Michigan Farms Mortgaged

The report of the Michigan bureau of labor statistioe is receiviüg much attention in ad vanee of its appearance. There can be no question that i t will not serve toallay the troubled feeling of those who desire to believe that everything is all right ; those people who are in comfortable circumstances thetnselves, and don't want to be troubled about the labor question. Of course the labor question, i f it is a question at all, includes the farmer as well as the worker in factory or mine. It includes the worker in the store, on the railroad, in the forest and field, in all departments of life. When the political economist speaks of wages, he means the return to the farmer and the clerk as much as he does the return to the operative in a factory. When this fact is clearly understood, then the farmer will see that his fortunes are bound up with all other workers. Thus when the state labor commissioner's report for this year comes to startle thoughtful people, asit certainly will do, it should put the farmer in closer sympathy with his fellow toiler3 in the cities. The two united and agreeing upon finding out the bad state of affairs, will make an irresistible combination ; and should they agree upon some onething as the cause, the fault would be their own if the remedy be not applied. This report will show that nearly onehalf of the farmingland of Michigan is mortgaged, much of it hopelessly. The vast mortgage indebtedness on Michigan farms will never be lifted, but the land will drift into the hands of the few, and the young ambitious people will go to the cities to work, or go west forcheaper land, as they have done in the past. When the report is issued we shall make more extended comment upon it.