116 The Tariff and the Farmer. 



plenty of time to make such a change if the pursuit of 

 farming had proved profitable. The rapid increase of 

 renters over gain in ownership seems to be conclusive 

 evidence that little more than a living was realized by 

 the greater part of those renting farms. 



Driven from this position there are those who will say : 

 *'The evidence presented of declining agricultural pros- 

 perity is ancient history. Since the census was taken in 

 1899 a new heaven and earth have appeared in the agri- 

 cultural world. Not only have the western farmers paid 

 off their mortgages, but handsome banking accounts now 

 stand to their credit. ' ' It was shown in the eighth chap- 

 ter that much the same talk was current with Eepublican 

 speakers and papers in the campaign of 1900. How far 

 off they were from the truth has been seen. The reports 

 of increased x^i'osperity since 1899 among the western 

 farmers comes not onlv from biased but also from un- 

 biased sources, and there seems to be little doubt of the 

 fact. But those who believe that the burdens of many 

 years can be dropped by a few prosperous seasons know 

 little of the hardships of the farmer's life. The average 

 farmer usually, even with close economy, barely makes 

 the two ends meet. If, then, there comes a time when for 

 several years the dollars are more plenty, there are many 

 ways of investing the surplus besides paying oif a mort- 

 gage. There are repairs to make, new machines or wag- 

 ons or animals to purchase, or perhaps a small addition 

 need be made to house or barn. So that unless there is 

 a persistence for many years of good times the indebted- 

 ijess is likely to be but little diminished. Is such persist- 

 ence to be expected? We consider the larger returns to 

 be chieflv due to four causes : 



(1) Unusually favorable seasons that have given a 



