AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 721 



cross the plains the rainfall steadily decreases, " but no stakes can 

 be set to warn the settler that thus far shall he go and no 

 farther. . . . Some of the counties in Kansas lying within this 

 belt have been populated and depopulated, in a measure, two or 

 three times. One or two years of exceptional rainfall bring in 

 a fresh throng of settlers to take the place of others who have 

 given up the struggle ; they in turn are impoverished by the dry 

 years that are sure to follow, and abandon their farms," 



Concerning crop failure in recent years in Kansas, Governor 

 Morrill of that state says : 



I think it probably true that land in some parts of our state has declined 

 in value fifteen per cent since 1884. The western part of the state is subject to 

 droughts. The rainfall there in nearly all seasons is below what is required to 

 make a good crop. I know there was a great rush of people to that section of 

 the country to take homesteads, and for a time land sold very readily. The 

 failure of crops for the past three years has caused a stampede from that 

 section, and land is difficult to sell now at any price. 



The disaster thus entailed upon the agricultural interests of the 

 drought-stricken portion of the state is reflected in a decrease 

 of population. 



In 1890 Kansas had 1,427,096 people. In 1895 the state census found 

 only 1,334,668 within her borders. The counties in the eastern part of the 

 state, which enjoy a sufficient rainfall for agriculture, exhibited gains, but in 

 the western-central and western counties there was an absolute loss of about 

 200,000, a greater number than is contained in the entire state of North 

 Dakota. . . . The causes which produced the partial depopulation of the 

 western part of Kansas were equally operative in western Nebraska (and in 

 North and South Dakota). 



The economic history of wheat production in Minnesota is 

 also full of examples illustrating how crop failures act as in- 

 come-destroyers, and as promoters of the burden of mortgage 

 indebtedness. 



All classes of farmers, however, are not equally injured by 

 such unanticipated occurrences. The differences have been clearly 

 indicated by the labor commissioner of Minnesota. 



In an old and well-settled and prosperous farming community these dis- 

 asters or misfortunes in modern times bring with them no dire results. The 

 average farmer has sufficient wealth of his own, available resources of various 



