357] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 79 



of mortgage debt; and even a temporary cessation in it has 

 been followed by an increased number of failures among the 

 farmers. We may almost infer that in many cases the greater 

 part of the wealth that the farmer of average ability now has 

 must be attributed to this rise in value; for very often the 

 value of the improvements and personal property is covered 

 by the mortgage debt, and this means that the amount of 

 profits which have been realized and invested upon the farm 

 has been very small. Indeed, in many cases the present 

 farmer's equity in his land would be little or nothing were it 

 not for this rise in value, while he would have been unable 

 without it to obtain the means to reach even as advanced a 

 system of cultivation as is in vogue at present. It must be 

 admitted, however, that this conclusion will hold good only 

 for the farmer of average ability. A man of poor personal 

 habits, or one who is shiftless in his management, will dissi- 

 pate the increment in the value of his land as fast as he can 

 make use of it as security for new loans. On the other hand, 

 a skilful, energetic, economical farmer, who knows how to 

 avail himself of every advantage, will probably be able, with 

 average good luck, to pay off in time even a heavy debt ^ 

 incurred in the purchase of his farm. But even with these 

 qualifications, should fortune not favor him he may fail mis- 

 erably; for he is dependent on credit, and credit, though it fur- 

 nishes wings to the man fit to use them, so long as. the wind 

 of fortune is fair, becomes a dead weight to drag down the 

 less able, or even the competent when fortune fails. If there 

 were space to consider the individual cases of the farmers in 

 Harrison township, we should find a few young men whose 

 ability has been such as to enable them thus to overcome the 

 hindrance of heavy debt at the start and become in the end 

 prosperous farmers. 



Probably the only other persons besides these exception- 

 ally able ones who have succeeded in making considerable 

 profits and saving any part of them are those farmers who 

 received their land in early times from the government. 

 These, having a clear start, were enabled in most cases to 

 avoid the burden of heavy debt, and consequently, in a year j 



