82 AMERICAN FARMS. 



Other States of the West, are providing the meat markets 

 of the old States of the East, even to the Pine Tree 

 State and the Maritime Provinces. 



The numerous railways traversing the continent have 

 brought the vast prairies practically alongside the East- 

 ern consumers. In 1865, it cost from three to four 

 cents a ton per mile, to convey freight to the Atlantic 

 seaboard. It is now done for three fourths of a cent. 



" Cornelius Vanderbilt consolidated and perfected 

 the railroad service in such a way that a year's supply of 

 meat and bread can be moved one thousand miles, from 

 the Western prairies to the Eastern workshops, at the 

 measure of the cost of a single day's wages of the 

 mechanic or artisan in Massachusetts, — that is to say, if 

 the mechanic or artisan of the East will give up one 

 holiday in a year, he removes one thousand miles of 

 distance bet\veen himself and the main source of his 

 supply of necessary food." ' 



' Edward Atkinson, " Distribution of Products," p. 38. 



The following is from the Halifax Morning Herald, Saturday, No- 

 vember 23, 1889, entitled " Impoverished Farmers" : 



' ' In recent issues the Herald has called attention to a great body 

 of evidence furnished by state and municipal reports, newspaper 

 articles, public addresses, etc., all of which serve to show that the 

 farmers of the United States, both in New England and in the States 

 farther west, are, relatively speaking, in a most deplorable condition. 

 Large numbers of deserted farms are in vain offered for sale in New 

 England, while others, which were a few years ago in excellent con- 

 dition and free of debt, are now placed under the hammer of the 

 auctioneer to pay the mortgages that have been placed upon them. 

 In the West the farmers are endeavoring as best they can to bear up 

 under their almost overwhelming burden of indebtedness, living 

 largely on their capital-outlay, hoping against hope for better times in 

 the near future. The Bankers' Magazine for November, in ' A Re- 

 view of Finance and Business,' shows very clearly that the impov- 



