46 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [324 



It will be necessary later to discuss in detail the use of 

 credit in its relation to agricultural prosperity; but two gen- 

 eral incentives to mortgaging may be here mentioned, the 

 influence of which has been felt throughout a great part of 

 the history of the township, but especially during the earlier 

 days. The first incentive grew out of the appreciation in the 

 price of land, the farmer being led into realizing this in ad- 

 vance by means of mortgaging; as fast as he could increase 

 his loan he would do so, and use the sum obtained sometimes 

 to make good deficiencies and losses, or for current expendi- 

 ture, and sometimes for investment, whether legitimate or 

 speculative, upon his farm. The second incentive lay in the 

 fact of the relatively large returns of crop in proportion to 

 the cost of the land. In the early days the farmer's profits 

 were very high in proportion to the amount of capital em- 

 ployed, whenever his crops were at all good; and this often 

 led him to purchase and cultivate more land than he was able 

 to manage; then if bad crops, which he had not counted on, 

 came, he would become hopelessly involved in debt. It is 

 true the farmer may often have suffered from excessive inter- 

 est and grasping creditors; but it was less frequently the av- 

 arice of the lender that got him into trouble than the fact that 

 he was too sanguine and too prone to believe that he could 

 safely go in debt, on the assumption that crops and prices in 

 the future would equal those in the present. 



TAXATION. 



The direct taxes which have been levied on the farmers of 

 the township since the first year of settlement consist of state 

 taxes, county taxes, and school taxes. 1 Since 1884, at which 

 time the present township organization went into effect, there 

 have been, in addition, township taxes. Table IV. shows the 

 rate in mills of the taxes levied for state and county purposes 

 in each year since 1872, the county tax being classified 

 according to its expenditure. The table gives also the town- 



1 During the first five years, that is from 1872 to 1876, there was 

 also a road tax of $4 for every quarter section of land. This tax is 

 not included hi the tables which are to follow. 



