THE DECADENCE OF FARMING. 29 



by year the value of farm, lands depreciates." There is not the 

 slightest reason to believe that there is a county in this State of 

 which a better report can be made. The fourteen examined may 

 well stand for all. 



Following closely on this report for New York comes the 

 report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for Illinois, in reference 

 to farm-mortgage indebtedness. This gives a summary of this 

 indebtedness at the following periods, viz., in 1870, 1880, and 1887 ; 

 and evidence is also given as to the actual value of farming lands 

 in the State. By leaving out town and city lots, and the suburban 

 district of Chicago, the purely agricultural part of this debt is 

 seen. And it is given as follows : 



Tear. Debt. 



1870 $95,721,003 



1SS0 103,525,237 



1887 123,733,098 



The report tells its own story ; for farms are a constant quan- 

 tity and do not increase. It is only the wave of debt that increases 

 over them. As this report separates, with such accuracy as it 

 can command, " mortgages representing deferred payments of 

 purchase money from loans," the deduction of the commissioners 

 is, that " the mortgage indebtedness cf farmers for borrowed 

 money has increased twenty-three per cent since 1880 in Illinois, 

 and that this is more than twice the increase in the value of the 

 farm lands. An increase in land values is reported in twenty- 

 five counties, a decrease in twenty counties, while in sixteen coun- 

 ties the values have remained unchanged." 



This is far from a pleasant showing for a State so naturally 

 good as Illinois, and one which was so recently a new and almost 

 a frontier Commonwealth. But you may go farther West and find 

 figures of the same solemn sort. In the Western States the farm 

 mortgages amount to three billion four hundred and twenty-two 

 million dollars. This is equivalent to a debt of two hundred dol- 

 lars per capita for each person, or one thousand dollars to each 

 head of a family. The interest which these mortgages pay runs 

 from seven to nine per cent, while the profit on the farm capital, 

 to put it large, is only from four to five per cent. 



But, take up any newspaper or magazine, and read its adver- 

 tising columns in respect to loans. What are they which are 

 most popular and extensively advertised ? Why, they are " farm 

 investment loans." " Sixteen years' experience without loss of a 

 dollar." And the interest is delivered at your door almost. These 

 siphons are now extending far beyond the Mississippi and Mis- 

 souri, on the virgin soil of the continent. For a while they can be 

 borne there, where the capitalization in a farm is either slight or 

 nothing, and where the money borrowed is mainly for buildings 



