all those seen, there was no one whn seemed better equipped for giving intelligent testiniony on the snbject nDder inve&tigatioi than a man wbose place was visited and whose hoFpitality was shared at diuner iu the amous farming región between Washenaw cuuuty's two chief towns. This is H. D. Platt, a writer on agricnhiMl topics, a leader in tho grange organizaiion and Governor Luce's appointee f ar four years as state oil inspector His reeidence is almost exactly midway between Aun Arbor and Ypsilanti and a lawu adorned with big bonlders and shrnbbeiy siopes down to me iuuiui tracks conneotiug the two towns. Mr. Platt disagveed most decidediy with Mr. Lowden as to the profitablness of raising shoep nnder free wool prices. Frorn a fiock about as large as the Lowden flock he had sold only 36 lambs at $2 each, and the eiitire sum derived from tbe wool was only $9. Even tho mother sheep were getting discouraged. The entire pross incorue from the flock would not, Mr. Platt declared, pay' f or the hay alone they hadeaten during the winter, a mow of liay, 24 by 44 feet and 10 feet high having been consnmed. Washtenaw has in the past been a great wool cunty, the Shropshire variety, valuablo for mutton as well as wool, being largoly raised, büt Mr. Platt declared the farmers are all trying now to eet out of the industry. "There is," he said, "110 doubt about the discouragement prevailng amoug j the farrning classes. It is a genera" feeling. I myself am not so discomaged that I aru goiug to give it up. This has been iny life work. I was born here ou this farm. I have the same feeliug any one would have if it was a niaiter of quitting his life work. I'm not going to qnit it either, but there is migbty little inducement beside that fee! ing for continu! Dg in it. "For a long time the agrieultural interosts havo been going down and taxes have been going up. Everything s lower this year tlian the taxes. Things are getting worse all the time s l'ar as crops, which are exported, and vool are eoncerned. The only thing I ave got any money out of this year is small dairy which I have started and which I am going to continue, although have uo hay to speak of for the winer, having got from 42 acres of grass iut 20 loads. "There is, too, dissatisfaction in state mutters. Look at this university over here. While everything else is going own salaries there are going np, till hey are getting the biggest kind of ay. I believe,too,that the state house itLansing coald be run at a reduction of two-thirds in the present expense. [■here'd be no work for about half of he present foren of clerks if proper indusiry wap iDsisted on. " VYhether the cause of the farmers' hard times is over prodnetion or under coustimption something has got to be done for their relief. Nobody is investng in farm real estáte, so a fellow conldn't sell if he wanted to nnless it was on a mortgage foieclosure. Some few fellows whoirR jnst starting out iave niortgaged farms around here and it is going hard with them. '