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VII-VIII

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES

IN

Historical and Political Science

HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor

History i8 past Politics and Politics present History.— Freeman

ELEVENTH SERIES

VII-VIII

AS ILLUSTRATED BY

THE ECONOMIC HISTORY OF A
NEBRASKA TOWNSHIP

BY

ARTHUR F. BENTLEY, A. B,

Johns Hopkins University

BALTIMORE

The Johns Hopkins Press

PUBLISHED MONTHLY

July-August, 1893

COPTBIGHT, 1898, BT THE JOHNS HOPKINB PKESB.

THE FRIEDENWALD CO., PBINTEES,
BALTIMORE.

CONTENTS.

I. Introduction 7

II. Colonization and History :

Colonization of Nebraska 11

Settlement of Hall County 20

Economic History of Harrison Township :

Description of the Township 24

Settlement " " 25

Conditions of Colonization 27

Financial Condition of Settlers in First Years ... 32

Changes in Ownership by Years,— Table 1 33

Purchases and Sales of Different Classes of Lands,

—Table H 87

Causes of Settlers leaving,— Table III 39

Land Values 43

Renting 44

Credit 44

Taxation 46

Markets, Prices, and Freight Rates 48

II L Present Economic Condition of the Farmers of Harrison
Township :

A. The Land and its Ownership 53

a. The Lands considered 53

h. Quality of the Lands 54

c. Ownership of the Lands 55

B. Condition of Resident Owners 58

a. Chattel Mortgages 59

h. Real Estate Mortgages 60

1. General Statement 61

2. Debt on " Government," " Railroad " and

"School" Lands 62

3. Debt of Residents and Non-residents .... 63

4. Debt and Acquisition of Lands 66

5. Debt and Quality of Lands 70

c. Improvements on Land 72

IV. Conclusion :

Summary of Present Status of Farmer 76

Discussion of Economic Influences seen at work in

Harrison Township 78

V. Appendices :

A. Land Laws and Technical Expressions 88

B. Comparison of the Figures shown in this Paper
with those of Census of 1890 91

THE CONDITION OF THE WESTERN FARMER

AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE'

eoo:n^omio histoey of a :n^ebeaska

TOWI^rSHIP.

I.— INTRODUCTION.

The study on which this paper is based was suggested by
the desire of the writer to obtain some actual knowledge of
the true economic condition of the farmers in the western
states. The farmers' movement, culminating in its attempt to
change the policy of the government in many important par-
ticulars, had for its raison d'etre the depressed financial con-
dition of the agricultural classes. Against this position, the
other political parties urged that the financial depression
affected all classes alike, and that in no way did farmers have
greater difficulty in attaining prosperity than persons in other
lines of activity. Realizing the worthlessness of the isolated
examples cited for proof, as well by one side as by the other,
the author undertook the present investigation.

Two ways lie open to one desiring to find an answer to such
a question as that set before us. Either many and varied
statistics for the whole region under consideration may be
collected and examined, or a study in miniature may be made
of some little district which can fairly lay claim to being
typical of the whole region. For the first method, the pres-
ent United States census furnishes masses of figures, the use
of which is of great value. Nevertheless there are certain
grave difficulties connected with this method, not the least
of which is the continual danger of wide-reaching misinter-
pretation, growing out of some little fault or error at the
start. The study of a small district, on the other hand, while

8 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [286

avoiding these greater dangers, is only of value if it can be
shown that the district chosen is really representative, so that
what is true of its inhabitants can fairly be predicated in gen-
eral of the inhabitants of all that region about which knowl-
edge is sought. It is this last form of study which has been
adopted in this monograph, with the hope that it may, if
nothing more, supplement the facts shown by other and more
pretentious investigations.

The local causes at the basis of the farmers' movement
differ greatly between the South and the West, as between
other parts of the country, so that in any study these various
sections would need to be kept distinct; and it is to the West
alone, and to that part of the West whose main agricultural
development has taken place within the last twenty-five or
thirty years, that any conclusions drawn in this paper may be
(j applied. The district chosen for consideration is Harrison
township, in Hall county, Nebraska. Harrison is not only a
political subdivision, but also a congressional survey town-
ship, and so contains just thirty-six square miles. This
paper relates almost entirely to that small area, and to the
conditions which have directly affected it; only enough pre-
liminary matter is inserted to show clearly the relations of
the district with the state in which it lies and the group of
states of which it forms a part.

In weighing the reasons which are now to be given as
indicative of the representative character of the district se-
lected, it must be kept in mind that often the " average case "
is not the real representative one. The true "type" is
sometimes very different from the bare mathematical average.
For example, in such a study as the present one, the crucial
point is not alone such a question as whether the average
amount of mortgages owed by residents of the town is the
same as the average owed in the state as a whole. To dis-
cern a truly typical district, we must go much further than
that and take into consideration the many influencing con-
ditions: in short, we must strike a careful balance between
these conditions.

287] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 9

The following reasons may be instanced among those
which have led to the selection of Harrison township for
study, and which give weight to the claim that it is truly
typical of large portions of our western agricultural states.
The township was settled during the time when the immi-
gration to Nebraska was at its height. It does not lie in the
older settled regions along the Missouri river, nor is it in the
dry and very recently settled lands in the western part of the
state. Its lands are of an average fertility, certainly not better
than the average of good Nebraska uplands. The district
has never been subject to any serious detrimental influences
not common to, or paralleled in, large stretches of territory.
Another point which makes it a fair choice for study is that it
is entirely agricultural. There are no towns within its limits
to disturb in any way the market price of its farms, by giving
them a value for other than agricultural purposes. Never-
theless the market facilities of the township are good, inas--*
much as a railway station can be found within from one to
four miles of each of its comers, so that no portion of the
town is more than six or seven miles distant from a ship-
ping point. No railroads pass through the town or nearer
it than the stations referred to. Again, it will be found that
the figures obtained agree, if rightly interpreted, with such
analogous figures for the whole state as the census of 1890
has as yet made known.^ Another confirmatory circum-
stance is the marked way in which the yearly changes in the
number of resident owners, as shown in Table I, can be ex-
plained by references to the agricultural conditions prevail-
ing in the various years.

In comparison with a statistical investigation on a large
scale, this form of study has advantage in that we get from
it a better knowledge of the real life of the farmer. Where
the figures are on a very large scale, all sense of the actual
economic life of the individual is lost, and that sense, it may
well seem, is the true object of inquiry and the one from

^ See Appendix B.

>/

10 The Condition of the Western Farmer ^ [288

which the most benefit can be derived. Again, the detailed
study gives us the best opportunity to investigate the local
causes of changes in financial condition. The causes which
would tend to produce depression among agriculturalists fall
in general into two classes : those due to the general economic
condition of society, and those more directly connected with
the local conditions of agriculture. The first class of causes
is entirely without the scope of our inquiries, but in seeking
the facts of the present status of the farmers, we obtain natur-
ally, and in the same process, knowledge of the local condi-
tions and of their effects during the years which the study
covers.

The materials for the study were gathered during the sum-
mer of 1892. For the historical part of the paper, the var-
ious collections of materials for Nebraska history were used,
as were also the documents, speeches, and manuscripts in the
possession of the Nebraska State Historical Society. As a
basis for the study of the township proper, the records of the
United States Land Office at Grand Island, Nebraska, of
the Union Pacific Railway Land Office at Omaha, and of the
office of the County Clerk of Hall county, were exploited,
The personal information as to former residents was col-
lected from old settlers in the township, mainly by personal
interviews at their homes.

IL— COLONIZATION AND HISTORY.
Colonization of Nebraska.

The beginnings of the occupation of Nebraska by white
men are, as would naturally be expected, to be found, not
among agriculturalists, but among traders and trappers. As
early as 1810 tlie American Fur Company had established a
station on the Missouri river, in what is now known as
Sarpy county; and for many years it had sole possession of
the trade of vast stretches of territory. The United States
government guarded with great jealousy the rights of the
native Indian tribes, — Sioux, Poncas, Otoes, Missouris, and
Omahas — ^and until 1854, when the lands were formally
thrown open to settlers, no white man was allowed to reside
on Nebraska territory without a special permit from the
Secretary of War. Traces are evident of one or two such
permits during 1852, and by the close of 1853 some seven
or eight cabins, occupied with the consent of the govern-
ment, could have been found at various points along the
shore of the Missouri.

As it became evident that the territory of Nebraska would
soon be organized and its lands thrown open to settlement,
speculators and adventurers began to gather in the western
part of Iowa, more especially at Council Blufifs and other
river cities. In the first months of 1854 a few of the more
impatient ventured across the river and laid out for themselves
squatters' claims, but they rarely remained longer than the
day or two required to blaze the boundaries of their chosen
pieces of land. During March, 1854, treaties were concluded
with the Omahas and Otoes by which these tribes gave up
their rights to vast tracts of land; and at length, on the 24th
of June, the President, after authorization by the act of Con-
gress creating the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, for-
mally declared the removal of all restrictions as to residence.

12 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [290

And now followed a great rush by the waiting emigrants for
the best claims all along the river, although the land had not
yet been formally opened for pre-emptions. In order to pro-
tect the squatter rights, and later the pre-emption rights,
clubs, or claim associations were founded in the various
river counties, and " club law," dealing out summary punish-
ment to claim-jumpers and others of their ilk, became the
order of the day/ Before the close of 1854 several towns
had been projected, among them Omaha, Florence, Platts-
mouth, and Nebraska City, the opening of the latter having
been celebrated "on the spot," July 4th, 1854.
y The air was full of speculation, and the early activities of
' the settlers were directed mainly to the advancement of their
civic interests, or in other words, to the sale of corner lots.
At first agriculture was very little thought of, the new-comers
looking upon themselves for the most part as transients, and
Nebraska as their abiding place only until the happy day
when they would have finished the accumulation of small
fortunes, for enjoyment in their eastern homes. In fact,
there seems to have been a pretty general belief that the new
territory was very ill adapted for farming, and that whatever
else it might become, it would at least never be a great agri-
cultural state. Even after the lapse of five or six years farm-
ing was a matter of very minor importance, as can be seen
from the figures of the census of i860. In this year the popu-
lation of Nebraska was 28,841, but only 3982 of these were
reported as engaged in farming; and even of these latter the
greater number were only nominally farmers, so that, on the
authority of Senator Paddock,"* the area of regularly honestly
cultivated land probably did not at the outside exceed more
than 500,000 acres for the whole territory.' But with the rap-

^ See Transactions Nebraska State Historical Sociey, Vol. II, here
and there. Also Jesse Macy's Institutional Beginnings in a West-
em State, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Vol. n., No. 7.

'Address before the State Board of Agriculture, Lincoln, Neb.,
Sept. 26, 1878.

'The census of 1860, however, reported 118,789 improved acres
and 512,425 unimproved acres in farms; but its figures are undoubt-
edly too large.

291] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 13

idly increasing security of person and property, and the per-
ception of the real value and fertility of the soil, this state of
affairs quickly changed; speculators gave way to settlers, and
the border line of cultivation advanced rapidly toward the
west. This progress and its conditions will now briefly be
Considered'.

As we have noticed, the first emigrants to Nebraska had
no better title to their chosen lands than squatters' rights,
and they had to combine and often make use of force to
secure peaceful possession. As this was prior to the time of
the homestead acts,^ the emigrants had to rely mainly on the
pre-emption acts for acquiring lands, and it was not until
1859 that a general public sale was ordered. The progress
of settlement was greatly retarded by the number of specu-
lative claims that had been staked out as soon as entrance to
the territory had become a possibility; for a new-comer would
soon find himself forced to go eight or ten miles back from
the river, or pay some speculator an exorbitant price for the
opportunity to settle on the better situated piece of land
which the latter had in his clutches. As a result a large
amount of land remained unimproved in the midst of the
newly opened farms, and permanent damage was done the
country.

During the early part of the fifties there could be found
here and there along the overland trail to the coast, so-called
" ranches " kept by pioneers, typical border characters, whose
greatest pleasures were incident to their remoteness from
civilized life. At these ranches, the wearied wagoner could
rest himself and renew his store of provisions if he so desired,
or could perhaps have necessary repairing done to his wagons.
But as these ranchmen had no thought of permanent resi-
dence— the very nature of their occupation, in fact, limiting
their activity to the period prior to the introduction of rail-
ways,— and as they paid practically no attention to farming,
it would not be proper, in summing up the advance of settle-

^ See Appendix A.

14 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [292

merits from the point of view of agriculture, to include them
as early residents; so, when the term "first settler" of any
county is used, it will mean the first actual farmer who
entered upon permanent possession.

In probably all the counties along the Missouri, except
those on the northern boundary of the state, quite a number
of inhabitants could have been found by the close of the year
1854; but owing to the character of the people and the con-
ditions of life in a frontier state, almost no farming can have
been attempted before 1856 or 1857. Meanwhile the set-
tlers began to push backward from the river, though the
advance was quite slow. Indian scares were frequent, though
the real danger was comparatively slight. Moreover, an idea
that had gained wide currency was that beyond the Salt Creek,
a stream some fifty miles west of the Missouri, the land was
utterly uninhabitable; that in fact the little stream marked
the beginning of the Great American Desert. But the exper-
ience of an adventurer here and there proving this view fal-
lacious, settlements extended, so that we are safe in saying
that, with one possible exception, every county within eighty
miles of the Missouri had by i860 a few, at least, actual
settlers living within its borders.

The early settlers followed naturally the course of the little
rivers in eastern Nebraska, partly for the sake of the easy
water supply, partly for the shelter of the timber along the
banks, and partly also on account of the easy means of com-
munication thus offered. So also when settlers ventured
further into the interior of the state, the first claims were
placed upon the banks of the streams, while the intervening
country was passed over. Almost the whole state of Ne-
braska is an alternation of valleys and uplands, and almost
invariably the latter were entered upon only after the former
had been pretty thoroughly occupied. The same thing is
to be observed with reference to the Platte river, for at a
very early day settlements had followed it upwards for quite
a distance. It is to be noticed that they followed the river in
preference to the old emigrant trail across the country. The

293] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 15

route of early overland emigrants had not lain along the
river, owing to the great curves which the course of the Platte
follows, but had run some distance to the south in a more
nearly straight line, and had only begun to follow the Platte
at Fort Kearney, about a hundred and seventy-five miles
from the Missouri. In fact this trail seems to have had no
influence on the course of settlement at all, for, in illustration,
one of the counties through which it passed before reaching
Fort Kearney seems to have received absolutely no settlers
between the time of the early ranches and the comparatively
late date 1866, though this county itself lay immediately
south of the Platte. Of the counties along the Platte, by
1856 there were settlements in Sarpy, Cass, Douglas, Saun-
ders, Dodge, Colfax, and Platte counties, reaching out over
100 miles, and the following year Nance, Merrick, and Hall
were invaded. In 1858 Buffalo county, too, had settlers.
This brings us to the neighborhood of Fort Kearney, but
beyond this point even the advantages of the neighboring
river did not attract settlers for a number of years, owing
mainly to the idea, of which we have seen illustrations before,
that the limit of good agricultural land had been reached and
that further west dependence could only be put upon stock-
raising. The greatly augmented danger from Indians to
the west of Fort Kearney had also its effect in hindering the
advance of population. In fact, it was only after the build-
ing of the Union Pacific Railroad that any inhabitants but
the ranchmen along the overland trail could be found in all
that stretch of hundreds of miles between the immediate
neighborhood of Fort Kearney and the Rocky Mountains;
and not until 1872 was the first farming, even in the western
part of Buffalo county, attempted.

And here a word may be said about the settlements in the
western part of the state, and that subject be then permanently
dropped; for nothing can be gained from it that will be of
interest in our further investigations. With the exception
of the comparatively rare river valleys, the western third of
the state is sandy, and is in parts composed to a large extent

16 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [294

of sand-hills; and so it has been much better fitted for grazing
purposes than for agriculture. Consequently agricultural
settlements, the only kind with which we are concerned,
date back in many cases only five or six years. The sparse
populations have had great difficulty in withstanding the
partial failures of crops to which they have repeatedly been
subjected; and their term of occupation has been so short,
and the real nature of their lands is yet so imperfectly known,
that a discussion of them would teach us very little of value.

To return now with more of detail to the region of the east-
em Platte, we notice that nearly all the settlements along its
banks, with the exception of those near the Missouri river,
were on the northern side.^ The reason for this is to be
found in the difference of the lay of the land on the two
banks. The bluflfs on the south border directly on the river
for long distances, and in consequence, the first settler, with
the whole land before him to choose from, turned to the
north where the rich bottom lands stretch back from five to
twenty miles before reaching the bluffs. To these bottom
lands the settlements were very largely confined for many
years, and in very many cases it was not until several years
after the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad that the
back lands in these counties were entered upon at all. It
has been shown before that much the same Conditions
affected the settlement of the bottom lands of the small
streams in the whole eastern part of the state.

During the decade i860 to 1870 settlements in the
eastern counties became much thicker and there was a grad-
ual pushing westward all over the state. In 1870 the rate of
settlements seems to have been greatly accelerated again,
several new counties being entered upon, and the back lands
of the Platte River coi^nties being to a considerable extent
taken. For several years this rate was kept up and then
settlers were forced, in order to get any land at all, to enter

^ Of the counties previously enumerated, Douglas, Sarpy, Dodge,
Colfax, Platte, Nance, Merrick, part of Hall, and Buffalo, lay to the
north.

295] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 17

the more sandy lands in the western part of the state, which
have already briefly been spoken of.

In order to get a better idea of the way in which these set-
tlements progressed, an outline of the development in one or
two counties may be given.

Seward county lies immediately west of Lancaster county,
in which is situated the capital of the state, and is some sixty
miles west of the Missouri. The first arrivals were in 1859,
when some disappointed gold-seekers on their way back to
the " states " determined to stop in Nebraska and try their
luck there. They established ranches, but did not do farming
at this time. The next comers established ranches in '62,
and in '63 a few more appear. The next year immigration
started out very briskly; but soon a great Indian scare drove
most of the settlers out of the county to safer parts on the
Missouri, and at the election in the fall only seven votes
were polled. Prior to 1867 the most of the setdements had
been made in the southern part of the county, but now the
location of the state capital at Lincoln, only a few miles away,
gave a great impulse to immigration, and by the close of the
spring of '68 a large proportion of the government land in
the county had been taken. In 1870 the school census
for Seward county showed 782 children of school age, while
the total number of inhabitants was 2953, and there were
some 24,000 acres of land under cultivation. The county
may then be called settled, and it proceeded in its growth
with the various ups and downs incident to agriculture. Be-
tween 1865 and 1875 the assessed value of property increased
from $29,000 odd to $1,597,000; and by 1879 it is said that
one-third of the acreage was actually under cultivation, while
the population had increased to over 11,000.

Taking up now Adams county, which lies in the third tier
of counties west of Seward, we find a very different course.
Though it is no.w one of the richest and most populous
counties in the state, before the spring of 1870 Adams county
had not even had a ranch of any description within its bor-
ders. Two facts may be mentioned which indicate the causes

1 8 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [296

of the failure to colonize at an earlier date. First, the lands
lay at some little distance south of the Platte river, and so
were out of the direct course of the earliest settlements; and
second, the region was in too great proximity to the favorite
hunting grounds of the Sioux Indians. In March of 1870
two typical plainsmen took claims which they held for about
three years, but then gave them up to get further away from
the settlements, which were becoming too thick to suit them.
The same year saw still other settlers, and in the spring of
'71 a party of Englishmen came in and took claims in the
county. By the fall of this year there was a voting popula-
tion of twenty-nine. From this time on the rate of settle-
ment was so rapid that by the census of 1880 the county had
a population of 10,235.

The life of the early settlers of Nebraska, though full of
hardships, had its pleasant aspects, and probably was much
easier than that of the settlers of many of the states. For
one thing, the pioneer stage was everywhere very short, and
the discomforts attendant thereon proportionately reduced.
This may be attributed, from a local point of view, to two
things: first, to the absence of forest lands, this doing away
with the necessity of the clearing process, so that the lands
as they lay could be brought into cultivation with a com-
paratively small outlay of time and money; and second, to
the uniform fertility of the lands, this allowing settlers' farms
to lie contiguous for many miles, thus giving the benefits
of easy mutual assistance. Of course the existence of a
great mass of emigrants ready to flow into whatever region
oflfers them the greatest advantages is a necessary prelim-
inary to such a rapid settlement of any particular state. An-
other influence that may be mentioned, of very great im-
portance for Nebraska, was the railroad building in the state,
especially between 1866 and 1870 or '72.

The early settlers along the Missouri had the advantage of
being near their base of supplies, for Iowa was already quite
well settled, and, as we have seen, owing to the intensely
speculative activity of the time, merchants and towns had

297] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 19

actually preceded farmers in the possession of the land. But
those whose claims were further inland not only felt the dis-
advantage of their location in the difficulty of laying in their
supplies and selling their produce, but also in the retarding
of the speed with which they could bring their lands under
cultivation. For instance, the farmer at a distance from the
river was greatly delayed by the always recurring necessity
of having his plow resharpened, a thing which, owing to
his situation, he could not easily and quickly accomplish by
turning it over to a mechanic; he was compelled to stop his
plowing entirely while he awkwardly performed the work, or
else to travel a long distance in order to get it perhaps very
little better done.

The price of clothing was during the early days very high,
and the settler had often to content himself with garments
made of skins. Overcoats, when the settlers were so fortu-
nate as to possess them, were more likely than not such as
had been originally made for the United States army but
had been condemned and rejected by the government.
These, shipped out to the prairies, brought very high figures.
The question of food is of more interest. Corn bread and
"rye hominy" formed the staples, eked out often by wild
fruits. Melons grew in great abundance and were a source
of refreshment and often of great profit to the pioneer.
Game was frequently obtainable — antelope, the wild goose,
the prairie chicken and the quail. After the first year the
settler's pig or two and his few chickens would have so
increased that he could depend on them to quite an extent
for animal food. Money was very scarce at first, but later
tomers usually brought with them a little coin, for which
they would purchase from the older settlers farm produce
for use while getting under way, thus putting the money in
circulation, and giving the first comers the opportunity to
procure needed articles which previously lack of coin had
put beyond their reach.

Whatever the early settler had in the way of provisions he
was liable to be called on at any time to share with some

20 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [298

still more needy home-seeker who happened to pass his way.
To such, lodging and a meal could not be refused, though to
give them required an appreciable sacrifice, and rarely was it
that any payment was tendered in return. The pioneer was
hotel-keeper and distributer of alms to all the world that
came his way. This, needless to say, was often a serious
drain.

The amount of land granted to the railroad companies in
Nebraska before July 1st, 1880, was 6,409,376 acres, and this
fact made considerable difference in the settlements after 1864
and '66, the time when the first grants went into effect. For,
although the railroads offered their lands at low rates and on
long time, the settler, if he was qualified, naturally preferred
to enter government land which cost him nothing, and this
led to a less thick but probably more widely extended popula-
tion than would have otherwise been the case. In fact there
is, in many cases, even yet a marked difference between the
number and the condition of settlers on the two classes of
lands.*

Settlement of Hall County.

Hall county, within the limits of which most of the mater-
ial for this paper has been gathered, is one of those counties
lying along the Platte river, which, as we have seen, were in
course of settlement at a comparatively early date. The
Union Pacific Railroad runs through it, and the eastern bor-
der of the county is some one hundred and fifty miles from the
Missouri river by rail, or perhaps twenty-five miles less than
that by a direct line. Somewhere near its southern comer
the several channels of the Platte enter the county, running
through it in a northeasterly direction, and passing out of the
county near the center of its eastern boundary line. The dis-
tance between the north and south channels of the river
varies in this county from two and a half to four and a half
miles. Along the south bank of the river are bluffs, and from
them a rich table-land stretches off to the south.

* See Part HI.

299] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 21

To the north, nearly parallel with the river, and separat-
ing the valley of the Platte from that of the Loup, another
chain of low and rather sandy hills runs through the county,
and the level country between these hills and the bluffs to
the south of the river may properly be called the valley of the
Platte, though a mile or two north of its north channel there
is a slight rise that divides what are known as the " first bot-
tom " and " second bottom " lands.

It was in early July, 1857, that the first settlers reached
the county, the party consisting of thirty-seven persons.
They came under the auspices of a company controlled by
the Washington banking house of Chubbs Bros, and Bar-
rows, their object being not so much agriculture as the found-
ing of a town, to which the company thought — so much were
they under the influence of the speculative fever of the time —
that they could secure the removal of the capital of the United
States in the near future." Unfortunately for the hopes of
the projectors of the enterprise, the banking house went
down under the pressure of the panic of the following year,
and the national capital was permitted to remain undisturbed
at Washington. The immigrants, immediately upon arrival,
staked out claims and put up several log-houses. Only
about fifty acres of land were broken the first year, when the
approach of winter compelled the cessation of work. The
winter was passed under very great trials, owing to the dis-
tance from supplies and the impassableness of the roads, so
that at times even actual starvation was feared. In the spring
came fresh supplies, and with them renewed ability to labor;
and the work of preparing the soil for cultivation progressed
rapidly. In July of 1858 there arrived a new band of some
twenty persons. Thus far the settlers were almost entirely
Germans, only about five Americans having cast their lot
with the colony. The land on which they settled lay on

^ At this time the United States survey had not been extended
beyond Columbus, nor were there any settlements west of that
point.

22 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [300

the "first bottom"' of the Platte. During the first yeai* or
so the struggle to get established was very severe, and had
it not been for the supplies of provisions forwarded by the
original town company, the attempt at colonization might
have been a failure. But in the fall of 1859 the colonists
obtained a contract for supplying the government at Fort
Kearney, some forty miles distant, with two thousand bushels
of corn at $2 a bushel, and this helped the colony in great
measure to become self-supporting. Besides this, many of
the settlers were able, in the intervals of their activity, to
obtain employment at the fort, thus adding to their incomes.
About this time, trade with the emigrants to the gold mines
in Colorado and other western territories became very profit-
able for the settlers; a good cabbage«|iead would bring as
high as fifty cents, and a watermelon a dollar. In addition
the emigrants would often have lame cattle and yotmg calves
which they were very glad to sell to the settlers at low prices ;
and as such stock could very easily be brought back into
good condition, the profit in the transaction was great.

During 1858 a number of Mormon farms had been opened
along Wood river at a distance of ten or twelve miles from
the original settlement; but these unwelcome residents soon
concluded to move further west and join the remainder of
their brethren in Utah. The part of the county south of
the Platte received its first settlers in i860, when a family
by the name of Martin started a cattle-ranch there, but the
greater danger^ from the Indians kept settlers away and
greatly retarded the development of this region. In the
northern part of the county new-comers slowly but steadily
appeared during the following years and settled down to
farming. In i860 there were 116 residents in the county.
But colonization soon received quite a serious setback from
the withdrawal of almost all the United States troops in

^ See p. 21 above.

2 At this time the Sioux claimed all the western part of Nebraska
south of the Platte as their hunting grounds and were very vigilant
in avenging all intrusion, whether by other redskins or by whites.

301] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 23

the territory on account of the necessities of the Civil
War. This left the colonists almost entirely unprotected,
and as a result the Indians became very much bolder
and threatened to drive all the whites out of the country.
In fact, almost all the settlers in the Platte valley fled beyond
the Missouri; but at two or three points, one of which was
the settlement in question, fortifications were erected and so
firm a stand was maintained that no heavy damage was suf-
fered. In Hall county there were several massacres at un-
protected farm-houses, but on the whole comparatively little
harm was done. When the Civil War was over the work of
settlement went on again apace. The building of the Union
Pacific Railroad, which was finished through this part of the
country in 1866, made immigration much easier, and only
with its completion did the first settlers venture off the river
bottoms. But the building of the railroad was by no means
an unmixed blessing for the cause of colonization, for the
contractors ruthlessly destroyed all the natural timber along
the Platte and other streams; and this timber, little enough
at the start, was very sorely missed, and has only been re-
placed by careful labor for many years in protecting the
regrowth and in planting anew. By 1870, Hall county^s pop-
ulation had increased to 1057, of whom about two-thirds
were male; and 5870 acres had been brought under cultiva-
tion. Up to this time all the immigrants without exception
had located their claims near the river on the " first bottom "
lands. The first settler to locate on the " second bottom ''
lands did so in the fall of 1870, and the following year a num-
ber of claims were located in that part of the county. The
oldest settlers looked with anything but hopeful eyes on
these attempts to farm the uplands. In fact, most felt sure
that agriculture on such lands was an impossibility, and they
predicted that the attempts could result in nothing but failure.
The writer is credibly informed by one of the oldest settlers
that year after year the weather was so dry that on the
" second bottom " lands the grass was, by the middle of July,
in a fit condition for prairie fires, nor could it after that time

24 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [302

be used for pasturage except on the very^ banks of the small
streams. But this condition has been materially changed
by the settlement of the country and the increase of timber.
How little justification in fact these early predictions had will
be seen with the progress of this paper.

All the land thus far occupied had been " government
land,"' and, indeed, before 1870 there had been only three
sales of "railroad land" in the county. During 1872, how-
ever, practically all the available " government land " in the
coimty was entered, and though after that time here and there
an entry on an abandoned piece of land was made, neverthe-
less one who wished thereafter to settle in Hall county had to
depend either on " railroad land " or on purchasing from
older settlers. Since then the county has continuously in-
creased in population and has had its fair share of prosperity.
It has suffered from the grasshoppers, felt the impetus of years
of good crops and the discouragement of years of crop failure,
and has come out, it must be owned, with its fair share of
mortgages. The population was, according to the census of
1890, 16,513, of whom 8454 were residents of city or villages,
the remaining 8059 being residents of farms. With this we
can dismiss the consideration of the county as such; for all
that is important in the economic history of the farming
classes after this time will be brought out as fully as possible
in the following more detailed account treating of Harrison
township.

Economic History of Harrison Township.

The boundaries of Harrison Township (or Precinct, as it
was called before the county adopted township organization)
coincide exactly with those of the congressional township
known as township eleven, range eleven, west of the sixth
principal meridian, and thus it contains very nearly thirty-six

^ For this and other terms used in a rather technical sense through-
out this paper, as well as for a brief account of the ways in which
a settler could acquire title to the different classes of lands we are
to consider, see Appendix A.

303] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 25

square miles. Its southeast corner is, as nearly as may be, the
geographical center of Hall county. The main channel of
the Platte river lies, at its nearest point, about five miles
distant, while the northwestern corner of the township is
some thirteen or fourteen miles distant from the river. The
lands are what we have designated in this paper as " second
bottom" lands. The surface is very slightly undulating, so
slightly indeed that one who was not a close observer might
call it an almost perfect level. Through the northwestern
quarter of the town runs a small stream, Prairie Creek, and
there is one other streamlet which contains running water
only at certain times of the year. The fertility of the land is,
on the whole, of a very high grade; this matter, however,
will receive more careful attention hereafter.

The first settlement in Hall county, on that part of the
" second bottom " lands which is drained by Prairie Creek,
had been made in the year 1871, but it was not until 1872 that
a claim of any sort was taken within the limits of Harrison
township. By the end of that year, however, entries of some
kind had been made on all of the government land therein.
The first entry was in the latter part of March, when two pre-
emptions were filed on quarter sections in the southeastern
part of the township. In April nine entries were made, most
of them homesteads, near the two claims taken in March;
two, however, were pre-emptions, placed in the western part of
the town by ranchers who hoped, while controlling under their
own claims but a few hundred acres, to be able to have the
use of many thousands of acres of unclaimed land around
them for grazing their cattle. Needless to say, the rapidity
of settlement surprised these men so greatly that they gave
up their claims in disgust and moved farther away. In May
there were six entries; in June, eleven; in July, six; in
August, twelve; in September, nineteen; in October, three;
and in November, two. This includes, it must be remem-
bered, only the first entry on each tract of ground, the total
number of such entries being seventy ; and as the government
land originally available for entry consisted of sixty-four

26 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [304

quarter-sections, the average number of acres taken on each
entry was 146.3.

Of these original entries, fourteen were pre-emptions, forty-
seven were homesteads, and nine were soldiers' homestead
declaratory statements, intended to mature in due time into
homesteads proper, — all but four, in fact, doing so. It is
proper, then, to say that there were fourteen pre-emptions as
against fifty-six homesteads; that is, four-fifths of all entries
were homesteads. This shows, at least, the relative estima-
tion in which the two ways of taking land were held. It
might at first sight seem that the taking of a homestead indi-
cated that the settler came with the intention of residing
permanently, but did not have sufficient means to purchase
the land he desired, even at the very low prices demanded by
the government; thus it would follow that four-fifths of the
entries were made by settlers who were lacking the means
necessary for pre-emption. But such a conclusion must be
looked at with caution, for in considering the individual cases
we find that here and there a well-to-do " speculator "^ took
a homestead, while on the contrary a pre-emption was occa-
sionally taken by one whose possessions were as nearly nil as
they well could be, and whose hopes for paying up on a pre-
emption must have been based entirely on some wild notion
of fabulous crops in the first years. Of the fourteen pre-emp-
tions mentioned above, only one "was paid up, that one being
one of the two taken by the ranchmen whom we have spoken
of before. Three men relinquished their pre-emptions to
take homesteads on the same land, and four relinquished in
order to take timber-claims on the same land; the remaining
four gave up their holdings in the township altogether and

^ The term " speculator," as used here and at other places In this
paper, always refers to residents. It includes both those who took
government land and resided thereon just long enough to "prove
up," and those who, coming later and purchasing land from the
railroad company or from other settlers, had a speculation as their
prime motive, but who really made their living out of the farms for
one or more years, while waiting for an opportunity to sell at a
profit.

305] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 27

moved away. This relinquishment of pre-emptions occurred
almost entirely in the fall of '74> when the time given by law
for " proving up " had expired, and the holders found them-
selves unable to pay the amounts required to complete their
title under the pre-emption laws. It must be remembered
that this land being within the Union Pacific ten-mile limit,
pre-emptors were obliged to pay the government the double
minimum price, $2.50 per acre.

Facts given in Appendix A will show how it sometimes
happened that several entries were made upon the same tract
of land. To illustrate the number sometimes so made, we
may take the case of the northwest quarter of section
eighteen in this township, on which ten entries were made,
the first in '72 and the last in '82.

The last entry made on government land in the township
was in February, 1884. In all 159 entries had been made, of
which ninety-seven were homesteads, fourteen soldiers' home-
stead declaratory statements, twenty-five pre-emptions, and
twenty-three timber claims.

We have noticed above the number of entries made on
land in the various months. By referring to these figures iti^
will be evident that the number- of entries in August and
September, 1872, formed nearly half of the total number in
that year. Now, many of those who made entries at this
time did not actually enter into possession of the land until
the following spring, and, evidently, those who took pos-
session in the fall could do little more than get some kind of
habitation in readiness, and a very little, if any, breaking
done, before winter set in and put a stop to work. So their
first year saw, practically, no farming undertaken.

Those not familiar with the subject sometimes think of
the conditions of colonization under our present land laws as
having been of such a character that the empty-handed settler
could, through the mediation of the government, soon be-
come the possessor of a well-equipped farm. But a very little
reflection shows us that the gift of the soil is by no means
all that is needed as the foundation for a farm. To convert

$5o.oo
500.00
200.00
150.00
100.00 $1000.00

28 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [306

the raw prairie into a habitable and income-producing farm
is not an easy task, and quite a Httle capital is needed to do it
satisfactorily. Prof. Rodney Welch makes the following
estimate of the necessary expenses :

Registering, etc

Horses and implements .
Furniture, small stock, etc. .
House (sod), stables and seed
Breaking forty acres sod .

To this must be added the cost of sustenance for self and
family during the year, or perhaps two years, which inter-
vened before regular crops could be raised. The country
being new, little work could be found by which the income
could be helped out. It would be perfectly safe to say that
the ordinary immigrant had very much less means than the
amount mentioned, and was much hindered in his work by
his lack of sufficient capital. Those who came out to their
claims with practically no capital were usually forced to leave
before much time had passed, though here and there a pros-
j)erous farmer is to be found who started out with not even a
team with which to plow his land.

There were several things which tended to lighten the bur-
dens of the settlers. One of these which helped them in
many cases was their previous service in the army, for a very
large proportion of the settlers had taken part in the Civil
War. The amount of time spent in the army is deducted
from the five years' residence on the land which is otherwise
required of the "homesteader" before he can acquire title
to his "claim." Besides this advantage, a pension gave to
many the wherewithal on which to live until they could raise
their first good crops. Much trouble and some expense was
saved the settlers of Harrison township by the fact that they
were located so near the government land office. The fact,
too, that they were within a few miles' distance of lands that
had been under cultivation for ten or fifteen years had a very

^ The Forum, Vol. VIIT., No. 5.

307] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 29

important influence; for the new settler could, in conse-
quence, find near at hand the grain and other supplies which
he needed during his first year's residence until he could
raise crops for himself; and as the cost of transportation of
such commodities was avoided, the amount which he would
have to expend for support in these years was much less than
would otherwise have been the case.

Another thing of very great importance, in many cases, was
the simultaneous settlement of former neighbors or acquaint-
ances in one locality, for they could render many mutual ser-
vices which the lone settler was precluded, to a great extent,
from receiving. Especially was this true when several
brothers or a father and his sons came together and took
" claims " side by side ; and where the father had well-grown
minor sons whose continuous services he could require, his
possibility for prosperity was still more enhanced.

There were certain hardships to which the first settlers on
the prairies were peculiarly liable, one of the most dreaded
being the prairie fires, which, during some seasons of the year,
frequently threatened certain destruction of house and home
as well as crops. Another thing which caused much suffer-
ing and loss in the early times — one that has repeatedly been
brought to the writer's notice — was the fact of residence at
long distance from a physician. The disadvantage in this
was twofold: first, the inability to get medical attendance
promptly, and secondly, the great cost of it when obtained;
a heavy bill was speedily incurred and bore a discouragingly
large proportion to the scanty cash income during the first
years of settlement.

But by all means the greatest hindrance during the early
years, and one that afifected all settlers alike, was the grass-
hopper pest. Though the harni done by these insects will be
considered in detail when we come to examine the financial
history of the settlers year by year, yet the grasshoppers were
such an important economic factor in Nebraska that a brief
sketch of their history there seems advisable. The calopteni
spreti, or " mountain locusts," were first seen in small num-

30 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [308

bers in 1862; again in '64 and '65, and in '66 and '68 they
were seen, but did little harm. In '69 in certain sections,
as in Hall county, they destroyed the whole crop. The habit
of the insects is to soar high in the air in immense swarms,
and from time to time to pounce down on a field, often strip-
ping it bare of all vegetation before continuing their flight
The grain most commonly devoured was com. After '69
the pests were not seen in central Nebraska till '73, and
though in this year many families suffered very severe
losses, yet the average crop for the whole state was fair, and
prices of grain were not greatly raised. Hall county was
fortunate enough to escape them almost entirely at this time.
In the last days of July and the first of Atigust, '74, they suc-
ceeded in devouring almost all the growing com, and those
settlers on the frontier whose " sod corn '" had been their
sole crop, and those farther east who had concentrated almost
all their labor on that one crop, were sometimes reduced to a
condition of absolute want. The years '75 and '76 saw the
return of the " hoppers," as the settlers familiarly called them,
but in neither year was the destruction so great as before.

It will be well to discuss in this place the standard of living
of the early settler and its relation to his possibility of finan-
cial progress. It is true the early settler possessed very little
property, but on the other hand his needs were few. A sod
house gave him shelter, and after the first year his farm mr-
nished him most of the food he required. The standard of
living was practically the same for all the settlers, so that with
the purchase of a little clothing and a few groceries, one
could live comfortably, as the times went, on a very small
outlay of cash. Tme, it was a hard life to live, but as a better
was well-nigh impossible, and as there was always bright
hope of improvement in the future, the settler was content.
Rivalry being so largely lacking, the forces which would tend
to raise the standard of living were very weak, and all the in-

*Sod crops are raised on prairie which has only just been
broken. They are usually very light and easily destroyed by a
bad season.

309] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 31

centives were for the farmer to invest upon his farm any sur-
pkis he might have, instead of consuming it in a less directly-
productive manner. The great difficulty of getting credit
at the time furthered such investment, for capital was sorely
needed upon the farms, and practically the only way for the
farmer to put it there was by carefully avoiding all expendi-
tures for living that were not absolutely necessary, and so
saving the necessary amount, or what part of it he could.
This form of investment, in turn, gave a certain degree of
prosperity ; and it may well be that the man w^ho could main-
tain his footing under the circumstances which we have
described, would not be able to prevent loss at the present
day, when the conditions are so different; for a much higher
standard of living must to-day be maintained, and it is now
comparatively easy to fall into the habit of borrowing until
all hope of retrieving one's fortunes is gone. This difference
may to some extent account for the fact, which we shall see
later, that fewer of the farmers were ruined in the early years
by what we may call the prevalent agricultural conditions,
than have, in recent years, failed in a similar manner.

The matters that we have mentioned present some of the
salient features of the economic conditions that surrounded
the first settlers. Bearing these facts in mind, let us now
proceed to consider with more or less detail the financial con-
dition of the farmers during the first few years after the set-
tlement of the township was begun; and from that we can
pass to a more hasty sketch of the changes from year to
year until the present time.

The number who took claims or bought railroad land dur-
ing 1872, and who followed up the taking of their claims by
actual residence, was sixty-one; but probably many of these
were only nominally residents until the following year. In
1873 the number of residents increased to seventy-three,
thirteen new men coming in and one man leaving. Of the
newcomers nine entered government land; three contracted
for the purchase of railroad land, and one purchased his
land of a non-resident holder of railroad contracts. The

32 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [310

assessment rolls for '73 show no one in this township
taxed as the owner of land, but twenty-two persons were
assessed as the owners of personal property. During this
year none but " sod crops " were raised, and, fortunately,
the grasshoppers, so bad throughout the state as a whole,
did scarcely any damage to the crops in Harrison township,
so that the farmers were permitted to gather in whatever
grain the newly opened soil could furnish. The one man
who left during this year is said to have been a gambler
and speculator who had come to the country with some
vague idea of making a fortune in the immediate future,
but who soon tired of even his nominal residence on a farm
and sought more agreeable fields.

Though the grasshoppers did considerable damage in the
state as a whole during 1873, as we have seen, yet their rav-
ages were not so great as to cause very high prices for grain
in the spring of the following year; nor was immigration to
the part of the state which we are considering materially
hindered thereby. In fact, in 1874 the number of arrivals in
the township was larger than in 1873. Seventeen new settlers
came, of whom nine entered upon government land, five on
railroad land, and three purchased of older settlers. In this
year we find taxes levied for the first time on real property;
while thirty-eight persons were taxed on personal property.
Owing to the grasshoppers and severe hot winds, the crops
this year were very much damaged, the corn being wholly
lost, and the small grains yielding less than one-half of an
average crop. In consequence many persons were left
entirely without means of support except such as they could
obtain from the relief associations.

During 1874, five men gave up their holdings in Harrison
township. Two of these were speculators ; one lost his farm
through legal complications consequent on mortgaging his
personal property too often; a fourth, having no capital, had
made no improvements on the land on which he was nomi-
nally resident, and had gained his support by working for
neighbors, and, although he left as poor as he well could be,

311] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 33

he cannot be said to have failed in farming. The fifth had
completed his title to a homestead before selling, having been
able to do this by taking advantage of the special privileges
in time, etc., that the law gave to former soldiers. He had
poor health and lacked in energy ; the bad crops quickly dis-
couraged him, so that he lost confidence in the country and
its resources. Having an opportunity to do so, he willingly
sold his farm and returned to his native state of Michigan to
work in the more healthful pineries. Thus far, therefore,
we find only one man whose departure can in any sense be
said to have been caused, or even accelerated, by unfavorable
conditions of soil or climate.

During 1875 prices of grain went higher than ever, owing
to the crop failure of the preceding year, com being sold at
over $1 a bushel; and this affected the new settler in that in
most cases he was compelled to buy grain for his own use.
The bad years seem finally to have had their effect on immi-
gration, for in 1875 no new settlers entered the township,
while five either sold out or abandoned tl\eir claims and left
the country. More than this, if we can place any dependence
on the tax lists, there were this year but twenty-two persons
in the township owning taxable personal property; although
the number of persons to whom real estate was assessed had
increased from one to thirteen.

Without considering the following years in such detail,
it can be seen by reference to Table I. in what way the num-
ber of resident farmers owning their land' has changed.

* For the purpose of this paper all claimants or contractors will
be treated as owners; and in Table I. the acquisition of claims under
the land laws, or the making of a contract for the purchase of rail-
road lands, is included with the actual purchases under the head of
" purchasing," while the alienation of the settlers' interests, either
by abandonment or relinquishment of claims, or by assignment or
cancellation of railroad contracts, is included under the head of
" selling." It must be remembered that especially during the past
few years the number of rented farms has constantly increased,
and that the table does not show the total number of cultivated
farms, but includes only those which have been cultivated by resi-
dent owners. It is perhaps needless to add that the figures refer
to heads of families, not to individuals, in residence.

34

The Condition of the Western Farmer, [312

The first two columns show the changes in ownership
occurring each year among resident owners; the third
column, the number at the close of each year who had ever
been resident owners and still owned the land. After deduct-
ing the number shown in the fourth column as moving away
without selling, we have left in the fifth column the number of
owners, at the end of each year, who were actually occupying
their own farms.^

I.— RESIDENT OWNERS.

Resident during part or all of term of
ownership.

Moved

out of

Township

(still hold

title).

Total
owners in

Number
Purchasing.

61

13

17

0

Number
Selling.

Total
Owning.

actual
residence.

1872
8
4
5

0
1
5
5

61
73

85
80

3

61
73

85

77

6

7

8

9

80

2
5
9
20
9

8
7
4
10
5

74
72
77
87
91

1
1

1

71
68
72
82
85

1
3
3
4
5

1

7

7

15

4

3
6

1
9
3

89

90

96

102

103

1

83
83
89
95
96

6

7

8

8

90

3
4
4
3
3

5
5
3

7
4

101

100

101

97

96

1

1

94
93
93

89

87

1
2

1
2

9
6

88

84

1

78

74

190

106

84 i 10

74

^In this connection, the following table, indicating the average
length of time during which resident owners have retained title to
the land which they occupied, may he of interest:

DURATION OF OWNERSHIP BY RESIDENTS.

On

Government

Land.

On

Railroad

Land.

Purchasers from
other than Rail-
road Companies.

Average for
all Residents.

Men who have
sold

7.4 years

7.5 years

6.0 years

7.0 years

Men who still
own

17.8 years

14.6 years

7.6 years

12.0 years

313] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 35

We observe that the number of such owners increased
rapidly until '74, at which time there were more owners in
residence than there are now; that it then decreased almost
as rapidly, owing to the successive crop failures, until ^yy.
With '78 began a new rise in the number of such inhabitants,
which progressed steadily, though with a slight break in '81,
until '85, when the number of resident owners reached its
highest point. For three years longer the number remained
almost stationary, but by '89 it had begun to fall again, until
now there are hardly more owners in residence than in '73.

We are able to trace a very close connection between the
number of resident owners in the various years and the
climatic and crop conditions.* The number of such owners
increased on the wave of immigration until 1875, but a
complete cessation of settlement was caused in that year
by the grasshopper pest of the preceding seasons, and, in
fact, the same cau^e was at the basis of the continued
decrease in the number of resident owners, which lasted
through ^yy. The crop of 1876, wherever it was not destroyed
by grasshoppers, and the crop of ^yy throughout the whole
state were exceptionally good; and with the good crops
came a renewed immigration to the state. Moreover,
by 1878 the chances to take government land were pretty
thoroughly exhausted, except in those parts of the state in

^ The connection is so close as to do much to justify the claim
that Harrison township is really typical of large sections of coun-
try. It will be at once seen that unfavorable general conditions,
such as grasshoppers or drouth, have within a year or so after
their occurrence almost completely stopped immigration, and that
they also drive settlers out of ihe township; that unfavorable local
conditions, such as hail, have not hindered immigration— for they
are looked on rather as accidents than as properties of the coun-
try'—but that they have often caused the failiu'e and departure of
former resident owners. We may add that unfavorable conditions,
whether local or general, cause emigration from the township in
two ways: first, by completely discouraging the farmer with his
prospects, in which case the full effect may not be seen for several
years; or, second, by inflicting on some already heavily burdened
settler such a severe loss of crops that further struggle for pros-
perity becomes at once impossible.

36 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [314

which the sandy soil or the roughness of the land was a
drawback, or in which it seemed that without irrigation
success in agriculture would be very doubtful. This indi-
cates another reason why the number of settlers in the
lownship should so greatly increase at this time, the immi-
grants often turning back from the frontier and preferring
to purchase railroad lands in tried parts of the state near
the means of transportation, rather than to take from the
government free land the value of which was very uncer-
tain. We must here remember the fact, indicated in another
plac^, that the settler who took government land really
needed almost the same amount of capital in order to bring
his#" claim" well under cultivation as was required by the
purchaser of railroad land on long time. In 1878 the crops
throughout the state were very good, but hail caused almost
total destruction of grain over at least half of Harrison
township; and here we can observe the effect of unfavorable
local conditions; for the number of newcomers in '79 was
not at all affected by the losses of the previous year,^ being
in fact greater than in any other year since 1872; but the
number of removals was affected, being in 1879 much
greater than the average. The temporary cessation of im-
migration during 1881 must be laid to the severe drouth of
1880 and the consequent crop failure. During the next five
or six years crops were heavy and prices were good, and in
connection with this we notice the steady increase in the
number of resident owners. The decrease in the number of
such owners in late years must partly be attributed to the
removal of prosperous farmers and partly to the removal
of those who had met with failure — ^just in what propor-
tion will better be seen at a later stage of this paper when
we have more data before our consideration.

Table 11.^ contains the number of purchases or entries,
and of sales of lands in the township during the various

*Iii this table, for the sake of simplicity, purchasers of school
lands are included under the third subhead.

315] The Condition of the Western Farmer.

37

years, and is to a certain extent supplementary to the pre-
ceding table. It gives, however, in addition, data for dis-
covering the causes which led to the taking of land in dif-
ferent ways at different times. Separate columns show the
number of those settlers of each year who are still resident
owners, and those who have since sold and moved away.

II. — Purchases and entries made each year^ with number of
such purchases and claims since sold or relinquished^ and
number still retained by original purchaser or claimant.

On Government Land.

On Railroad Land.

Purchased of other

than Railroad

Company,

o u

u o

No. of

entries

each

year.

Have
since
sold or
relin-
quished

Still
hold.

No. of
pur-
chases
each
year.

Have

since
sold.

Still
hold.

No. of
pur-
chases
each
year.

Have

since
sold.

Still
hold.

1872
3
4
5

57
9
9

40

8

7

17
1
2

4
3
5

1
2

4

3

1
1

1
3

1
2

1

6

7

8

9

80

1
3
2
2

1
2

1
1

1
1
1

1
1
7
15
3

1
1
3

7

4
8
3

1

3
6

1

3
3

3

1
2
3
4
5

1
2

1
2

7

7

13

4

3
4
4
2

4
8
9
2

6

7

8

9

90

3
4
4
3
3

2

2

1
2
4
3
3

1
3

1
2

1
2

86

60

26

39

19

20

65

27

38

Now, remembering the fact that those listed as entering
government lands in the later years — say from *75 to '85 —
had, to quite an extent, the character of purchasers, it is evi-
dent that the taking of government land, as such, was almost

38 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [316

exclusively the characteristic of the first three years of set-
tlement. This will be still clearer when we consider the fact
that several of those who appear as taking railroad land
during these years, also owned government land which ad-
joined their new tracts, though just outside the limits of the
township. The others who bought railroad land during
these first three years did so, we may presume, either on
account of the exceptionally good quality of the particular
piece of land chosen, or for the purpose of being near
friends, or because it seemed better to the individual settler
to have the advantages of residence in a settlement a few
years old, than to go out upon the still newer frontier. The
largest number of settlements on railroad land occurred in
'78 and '79, immediately after the effects of a renewed period
of good crops had begun to be felt; between a half and two-
thirds of all the purchases of such lands being made in these
two years. During these years several homesteads and pre-
emption entries were made on odd-numbered sections, it be-
ing thought that the railroad title thereto had been forfeited ;
but soon the United States Supreme Court decided that
the claim of the railroad company was still good, and these
entries of course came to nought. Since that time the great
majority of settlers have been obliged to buy their lands of
former individual owners.

Let us now briefly consider the various causes for selling
or surrendering claims. From Table III. can be seen in the
first column the number of owners who left owing to causes
which can be classed together as " Prevalent agricultural
conditions." All who left the country after unsuccessful
attempts at farming, and whose troubles cannot be traced
to some definite cause which would have affected them in like
manner if occurring in one of the older states, are put in this
column. We have already seen that by 1874 there had been
only one man to be so classified. In the other columns are
put those who left owing, as nearly as can be ascertained, to
the causes enumerated. It has been a matter of the greatest
difficulty to ascertain with exactness what were the reasons in

317] The Condition of the Western Farmer,

39

each case which caused the individuals to leave, and often
there is a plurality of causes, preventing easy classification.
But each case has been considered carefully and the results
are approximately correct.

III.— CAUSES FOR SELLING OR SURRENDERING CLAIMS.

1.— Owing to
prevalent

agricultural
conditions.

Il.-Sales by
those who had
bought in hopes
of an advance.

III.— Failure to

improve or

cultivate the

land.

1 .
o <» ®

m

1

>

%

©

>

ill

>

1

1872

3

1

1

4

1

2

1

5

5

1

2

2

5

6

4

1

1

8

7

1

2

1

2

7

8

1

1

1

4

9

3

3

4

10

80

1

1

1

1

5

1

1

1

3

2

2

1

1

1

6

3

1

1

4

1

2

2

2

1

9

5

2

3

6

2

2

5

7

1

3

5

8

2

1

3

9

1

1

1

2

2

7

90

2

1

1

4

1

3

2

2

2

9

2

1

2

1

2

6

14

19

9

16

7

16

7

18

106

Column I. — In regard to those in the first column, it
will be noticed first that the great majority of the cases
occur in comparatively late years. This is something of a
surprise, as one would naturally expect to find the con-
ditions of the early settlement less favorable for permanence
of residence than those prevailing later.^ One thing which

^ The only advantage which the settlers of Harrison townhip had
over the settlers in most other parts of the state consisted in their
nearness to the older settled district on the river bottom, the influ-
ence of which has already been discussed.

\/

40 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [318

may have had its influence on this fact is the low standard
of living which prevailed during the early years and which
we have discussed above.

The first man here listed leaving in '74 would probably
have stayed had his health been better and his energy con-
sequently greater. The next one, in ^6, was a hard worker,
though with very small capital; after repeated crop failures
he became so discouraged that he gave up his land and
moved away. The case occurring the following year is
almost exactly similar, except that a general tendency toward
shiftlessness plays quite a large part in the failure to raise
good crops. Of those leaving in '82, one had really left his
claim a few years before under circumstances similar to the
second case named above, but did not sell until this year;
the other had come in '79 with a small capital of, say $500,
and had begun to open up a piece of railroad land, but find-
ing that he could not meet his payments, he moved back to
his old home to resume work at his trade and allowed his
contracts to be canceled. The case of '84 was similar to
the first one of *82. Of the two who thus lost their farms
in '88, one was an original settler on government land, who
kept steadily running behind till he was forced to sell his
farm to pay his debts ; the other had settled on railroad land
in '78, and what with poor management and bad crops got
into such a financial condition that he was forced to sell
and had practically nothing left. The six cases remaining
in this column, who left during '90, '91 and '92, were, with
one exception, all purchasers from other individuals. No
doubt the serious drouth of 1890 had much to do with
accelerating their ruin. One of these had too little capital to
enable him to pay up for his farm, and so had to give it up;
he is now a renter in the same precinct; the second and third
were at start moderately well of?, but ran through every-
thing and are now renters; the fourth was still better oflf at
the start, but got into debt to everybody and so lost his land ;
the fifth, after twelve years' residence on and cultivation of
an eighty-acre farm, found himself considerably behind-

319] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 41

hand and sold out to move farther west, where free govern-
ment land was to be had; the sixth and last started with a
comparatively large capital, say $4000, and in six years had
gotten rid of it all.

We note, then, that the settlers leaving in this general con-
dition of impoverishment in the early years did so mainly
because their continual loss of crops had thoroughly dis-
couraged them with the prospects of the country, if, indeed,
it had not made their further attempts at farming absolutely
impossible; that there then follow several who had to give
up because of unwise attempts to bring under cultivation
railroad or other land with too small capital; and that lastly
we have a class of men, mainly later purchasers, who fail and
lose their farms owing to economic conditions, the cause of
which is not apparent on the surface.

Column 11. — ^This column includes all speculators, as the
term is described on page 26, note. We see that about half of
the men whose prime purpose in farm residence was specula-
tive, and who have since sold, had sold within the first five
years. Of those who entered government land with this
object in early years, most sold their land quickly; two or
three have only recently sold, while a few still own. The
remainder of those listed as selling in recent years belong
to the class of comparatively late purchasers, as previously
described.

Column III. — ^Those who did little or nothing on their
land. These men came with the intention of farming, but
owing to lack of capital, or attracted by opportunities to
make good wages at other trades or occupations, they left
after short residences. It is seen that all such cases occurred
in the early years of settlement.

Column IV. — ^Those who left owing to complications
other than those arising from their attempts at farming.
Among such troubles may be mentioned becoming entan-
gled in civil lawsuits; becoming surety for and having to
pay the debts of another; speculating in cattle; committing
crimes or misdemeanors, etc. Such cases occurred with

42 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [320

great regularity, and it is evident were not dependent, to
any extent, upon the characteristics of the special year or
period.

Column V. — Here are included all those who died while
resident owners of land within the township.

Column VI. — ^Those who, after a more or less successful'
career in Harrison, moved to better farms, or farms that
suited them better. Most of these went to other parts of
the county or to other counties in Nebraska where they
could get larger tracts of land, or could be near relatives or
friends; often the wife's desire to be near her relatives was
the cause of moving. A few moved back to their old homes
further east, mainly Ohio or Iowa.

Column VII. — Those who moved to cheaper farms. Part
of them left because they recognized that their original cap-
ital was insufficient to initiate and carry on the farming of
the land which they had ; part of them because of failing for-
tunes which they hoped to retrieve by a fresh start somewhere
else. Some of these went further west and took homesteads
from the government.

Column VIII. — Those who have removed to towns or
villages. Under this head are included the few whose capital
was such that they could live comfortably on the income to be
derived from its judicious investment; also those who have
entered upon business as small merchants or saloon-keepers ;
or who have preferred the opportunities offered them by
residence in towns to pursue trades with which they were
conversant, where they could at the same time find pleas-
anter social life and better education for their children. In
all cases they are men who can be ranked as having been
fairly successful farmers. As would be expected, they are
almost all found toward the close of the period we are now
considering.
\

^ This term must be miderstood as used in comparison with the
careers of the other farmers of the township. Just what the meas-
m*e of success was will be discussed in the Concluding Remarks.

321] TJie Condition of the Western Farmer, 43

What we learn from the facts in these latter columns simply
confirms our former ideas of the condition prevailing in the
various years. We need only add to the summary given
above the remark that farming in this township seems to
have been at its best in the middle part of the period that
has elapsed since colonization began. After the drawbacks
attending the first settlement were past, the prosperity of
the settlers was at its highest point, and in the later years,
while the older settlers have in the main increased their
wealth, but at a much slower rate than before, yet those who
have come in as purchasers from the older settlers have,
almost without exception, fallen behind rather than gained
in their net wealth.

Land Values.

When Harrison township was first settled, land in limited
quantities could be purchased from the government' by actual
settlers for $2.50 an acre. At the same time the Union
Pacific Railroad was asking $4 an acre for its lands. As the
government land was all so quickly taken, and as sales were
made by the railroad company at its own prices, we can con-
sider the actual value of the lands from 1872 to 1874 to have
been about $4 an acre. During the two or three years fol-
lowing 1874 there was absolutely no sale for farming land, but
after immigration began again in 1878, the railroad price may
be considered as indicative of the actual marketable value of
the lands. In '78 and '79, $5 and $6 per acre were the cur-
rent prices. From 1880 to 1884 land of the average quality
brought from $6 to $8 per acre. These were the prices, of
course, for unimproved land sold on long time and easy
terms. A settler who wished to sell for cash would get very
much less, unless the improvements represented a substan-
tial sum. With the exception of two or three years prior to
1 891 or '92, land has, since 1880, steadily increased in value,
though usually it has been of rather slow sale, because owners
have habitually asked prices for it above what purchasers
were willing to pay. At the present time, land with good

44 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [322

average improvements will sell with comparative readiness
for about $25 an acre, though owners often claim that tliey
would refuse any offer of less than $30 to $35 an acre.

Renting of Farming Lands.

r'

Until quite recently the usual rent of farming land has been
; one-third of the produce, and there has always been plenty of
■ land to be obtained upon such terms. But within the last
; two or three years the demand for farms has very greatly in-
creased, and there has been a corresponding increase in the
rent. Owners are beginning to ask for their farms either
two-fifths of the produce, or a cash rent of from $1.50 to
$2,25 for each acre of plow-land. In 1892 about four-fifths of
the rented land was rented on shares, and the remainder for
cash. In the same year, of the farms rented, about two-thirds
were rented to tenants who resided on the lands; while the
remaining one-third was rented to neighbors.

Credit.

There are in general four ways in which the farmers have
made use of the capital of others. These are, first, by obtain-
ing credit with the retail dealers with whom they trade ; sec-
ond, by borrowing with real estate security; third, by borrow-
ing with chattel security (and this includes most of the debt
on agricultural implements, for the part of the price of such
implements which is not paid in cash is usually secured by
mortgage on the machinery itself) ; and fourth, by borrowing
with unsecured promissory note or with personal security.
The first method is relatively unimportant, as the total
amount of credit so obtained has necessarily been quite ^mall.
Let us then pass to the consideration of the three other forms.

When the township was settled, money could only be bor-
rowed on chattel security, and was very difficult to obtain
even at the high rates then offered and demanded; for capi-
talists were few, and the condition of the borrower was such
as to warrant only the smallest line of credit. Moreover, the
insecurity of the loan made the interest required very high.

323] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 45

But in time real estate became of importance as security.
The agent of the first company that loaned money upon real
estate in this part of Nebraska appeared about 1875, and
twelve per cent was the rate of interest demanded, with a
bonus of from ten per cent to twenty-five per cent for com-
mission. The rates have gradually lowered; in 1880 they
were eight per cent interest and two per cent commission;
then seven and two; later, seven and one; and now the
current rate is six and one, while a certain large life
insurance company will make all good loans of over
$2000 that are desired at six per cent without commission.
But for a long time the chattel mortgage held its own
and was the form of security regularly in use for borrow-
ing money; even the most well-to-do did not hesitate to
allow such mortgages to appear on record against them.
This has changed to a certain extent, however, and real
estate or personal security is coming to be given in pref-
erence by the more prosperous farmers. Chattel mortgages
are still frequently given by cattle-feeders as security for their
extra purchases of stock for winter feeding, but even in this
line of business they are less common than formerly. The
amount of money now borrowed on personal security, or
sirtiply on individual note, is not large, for only the more
prosperous can so borrow, and they are just those who want
to and who do borrow the least. I was allowed to examine
the books of a bank that does perhaps the greater part of the
business of this township, and found only an insignificant
amount of this last variety of paper.

Those few settlers who were able to borrow of a father or
of other relatives in the eastern states had a very great ad-
vantage, especially in the first years of residence, as in trying <
times they could count on aid without having to pay the
exorbitant interest charged by local lenders. Many were the
occasions for borrowing in the early days; but most of the
debt was incurred either to provide sustenance during a year
of lost crops, or to make improvements, or to settle an
unpaid balance of purchase money.

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.^ 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-

^ 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 in the tables wliich are to follow.

325] The Condition of the Western Farmer,

47

ship taxes and the assessed valuation in the township since
1884. No table can be given for the rate of levy of school
taxes, because the school district boundaries are constantly
changing and have no reference to the township boundaries.
(However, from the amount of such tax collected within the
township, we can say that the rate averages about ten mills.
Putting all these taxes together, we find the average rate per
annum to be about thirty-three mills on the dollar of assessed
valuation.

IV.— RATES OF TAXATION.

State
Tax.
mills.

County Tax.

Township Tax.

Township

mills

mills.

assessm'nt

<o a

C5

41 J

m

1
1

•S-o

eg

0

1^

1

i

u
P5

1

1872

5.750

6.

3.

1.5

10.50

8

6 250^

6.

7.50

1.5

15.

4

6.250!

6.

5.25

6.

1.

18.25

5

7.3501

6.

.50

3.

3.75

10.25

6

7.350

6.

3.

.25

12.25

7

6.125

8.

2.

4.5

.50

15.

8

6.375

6.

.50

5.

.50

12.

9

5.750

5.5

3.50

8.5

.50

18.

80

4.000

6.5

6.

2.5

2.5

17.50

1

5.750

8.5

3.50

5.

17.

2

5.000

8.

4.

3.

2.

17.

s

6.875

7.875

5.

7.

4.
3.

3.
3.

12.
13.

4

1.5

2.

2.5

6.

$64,349

5

7.850

8.

2.

4.

14.

2.

2.

2.

6.

85,818

6

7.975

8.

2.

4.

1.

15.

2.

2.

6.

101,065

7

8.125

8.6

2.

4.

.40

15.

1.

1.

1.

3.

87,723

8

8.000

8.4

4.

2.2

.40

15.

1.

2.

1.

4.

91-111

9

7.018

8.2

2.70

.50

11.40

1.5

2.

.5

4.

97,548

90

6.893

9.

3.90

1.5

2.10

16.50

1.5

2.

.5

4.

94.945

1

6.875

8.3

3.30

2.5

.90

15.

1.5

2.

.5

4.

95,195

2

7.125

8.5

3.

.50

12.

2.

2.

1.

5.

97,752

The assessments, however, are very low. During the first
few years after the settlement of the township, we find real
estate assessed usually at $2.50 per acre. In 1880 the as-
sessed valuation was $2.87 for unimproved land and $3.41
for improved land. Since then the average for improved
land in the township has been about $3.75 per acre, the assess-

48 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [326

ment having only once gone above $4. The valuation of the
unimproved land has changed little for many years, the range
being from $2.74 to $3.08 per acre. To indicate the valua-
tion of personal property, the following rates, copied from the
assessor's book for 1892, will be of interest: Fat cattle, $5
to $7; steers, $4; thoroughbred bulls, $10; heifers, cows and
young steers, $2 to $4; calves and yearling heifers and fat
sheep, $1 ; lambs, 50 cents; hogs, per 100 lbs., 75 cents; horses
and mules and all other personal property at one-fourth the
cash value. It may be added, that though there seems to be
no particular method of determining what is and what is not
improved land, yet on the whole, in late years, all quarter-
quarter sections which do not contain buildings have been
listed as unimproved, no matter whether they were under
regular cultivation or not. Since 1886, less than one-fifth of
the land on the average has been assessed as improved,
though during the three years '84, '85 and '86, from one-half
to two-thirds of the land was so assessed. In 1892 the aver-
age quarter section was assessed for about $500, or an eighth
of its real value, and probably the proportion of the value of
personal property assessed was not more than that; so that,
the tax rate being about thirty-six mills, the real tax levied
was less than half a cent on the dollar of true valuation.

Markets, Prices, and Freight Rates.

During the years 1872 and '73 all the agricultural produce
of Hall county could be readily sold to the new settlers, at'
prices so high as to make shipments to outside markets un-
profitable. During the three following years it was necessary
to bring grain into th'e country rather than ship it out, on ac-
count of the successive crop failures caused by grasshoppers
and drouth ; but with 'yy a period of fairly good crops began,
and during most of the time from then until '84 the markets
in the western part of Nebraska, and in the Black Hills and
other near regions in which settlement was just beginning,
gave better prices for corn and oats than could be realized by
shipping them to eastern grain centers. Between '85 and '87

327] The Condition of the Western Farmer.

49

the activity in railroad building in states to the west gave rise
to good markets for com, and quite high prices prevailed.
From 1877 to 1883, Chicago was by far the best market for
wheat, but since 1883 the local mills have competed with it
and absorbed a good share of the crop. Since 1887 it has
been necessary to ship most of the grain to eastern markets,
or sometimes to the South, and this is especially the case
when crops are heavy. While therefore during a great part
of the period we are considering the prices obtained for grain
have been somewhat better than could be obtained by ship-
ments to the eastern markets, yet since 1877 the price of
wheat has been to a great extent afifected by the net price to
be obtained by shipping to Chicago, and since 1887 the Chi-
cago prices have had a by no means inconsiderable efifect on
the selling price of all grains. It is unfortunately impossible

v.— AVERAGE CHICAGO PRICES OF CORN, WHEAT,
AND OATS.'

Corn " No. 2."

Wheat "No. 2" Spring.

Oats " No. 2."

cts. per bushel.

cts. per bushel.

cts. per bushel.

73

34.3

111.5

26.1

3

32.3

102.9

25.6

4

59.3

97.6

41.7

5

54.8

88.9

41.

6

40.

92.6

28.3

7

42.7

121.5

29.5

8

36.9

95.2

22.3

9

35.6

99.6

26.8

80

37.7

105.7

29.8

1

50.

114.8

37.8

2

67.5

116.6

43.6

3

53.8

101.7

34.5

4

51.6

83.

29.1

5

43.

83.9

29.

6

37.

76.6

27.6

7

39.5

75.6

26.

8

46.8

90.

28.6

9

34.

85.5

22.2

90

39.3

89.2

30.9

1

58.4

96.6

39.1

^ For fuller tables see " Statistical Information Pertaining to Chi-
cago Markets." Howard, Bartels & Co., Cliicago.

50 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [328

to obtain records showing the prices which grains have
brought in the local markets, but Table V. gives the average
prices for com and wheat and oats in Chicago for each year
since 1872.

In attempting to estimate, on the basis of the preceding
table of prices, the profits which the farmer has been able to
make on his grain, we should next have to take into account
the cost of raising the grain and the cost of transporting it to
market; and though we shall be unable to discuss this mat-
ter in detail here, a few facts bearing on the subject may not
be out of place.

The cost of raising corn in Nebraska has been investigated
by the Nebraska Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics,
and in its report for 1891-92 the estimates of some six or
seven hundred farmers are given, which make the average
cost of the production of corn per acre to be $6.40, and there-
fore, figuring forty bushels of corn to the acre, the cost per
bushel would be 16 cents. The method of this estimate is,
however, faulty, in that the cost of husking and cribbing is
estimated by the acre and not by the bushel, as it should
be, and thus the size of the crop is entangled from the start
with the cost per acre. Leaving out these items of husking
and cribbing, the average cost per acre shown by the report is
$4.90. From this latter figure, the cost per bushel should be
estimated according to the size of the crop, and then an
addition made to cover cost of husking and cribbing. More-
over, the figures given in the report do not include cost of
hauling to market, which is for the farmers of Harrison town-
ship from one to two cents a bushel. The cost to the farmers
w^e are considering of com delivered by them at the market-
place cannot be estimated under from eighteen to twenty
cents per bushel for a fairly good year, that is when the crop
averages from thirty-five to forty bushels to the acre.

The report of the Bureau indicates that the cost of raising
com in the eastern counties is greater than in the western
counties of the state. The reasons suggested for this are
that the item of interest on the investment in the land in the

329] The Condition of the Western Farmer.

51

newer counties is less than in the older ones, as is also the
amount of cultivating which it is found necessary to give the
land. Analogy with this conclusion would suggest that the
cost of raising com in Harrison was less in earlier days than
now, and therefore, though the freight rates were much higher
then tlian at present, yet the price which the farmer had to
realize for his corn in order to make a profit from it was less,
than now.

As to freight rates on grain. Table VI. will show all the
changes since 1880-83 in the rates between Grand Island and
Omaha, and between Grand Island and Chicago. A com-
parison made between the figures in the ta;ble itself will show
how large the local rates have been as compared with
through rates.^ A comparison'' of the rates here given with
the Chicago prices of grain as seen in Table V. will show
how much of the value of the product is absorbed in finding
a market for it. If further deduction is made from the
Chicago price for the commissions of two middlemen, we
will begin to appreciate the position and feelings of the
farmer who said that when he bought his farm he thought

VI.— FREIGHT RATES (in cts. per cwt.).
Grand Island to Omaha (150 miles). Grand Island to Chicago (650 miles).

Date effective

. Corn.

Wheat

Oats.

Date effective.

Corn.

Wheat

Oats.

Jan. 1, '83 .

18

19i

18

Jan. 7, '80 . .

32

45

32

Apr. 16, '83

15

16i

15

Sept. 15, '82 .

38

43

38

Jan. 10, '84

18

19i

18

Apr. 5, '87 .

34

39

34

Mch. 1, '84

17

m

17

Nov. 1, '87 .

25

30

25

Aug. 25, '84

20

20

20

Mch. 21, '90 .

22i

30

25

Apr. 5, '87

10

16

10

Oct. 22, '90 .

22

26

22

Nov. 1, '87

10

12

10

Jan. 15, '91 .

23

28

25

Mch. 7, '88

9i

111

9i

Dec. 15, '88

10

12

10

' It must, however, be remembered that the through rates are not
strictly to be found by adding the local Nebraska rates to the
Omaha-Chicago rates, there being usually some deduction for
through traffic.

2 In making comparisons with the preceding table, figure wheat
at 60 lbs. per bushel, oats at 32 lbs., and corn (shelled) at 56 lbs.

52 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [330

he was really going to own the land, but that he soon dis-
covered that he only held it on an uncertain tenure from the
railroad companies. It will be noticed that the proportion
of the market price which is paid for freight is much higher
for com and oats than for wheat, and in the former grains
often runs over one-third of the total price.

III.— PRESENT ECONOMIC CONDITION OF THE
FARMERS OF HARRISON TOWNSHIP.

A. The Land and its Ownership.

a. The Lands Considered.

We are now to take up the more direct study of the pres-
ent economic condition of the farmers in Harrison township.
In this connection there must be borne in mind what has
already been said, in recounting the reasons for selecting this
township for the field of our investigations, in regard to the
character of its lands. Heretofore mention has frequently
been made of Harrison township in a way that would
imply that detailed study would be confined solely to the
land in it; and for most of the matters studied, such a
statement would be true. But in many of the tables it has
been found necessary to include also certain additional acres
bordering on the township. We have to consider, in ad-
dition to all the lands in the township, all those pieces
of land bordering on it which form component parts of
farms, the remainder of which lies in Harrison township.
These lands could not be omitted because it would not
be just to consider a farmer's position with reference to
only part of the farm which he had under cultivation,
and, moreover, because very commonly mortgages are ex-
tant covering both land in and land out of the township,
and to properly distribute the burden between the diflfer-
ent parts of a farm so mortgaged would hardly be possi-
ble. But these added pieces of land are considered only
with reference to present owners; and so only in such tables
as those containing mortgage statistics and those concern-
ing the size of farms. The former owners, if any, of the
added tracts are in no case considered. Table VII. gives the

54

The Condition of the Western Farmer. [332

total acreage of government, railroad, and school lands in
regard to which our investigations will be made.^

VII.— ACREAGE OF VARIOUS CLASSES OF LANDS.

In Harrison
township proper.

In added lands.

Total.

Government land.

10,240

520

10,760

Railroad land.

11,520

320

11,840

School land.

1,280

160

1,440

23,040

1,000

24,040

1). The Quality of the Lands,

Through the kindness of a mortgage company doing
business in Hall county, the writer has been enabled to obtain
the ratings which this company makes of the quality of
the lands in Harrison township, ratings which we may feel
confident are as nearly correct as it is possible to get them.
The ratings are on the scale of lo, which number repre-
sents the very best land obtainable in the county, and they
grade from that point down. Land represented by 7 would
be of a very poor quality. Taking the average grade for
each quarter section, we find in Harrison township eighty-
two quarters ranked as 10; twenty-nine ranked as 9 or
9+; twenty-seven ranked as 8 or 8+; and six ranked as 7
or 7+. The best land is found along the southern and
western borders of the town. In fact there is hardly any
land in the two rows of sections along the southern and
the two along the western border which is not rated at
10. In the northeastern part of the township the land is
poorer, a little of it being very poor, and it is here tliat

^In order to avoid complication, each congressional section of
land is treated as If it contained exactly 640 acres, though in those
sections which lie long the northern and western boundaries of the
township, the true size varies from 631.42 acres to 647.70 acres.
These differences offset each other, and the totals given in the
table vary only very slightly from the total true acreage of the
township.

333] The Condition of the Western Farmer,

55

the small amount of land in the township which is not
under cultivation lies. Although the cultivators of poor
land are at a very great comparative disadvantage, still
this northeastern quarter contains one or two of the most
prosperous farmers in the whole township; their prosperity
being due, however, directly to their own thrift. None but
a very good manager can succeed on this poorer land.

As has been implied, the northeastern part of the township
was less rapidly brought under cultivation than the other
portions, and year by year the soil there requires the appli-
cation of a greater amount of labor. It is to be rerharked
that the Germans are much more numerous in this part of
the township than in any other. Among the seventy-four
resident owners in the town, twenty are German, and of
these, eleven, or fifty-five per cent, reside in the northeastern
quarter. In no part of the township is the land perfectly
regular as to quality or depth of the soil. Even on the best
farms there may be found occasionally small patches of poor
land. The writer thinks especially of one farm on which
the soil in one corner is seven or eight feet deep and of the
best quality, while in the opposite comer the sand subsoil
crops out.

G. The Owner sMp of the Lands.
We have next to consider the ownership of the lands we
have been describing. Table^ VIII. shows the total number

VIII.— SCHEDULE OF OWNERS.

Never
Resident.

Once
Resident,
now Non-
Resident.

106

Now
Resident.

Total.

Have sold.

188
51

294

Still own.

10

74

135

239

116

74

429

^ We must note that there are cei*tam names which appear on the
records but which are not included in these tables. For instance,
where several members of one family successively held title to a

56 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [334

of persons who have at any time owned land within the
township, and classifies them in t^o ways: first, according
to their present status — whether they have sold or still own;
and second, according to residence — whether they now reside
upon the land, or have never resided upon it, or have
formerly resided upon it but are at present non-resident.
We see that there have been one hundred and ninety owners
in all who have at one time or another resided in the town-
ship, of whom seventy-four are still resident; and that the
total number of owners of land in the township at present
is one hundred and thirty-five. Table IX. still further
subdivides the owners, first classified as to residence, into
those who took government land, those who purchased from
the railroad company, and those who purchased from other
owners. Next the present owners of farms are classified
according as they reside in the township, in the county but
outside the township,^ or outside the county. We see that
about fifty-five per cent of the present owners reside upon
their own farms.^

Of the resident owners twenty-seven per cent, as has been
seen, are Germans, the remainder being mainly Americans,
with some few Irish and others. The states which have con-
tributed the most settlers are Iowa and Ohio, though nearly
all the states in a due easterly direction have furnished their
shares.

tract of land of which the real farming was, during all that period,
carried on by the same person, the title of the land has been con-
sidered as remaining continuously in the name of the head of the
family; for our unit here is the family rather than the individual.
Nineteen names have been omitted under these conditions.

^ It may be interesting to show the character of those owners
who reside outside of Harrison township but within Hall county.
Of the thirty-four so classified, seventeen have never been engaged
in farming, five moved from the township to enter upon other
occupations than farming, four are owners each of several farms
which they oversee, though they do not personally engage in farm-
ing, and the remaining eight are farmers living upon farms which
they own in other parts of the county.

^Attention is called to the fact, shown in Part I., that the numbers
of this class have greatly declined in recent years.

335] The Condition of the Western Farmer.

57

IX.— INCLUDES ALL OWNERS WHO HAVE AT ANY TIME
BEEN RESIDENTS.

On Govern-
ment land.

Purchased
from R. R.

Purchased

from other

owners.

Total.

Still own and
resident.

18

19

37

74

Still own, now
non-resident.

8

1

1

10

Have sold.

60

19

27

106

86

39

65

190

X.— PRESENT OWNERS.

Residents of township,

Non-residents of township but residents of county:
Formerly resident in township, . . 5
Never '' " . . 29

Non-residents of county:

Formerly resident in township, ... 5
Never - ^' ... 22

74

34

_27
135

Turn now from the personal side of the question to the
acreage possessed by the various classes of present owners.
Table XL shows the acreage of land held by each of the
three classes of owners, and also the number of acres farmed
by owners, farmed by tenants, and still uncultivated. We
find that over half of the land is farmed by owners, and that
only about seven per cent is still uncultivated. The per-
centage of acres owned by residents is almost exactly the
same as the percentage of owners who are residents. The
average size of a resident's holding of land is about one
hundred and seventy-five acres. The owner who resides
in some other part of the county has on the average a some-
what larger holding than this, while the owner non-resident
of the county has, in general, a smaller holding; the figures
being one hundred and ninety and one hundred and seventy
acres respectively.

58

The Condition of the Western Farmer. [336

XI.-ACREAGE HELD BY VARIOUS CLASSES OF PRESENT

OWNERS.

Owned by

Farmed
by owner

Farmed
by tenant

Not

farmed

(hay land)

Totals

Average
size of
farms

Residents of
township.

11,920

1,040

0

12,960

175.14

Non-residents of

township but

residents of county.

1,040

4,520

920

6,480

190.59

Non-residents of
county.

0

3,800

800

4,600

170.37

12,960

9,360

1,720

24,040

Per cent of acres farmed by owner, 53.91

" '' " tenant 38.94 .

" " not farmed 7.15

Per cent of acres owned by residents of township, . 53.91

'' '' '' county, . . 26.96

" " '' non-residents of county, 19.13

B. Condition 'of Resident Owners.

Under this heading will be considered the debt of the
residents of the township, whether secured by real estate or
chattel mortgage, together with the improvements which
are on their lands. The attempt may later be made to see in
how far the debt is represented by improvements, and in
how far it means that the owners of the encumbered land
are losing in wealth. We may assume that, in general and
under normal conditions, a moderate debt incurred for the
purpose of bringing the farm under better cultivation, and
for acquiring machinery and protecting it after it has been
acquired, is a sign of progress rather than of deterioration.
And we may assume this here even though the facts brought
out later in this paper tend to show that, under the special
circumstances we have been considering, a debt incurred
even for what we may call legitimate purposes has been a
hindrance and not a help. ' i

337] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 59

a. Chattel Mortgages.
Lc<- us consider first the chattel mortgages against resi-
dents of Harrison township.^ Table XII. shows the total of
unreleased mortgages on file to be $23,932.22, but on account
of a duplicate entry, one mortgage for $1000 must be
deducted from this to get the true amount of such debts
shown by the books. After these figures were obtained,
every mortgagor and mortgagee, as far as possible, was
asked as to the state of the debt in which he was interested,
and it became evident that almost two-thirds of the chattel
mortgages appearing on record as still due had really been
paid. The exact figures are given in the table. In attempt-
ing to get at the real amount of debt owed in the township

Xn.— CHATTEL MORTGAGES.

Total unreleased Chattel Mortgages on file, 103, $23,933.22

Less duplicate entry, 1, 1,000.00

102, $22,932.22

INVESTIGATION OP TRUE STATUS OF MORTGAGES.

Mortgages investigated, 88, $21,910.50

Unable to investigate, 14, 1,021.72

Of investigated Mortgages

Really paid, but not canceled, 54, $11,991.40

Partial payments, 2,178.00 $14,169.40

Still unpaid, 34, ... . $7,741.10

Per cent of investigated Chattel Mortgages still due, 35i

" " " '' really paid, 64f

Taking these percentages of all Chattel Mortgages, we have:

Total amount still unpaid $8,102.07

really paid, 14,830.15

$22,932.22
Amount secured both by Real Estate and Chattel
Mortgage, and included elsewhere under the
head of Real Estate Mortgages, .... $1,475.00
Net Chattel Mortgage debt of the Township, . $6,627.07 "

^ The figures presented here are those as shown by the books of
the county clerk of Hall county on the first of September, 1892,
and include all mortgages filed since September 1, 1887. Mort-
gages filed before that time are invalid, being outlawed by the
statute of limitations.

60 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [338

a further deduction has to be made for debts secured both
by real estate and by chattel mortgages, which debts being
included in the lists of real estate mortgages should not be
again reckoned here. Making the necessary deductions, the
actual total of unpaid chattel mortgages against owners of
land in the township is brought down to $6627.07.

Out of the seventy-four resident owning farmers, only
twenty-seven owe any money on chattel mortgage, and of
these twenty-seven, sixteen had ninety-one unreleased mort-
gages against them. This very uneven distribution shows
that the chattel mortgage has now come to be rather a mark
of poor success. An important bearing of the facts here
stated is in refutation of the argument based on the increase
of chattel mortgages which is very often adduced to prove
that western farmers are sinking ever deeper into financial
difficulties. Whatever may be the real truth about the con-
clusion, the argument certainly is far from right. As long as
farmers are too negligent or too careless about their own per-
sonal standing before the community, to place on file the
releases of the mortgages v/hich they have paid, just so long
we can expect nothing else than that the total amount of such
mortgages on record will show an enormous apparent in-
crease from year to year.

h. Real Estate Mortgages^

The bulk of the debt owed by farmers is secured by mort-
gages upon their farms, given in the main to resident agents

^ The following figures are based on the records in the office of
the county clerk of Hall county; those for 1892 Include no mstru-
ments filed later than September 1st, Only mortgages evidently
given to secure the principal of a debt are included in the totals,
and no interest due on this debt is regarded. It is very common
for the farmer in his dealings with a loan company to execute a
second mortgage in favor of the company to secure the payment of
its commission, which is usually about one per cent. As these com-
mission mortgages are really of the nature of interest, none of them
are here included, though their total would be quite a considerable
sum.

339] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 61

of large eastern loaning companies;^ and it is due to the size
of this debt, and the debtors consequent liability of losing
his homestead if poor management or bad luck prevent him
from meeting his payments as they fall due, that much of
the recent wide-spread discontent has arisen. The tables to
be given will include, first, a general statement of the debt;
second, an analysis of it based on the character of the land,
whether originally government, railroad, or school land;
third, an analysis with reference to residents and non-resi-
dents; fourth, an analysis of the debt owed by residents with
regard to the source from which they derived their title to
the land; and fifth, the connection will be traced between
the debt and the quality of the lands mortgaged.

I. Table XIII. shows the number and per cent of farm's
mortgaged, and also the number and per cent of acres mort-
gaged. It then gives the face value of the mortgages as
they stand in the office of the county clerk; but in order to
allow for partial payments which have undoubtedly to some
extent been made, and which it was not possible to inves-
tigate directly, a deduction of 5.21 per cent is made, since
it has been shown by the census of 1890 that that per cent
is the average proportion of partial payments on real estate
mortgages for the State of Nebraska. With the total amount
of debt thus calculated, we find the average indebtedness on
each acre mortgaged to be $8.78, and the average debt per
farm to be $1517,32. Now it would not be safe to estimate
the average value of these farms, even when well improved,
above, say, $25 an acre, so we can see what a large propor-
tion on the average the debt on the mortgaged farms bears

^ Seventy-six per cent of the mortgages were given to loaning
companies; twelve per cent were given to persons of whom the
land was purchased, and twelve per cent to other persons or cor-
porations. As to the residence of the mortgagees, seventy-nine per
cent of the mortgages are owned by persons or corporations non-
resident of Hall county; seventeen per cent are owned by residents
of the county, while the remainder, four per cent, have owners
whose residence is unl^nowTi. None of the mortgages are owned
by residents of the township.

62

The Condition of the Western Farmer, [340

to their total value, being in fact considerably over one-
third. With interest to pay on such a sum, and with the
final payment to provide for, it is no wonder that the years
of partial failure, always liable to occur in agriculture, become
doubly discouraging to any but the most energetic farmer.

XIII.— REAL ESTATE MORTGAGES.

Total number of farms mortgaged,
Per cent, of farms mortgaged, . . .
Total number of acres mortgaged, . .
Per cent, of acres mortgaged, ....
Face value of mortgages on record,^
Less 5.21 per cent, for partial payments,
Estimated true value of debt, ....
Av. debt against each mortgaged acre,
" " " mortgagor, . .

" " " acre in township,

" " " owner in township.

91.

67.41

15,720.

65.39

$145,665.42

$7,589.17

$138,076.25

$8.78

$1,517.32

$5.74

§1,022.79

2. We have already seen in Table VII. that in the district
which we are considering there are 10,760 acres of land to
which the title has come directly from the government;
11,840 acres which have been acquired through the Union
Pacific Railway, and 1440 acres obtained from the State
school lands. Table XIV. will show the relative amount
of debt which these different classes of land now bear.

1 One mortgage, on record, for $50,000, covering 600 acres in the
township, has been omitted for the following reasons: It covers,
besides the GOO acres in the township, also 3280 acres in other
parts of the county. It was given by a non-resident corporation in
the course of a speculative investment in lands. The 600 acres
mortgaged is school land, to which the corporation mentioned holds
only contracts of sale from the State, and there is a prior debt of
$3780 to the State on the land, which latter debt is included in the
tables. The whole transaction is entirely foreign to the general
character of land ovmership and indebtedness in the township.
In short, since the part of the mortgage attributable to this land
is really the unpaid purchase money of the last sale of the land,
the matter is treated just as if the sale had not taken place and the
land was still in the hands of its last owner.

341] The Condition of the Western Farmer,

63

These figures may be hastily passed over, for they prove little
except that the three classes of land have been subjected
to the same influences, as m trading, to such an extent that
there is no great diflference at present in the average amount
to which they are mortgaged. It is shown, however, that
the proportion of acres of lands derived directly from the
government, which have been mortgaged, is not yet so
large as that of land derived through the railroad company.
The variation in the debt per acre on the school lands is
due to the fact that in most cases tlie debt is not borrowed
money, but simply the unpaid remainder of the purchase
money.

XIV.— REAL ESTATE MORTGAGES ON GOVERNMENT,
RAILROAD AND SCHOOL LANDS.

Government
land.

Railroad land.

School land.

Total acreage,
Acres under mortgage, . .
Acres clear,

10,760
6.400
4.360

11.840
8,040
3,800

1,440
1,280
160*

Amount of mortgages. . .

S58,549.16

$71,701.23

$7,825.86

Av. debt on each acre of each
class in township, . . .

Av. debt for each mortgaged
acre of each class, . . .

$5.44
9.15

$6.06
8.92

$5.43
6.11

Per cent, of acres mortgaged.

59.48

67.91

^ This 160 acres has not yet been sold by the State.

3. The real estate mortgages are next to be classified into
those upon lands owned by residents and those on lands
owned by non-residents, with a view to seeing whether the
actual burden of the former class is greater or less than the
average burden for the whole class of present owners as
shown previously. Table XV. shows the general figures
as to the distribution of all farms and of mortgaged farms,
and of all acres and of mortgaged acres, between residents
and non-residents. It shows also the amount of debt owed
bv each of these classes.

64

The Condition of the Western Farmer. [342

XV.-MORTGAGES ON LANDS OWNED BY RESIDENTS AND
BY NON-RESIDENTS.

Owners
Resident.

Owners
Non-resident.

Per cent of

owners

resident.

For all farms,

For mortgaged farms, . .

74

57

61
84

54.81
62.64

Acres owned
by residents.

Acres owned
by non-
residents.

Per cent
acres owned
by residents.

For all acres,

For mortgaged acres, . .

12,960
9,320

11,080
6,400

58.91
59.29

Debt of
residents.

Debt of
non-residents.

Per cent of

debt owed by

residents.

Amount after deducting 5.21
per cent for partial pay-
ments,

$75,281.85

$62,794.40

54.52

In comparing the figures in this table, we see that while
about seventy-seven per cent of the residents have their
farms mortgaged, only about fifty-five per cent of the non-
residents are similarly encumbered. Again, the residents,
owning 53.91 per cent of all the acres, owe almost exactly
the same proportion (54.52 per cent) of the debt. Confining
ourselves to persons holding mortgaged property alone, we
find that residents own 59.29 per cent of all the mortgaged
acres, but they owe a somewhat less proportion of the debt,
viz. 54.52 per cent. From the next table (XVI.) we see the
average size of mortgages and the average debt per acre
for each of these classes. Table XIII. has shown us that the
average debt against each mortgaged owner in the township
is $1517.32, but we see here that the average debt against
each mortgaged resident is only $1320.73, while that against
each mortgaged non-resident is $1846.90. Similarly, the
average debt on each mortgaged acre in the township is
$8.78, while that on each mortgaged acre belonging to resi-
dents is $8.08, and that on each such acre belonging to non-
residents is $9.81. The averages, based on the same distinc-
tion, for all residents in the township, whether mortgaged
or not mortgaged, are also subjoined.

343] The Condition of the Western Farmer,

65

XVI.— AVERAGE SIZE OF MORTGAGES AND AVERAGE
DEBT PER ACRE.

Average size of mortg'ges

Average debt per acre.

Residents.

Non-
residents.

Residents.

Non-
residents.

For all owners in town-
ship,

For mortgaged owners
only,

$1,017.32
1,320.73

$1,029.41
1.846.90

$5.81
8.08

$5.67
9.81

Thus far our figures have tended to ihdicate that the
average debt of owners in actual residence is not quite so
heavy as that of the class of farm owners as a whole. But
we can widen our point of view a little, and attribute the
debt to residents or non-residents, not according to the class
in which the land under its present ownership falls, but ac-
cording to the class to which the land belonged at the time
when the debt was incurred. For instance, a farmer in
actual residence may have found himself compelled to put
a mortgage on his home, and he may then, some time later,
have sold either for his own profit or compelled by neces-
sity; or he may have moved off his farm without selling.
In these cases, the purchaser, if any, often stands ready at
any time to pay the mortgage, but of course cannot do so
until it is due without considerable loss. Now if we should
divide the debt into two classes, according as it was in-
curred by residents or by non-residents, such cases as those
above would fall in the former class, though in the tables
we have given they of course came among the debts of
non-residents. Table XVII. shows the debt incurred by
residents and that incurred Hy non-residents, and we find'
that 68.75 per cent of the debt was incurred by the former!
class, upon 70.99 per cent of all the mortgaged acres. But/
we still find that the average debt per mortgaged acre for
residents is considerably lower than that for non-residents,
as is also the case with the average size of the mortgage.
But if we now compare the average debt per acre on all
acres for residents with that for non-residents, we find the
former to be about forty per cent larger than the latter, tb^

66

The Condition of the Western Farmer. [344

figures being $6.41 as against $4.67. The conclusion is
that while over two-thirds of the debt has been incurred by
residents, and a much larger percentage of residents' land is
under mortgage than of non-residents', still the debt per acre
which the mortgaged residents have incurred upon their
lands is slightly less than the debt similarly incurred by
mortgaged non-residents.

XVII.— DEBT INCURRED BY RESIDENTS AND BY NON-
RESIDENTS.

Acreage.

Debt.

Average size of
mortgage.

Average

debt
per acre.

iz; a

III

CM

<

1^

PlhO

u g

00

i

be

C3 (^

6.41
4.67

^1

Incurred by

residents, .
Incurred by
non-residents.

11,160
4,560

70.99
29.01

94,928.16
43,148.09

68.75
31.25

1

1,116.80
862.96

1396.

1876.

8.51
9.46

4. Our next tables deal with the debt of residents still
more largely from a personal point of view. They distrib-
ute it into divisions according as the borrower was a taker
of government land, a purchaser of land from the railroad
company, or a purchaser from some other former owner;
purchasers of school land are included, for the sake of sim-
plicity, under this last division. Table XVIII. shows the
number of owners both with mortgaged and with unmort-
gaged lands in each of these three classes, and gives the
number of acres each class possesses, and the totals of its
debts. It also gives the average size of farms, the average
debt per man and the average debt per acre for each of
these classes. Class "A," composed of those who took
their original lands from the government, is divided into
two sub-classes according as the farmers have borrowed
money on their original homesteads, or still have them free
from debt; and those who have their original homes still
unencumbered are divided further into those who owe no

345] The Condition of the Western Farmer.

67

money whatever upon land, and those who owe money
only upon additional lands recently purchased. A foot-note
gives the facts about the mortgages which have been exe-
cuted by the men of this last subdivision.

XVIIL— REAL ESTATE MORTGAGES OWED BY RESI-
DENTS, WITH REFERENCE TO THE MODE OP
ACQUISITION OP THE LANDS.^

A. SETTLED ON GOV-
ERNMENT LAND.

a. Original home un-
mortgaged :

1. No mortgage on
any land, ....

2. Additional lands
only mortgaged,^ .

b. Original home mort-
gaged,

B. S ETTLED ON RAIL-
ROAD LAND.

a. Lands unmortgaged,

b. Lands mortgaged,

C. PURCHAS'RS OF LAND
FROM INDIVIDUALS.

a. Lands unmortgaged,

b. Lands mortgaged.

9

P

Acres.

^

9

1,680

5

1,280

4

640

3

720

16

3,000

4

440

33

74

5,200

13,960

Amount of
debt.

$3,950.00
3,300.00

23,400.00

48,769.61

$79,419.61

Aver-
age
size of
farm,
acres.

186.66
256.00
160.00

240.00
187;50

110.00
157.57

175.14

Average

debt per

man.

Aver-
age
debt
per
acre.

$790.00
825.00

1,462.50

1.477,87

$1,073.21

$3.09
5.16

7.80

9.38

$6.13

These figures are very striking from almost every point \
of view. First, we observe that half of all the settlers on
government land have their lands entirely free from mort-
gage, while only four have mortgages upon their original
homes; in the case of those who have mortgages upon their
additional lands, the average debt per acre is very low, being
only $3.09. Of those who have their original homes mort-

^ In this table the percentage of partial payments has not been
deducted, as the figures are used only for comparison, and by omit-
ting this deduction the matter is much simplified.

^ The mortgages against these five men cover 480 acres of their
lands, and, the total amoimt of their debt being $3950, the average
amount they owe on each mortgaged acre is $8.23.

68 The Condition of the ^yestern Farmer, [346

- gaged, two came in among the last of those who took gov-
ernment land; two have very small mortgages; moreover, the

i average debt per acre on the property of these is itself quite

I low, being $5.16. Then again we notice that the size of the
farms among these settlers averages larger than among
either of the other classes; the homes of those, especially,
who have additional lands which they have mortgaged are
much larger than those of any of the others. Not one of
these settlers on government land who has a mortgage to
take care of can be said to be at all seriously embarrassed
by it, and some of them are, despite their mortgages, as
well off as any men in the township.
sU Take up next the settlers on railroad land and what a
•"^Sydifference ! There are only three of them without mortgage,

\ as against sixteen holding mortgaged farms, and the aver-
\/ age debt per acre on those lands which are mortgaged is
$7.80, or half again as much as the average debt borne by
those settlers on government land who have their original
homes mortgaged. Following the analogy of class "A,"
we would expect to find the mortgaged farms larger than
those which are clear, and we shall find this to be the case
in class " C " ; but in class " B,'' the unmortgaged farms are
considerably larger on the average than the mortgaged;
this points to something exceptional in these particular
cases, and in investigating the cases in detail we find this
indication borne out in fact. Of the three purchasers of
railroad land who have their lands unmortgaged, two are
brothers who had been farmers in Germany, and who, com-
ing to America with considerable property, were able not
only to buy and pay for comparatively large farms, but to
put considerable money in bank — certainly a very excep-
tional state of affairs with the ordinary settler on a Nebraska
farm. The third case is that of a man who bought railroad
land at an early date and farmed it for a number of years,
but on the death of his wife drifted away into other employ-
ments. Having made the final payments on his land, and
having inherited more land in the immediate neighborhood,

347] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 69

he has now come back with a new wife, once more to try his
luck at farming.

When we come to purchasers, we find only four unmort-
gaged farms, as against thirty-three mortgaged ones. The
average size of the farms is very much smaller, being only
one hundred and ten acres for the unmortgaged and about
one hundred and fifty-seven acres for the mortgaged. The
average debt per acre is higher than in either of the other
classes ; in fact, so much higher that, despite the comparative /
smallness of the farms, the average debt per farm is higher '
than elsewhere.

It has already been remarked that none of the settlers on
government land are in poor circumstances, while among
their ranks the great majority of the most prosperous farmers
are to be found. Of the settlers on railroad land, nearly
all would be included if they were as a class described as
quite heavily mortgaged, but with debts not so great as to
make it seem probable that any of them will be unable to
extricate themselves with time. The only case here to be
ranked among those whose future prospects are doubtful
is that of a man whose agricultural experience has been very
limited, and as he seems to have almost no capital, and
labors under still other disadvantages, it is doubtful how
long he will be able to hold out. But now, when we turn
from the purchasers of land from the railroad company to
class "C," the purchasers from other owners, we find as
marked a change in conditions as we noticed in passing
from class " A " to class " B." The mortgages are heavier,
the well-to-do are comparatively rare, and there are many
persons in very poor circumstances. In fact, there are quite
a number with whom it seems to be only a question of time,
and a short time at that, when they will have to give up their
holdings. One is almost tempted to draw the moral that «
the would-be purchaser, at least the one whose means are
not sufficient to pay entirely for his farm and then tide him
over all subsequent periods of hard times, had almost better
throw his money away than invest it in farming operations

70 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [348

in Nebraska, at the current prices of land and under the
present agricultural conditions; unless, indeed, he be pos-
sessed of unusual energy and ability.^

5. Our last analysis of the real estate mortgage debt will
consist in drawing a comparison between the size of the
mortgages and the fertility of the lands mortgaged, showing
what a very great disadvantage the possession of relatively
poor land is to a farmer. These figures are not given for
the whole district which we have heretofore been consider-
ing, but only for the thirty-six square miles included within
the township proper/ Table XIX. shows the amount of
the debt on all the lands of the four different grades described
on page 54. As it refers to both residents and non-residents
it is naturally rather vague, but we see from it in general
the fact that the mortgages on the poorer lands tend to be
larger than those on the better lands, and that, in the main,
a larger percentage of the poorer lands is under mortgage.

Table XX. contains the same statistics, but limited en-
tirely to residents. We see that the average debt per acre
for all land of each class decreases steadily with the rise to
better grades of land; also the percentage of the land which
is under mortgage is much less for the better land than for
the poorer. All of the land of grade seven owned by resi-

^ This statement, it is tnie, is at variance with the eager demand
that exists in certain quarters for really desirable farming land.
Why this great demand may exist and yet the position taken in the
text be true, will be touched upon in a later place.

^ The omission of the outside lands is made necessary because the
writer has not at hand any ratings for the fertility of the lands not
within the township proper. The estimates have been made by
using quarter sections of land as a basis, not, as in the precedmg
tables, by considering the individual man as a basis and referring
all liis debt to all his property. Consequently the totals will differ
in some respects from those preceding. The total debt for each
quarter section, whether it is to be paid by one or more persons,
and whether all or only part of the area is encumbered, is attributed
to the quarter section as a whole, and so to the appropriate grade
of land. Thus only those quarter sections come under the heading
unmortgaged which have no encumbrance upon any portions of
them.

349] The Condition of the Western Farmer,

71

dents is under mortgage, while less than two-thirds of the
land of grade ten is encumbered. Similarly we find a de-
crease in the average debt per acre for mortgaged acres as
we ascend to better grades of land, though here there is a
slight break in the case of grade nine, which has a lower
average debt per acre than grade ten. We infer, in general,
from these facts, that the lot of the settler on the best land
is disproportionately better than that of the man on poor
land. If it were a mere question of how much one could
borrow, the resident of good land would of course be able
to incur the heavier debt. Both the farmer of good and the
farmer of poor land started on a level, or, if the latter was a
comparatively recent purchaser, he acquired his farm at a
lower price and consequently started with a smaller debt or
outlay of purchase money, but he has now fallen very far
behind in almost every case. So decidedly is this true that
one might almost infer that the ordinary man had better pay
twenty-five dollars an acre or more for a good farm than take
the poor one as a gift, if he has any regard whatever for his
probable condition after a number of years of farming.

XIX. AND XX.— MOETGAGES AND FERTILITY.

, „

Area in acres.

Amount of
debt.

Debt per acre.

Perc'tage
of lands of

Graae oi
land.

Unmort-
gaged.

Part mort-
gaged.

Eor all
acres.

For

m'tg'g'd

acres.

each

quality

mortgag'd

1

"eg

d

7

8

9

10

160
1,760
1,280
4,000

800
2,560
3,360
9,120

$8,301.81
22,560.67

25,782.67
81,870.27

$8.65
5.22
5.56
6.24

$10.38
8.81
7.67
8.98

83.33
59.26
72.41
69.51

a
o

a

1

1

7
8
9

10

I

240
480

2,880

560
1.120
1,480
5,280

$6,035.14
10,035.14
12,000.00
44,949.33

$10.78
7.38
6.12
5.51

$10.78
8.96
8.11
8.51

100.00
82.35
75.51
64.71

72 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [350

c. Improvements on Land in Harrison Township.

In accordance with the plan of this part of the paper, the
next thing to consider is the value of improvements on the
various farms, and under the head of improvements we in-
clude here buildings, fences, fruit trees, if any, draining, etc.,
but not the cost of breaking the land, that being a necessary
preliminary for all the land before it goes into cultivation.
Table XXI. gives a map' of the township proper, with figures
representing the estimated value of improvements on each
tract of farming land. An asterisk means that the land
has no improvements upon it in the sense above, though
it may be broken and under regular cultivation either by an
owner non-resident of the township or by a renter. The
figures given are for values in dollars at the present day, not
for cost of construction, and are of course estimates based
partly on examination of the buildings themselves and partly
on the statement of the occupant or some one of his neighbors.
Owing to the scanty opportunities for learning the facts, the
figures can by no means be considered as exact, and many
errors have no doubt crept in; but an effort was made to
approximate actual values as nearly as might be, and the
figures given are thought in the main to be sufficiently
accurate for the purposes of this paper. Table XXII. gives
a similar outline map showing the mortgages on the same
tracts of land. Here a circle represents unincumbered
land. This table is introduced here for purposes of compar-
ison, in preference to bringing it in under the heading of
real estate mortgages previously considered. By turning
from one table to the other we can readily see how nearly
the mortgage on any one tract of land corresponds to the
amount expended on it for improvements. The letters " G,"

^ In this and the following map the heavy lines indicate section
boundaries, and serve at the same time as the limiting lines of
farms. Whenever one farm includes land on each side of the sec-
tion boimdary, the heavy line is replaced by a dotted line, to indi-
cate that fact. The light solid lines are in all cases the limiting
lines of farms.

351] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 73

" R," and " P " are inserted, (but only on those tracts of land
on which owners are in actual residence), to indicate whether
the owner of the tract has been classed respectively as a settler
on government land (G), a purchaser from the railroad
company (R), or a purchaser from a former individual owner
(P). In running through the cases we see that it is the last
of these classes whose mortgages are to the least extent rep-
resented by improvements, while at the other extreme the
comparatively few settlers on government land whose places
are encumbered have ample improvements to show for their
debts in all except perhaps two cases. This conclusion agrees
very closely with that arrived at when considering mortgages
alone with reference to the kinds of land originally settled
upon.

XXI. -ESTIMATED VALUE OF IMPROVEMENTS ON LANDS IN HARRISON |

TOWNSHIP, NEBRASKA. j

50

1000

600

100

1000

roo

«00

700

400

1200

1500

300-400

1200

500

250-300

400-500

800 S 600

300 500

roo

1500

600

400

400

r

50

300

100-150

800

4000

1200

1200

200

2000

1800-2000

1500

700

700

1000

700

700

150-200

300

50

1000

700

1000

1200-
1400

200

300

500

300

250-300

400-500

250-300

100

200-300

900

400-500

1200

400

900

500

800-1000

400

200

50

1000

1100
1200

500-600

200-300

2000

700

300-400

700

200

* 500

500-600

400-500

1200

800-900

300

1000

750

150

250-300

500

lOOOl

lOOOl 1000

200

1000

200

300

500 *

100

500-600

I

XXII.— MORTGAGES ON LANDS IN HARRISON TOWNSHIP, NEBRASKA.

o

o
G

o
P

700
P

700
G

i

600
P

o
R

2000 1

2500
P

1200
R

2000
R

1500

o
G

o

1600

300
P

2500

1600

o

5070
P

o

0

o

o

8

30

800
P

«

2983

1100
P

R °

«

o

o

1500

1842

1000
R

o

o

R

o

1000

o

o
R

0

1600

2000
R

o

950

600

o

i

2700
P

o o

P

1008

o

4000

o

l^nn

1200
R

1000
R

i

1008

700

750 750
P P

2500
P

o

1008

o

o

P

o

1200
R

o
o

^

2000

1900
P

700

1500
P

1750
1750

3200

° G

1000
G

o 1800
P

1900
P

1600

2000

2000

1000
R

o

G

o

G

1100
G

800

o

o

o

500
G

3400
P

3429

500 1 571

o

G

o

o p

o
o

500
P

1400
G

2000

250 R

800 R

600 R

o

700 P

1800
P

3150

733

350

o

1100
P

o

G

o
G

o
G

2000
P

300 P

o

1050 P

200 P

o

867

o

o
G

1467
P

1400
P

1000 P

o
G

2663

700

3000

QTQA 1

o
1000

800

2000

800

433
R

° G

o

1500

o

2700

600

o
P

o

I

i

333

° G

I

>

900 P

o

P

d

IV.— CONCLUSION.

It remains now to summarize briefly the facts shown
respecting the condition of the farmers in Harrison township
since its settlement, with a view to learning something of the
various economic influences that during that time have been
operative upon western agriculture, as far as they may be
exemplified in this township. As will be seen, our data permit
us to examine only such influences as can be seen plainly at
work in individual cases. Matters like the burden of indirect
taxes, or the effect of changes in the value of the circulating
medium, which can be observed only on the wide scale, are
here excluded.

We have had before us a class of farmers owning lands of
steadily increasing value. Of those who are still residents,
^ about half got their lands either as gifts from the govern-
ment, or on very easy terms from the Union Pacific Railway
Company; the remainder purchased their farms from other
owners than the railway company, at prices ranging from
, seven or eight dollars an acre in earlier times to twenty-five
j or thirty dollars in late years; in most cases these paid a good
part of the purchase money in cash. The farmers of this
, township have on the average a little over a quarter section
I of land each, and usually from 125 to 135 acres in a quarter
section is plow-land. A large proportion of the farms are
: mortgaged, and the debt on such as are mortgaged is on the
average something over one-third the actual value of the
farms. When a tract of land is once encumbered, the ten-
dency is often for the mortgage on it to increase in size as
the rise in the value of the security makes a larger loan possi-
ble. The mortgages on lands obtained from the govern-
ment or the railway company are in general lighter than those
on lands purchased from individual owners, and the condi-
tion of the farmers owning such lands is correspondingly

355] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 11

more prosperous. This we find natural to a certain extent,
inasmuch as purchasers are very rarely able to pay in full at
the time of purchase, and so usually start out encumbered by
a mortgage debt; but the frequent increase in the size of mort-
gages thus incurred, and the corresponding unprosperous
condition of those who are to pay them, is indicative of the
fact that in very many instances the real burden of a mort-
gage has been much greater than one would infer from the
mere knowledge of its amount.

We must note, however, that there is among the residents
of the township, as nearly as can be judged, a comparative
freedom from floating debt. The chattel mortgage debt, of
which the sum-total is comparatively small, is confined mainly
to those most heavily burdened with debt on real estate, and
can be interpreted in general as emphatic evidence of the
poor financial condition of the least prosperous farmers.^
The appreciation in the value of lands furnishes us the clue
to the lack of floating debt among the more prosperous
farmers; for whenever any amount of such debt has accumu-
lated, the farmer, unless his land is already mortgaged to the
maximum, is usually able to augment his loan on the basis of
the increased value of the land, and, with the funds thus
obtained, to pay ofif his smaller debts. This expedient is
usually resorted to ; for the rate of interest on the real estate
loan is considerably less than that on smaller loans with other
security, and there is in addition an advantage in being free
from the annoyance of having continually to provide for the
satisfaction of small debts coming due at frequently recur-
ring intervals. As to improvements on land, our tables have
indicated that these are much better on the farms of settlers on
government land than on the farms of other classes, and that
it is mainly on the farms of the later purchasers that the debt is
not represented by improvements. We note that the^ number
of resident owners has greatly decreased in late years, and also

^ However, in a more recently settled township, or in a township
where the farmers were in the habit of buying cattle on a large
scale to feed, on credit, this rule would not hold.

'-^ OF THX ^^

USri7ERSIT7l

78 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [356

that the number of farmers faiUng in comparatively late years
from what seemed unavoidable causes directly connected with
their-farming operations, has been larger than at any other
period in the history of the township. The drought of 1890
had undoubtedly very much to do with this fact, but a cause
is also to be found in the temporary cessation of increase in
land value in the years just prior to 1890 or '91, and the con-
sequent inability of the debtors to increase their loans so as to
make good past deficiencies with the proceeds.

With the knowledge now arrived at of the condition of the
farming classes, let us pass in review the various economic
influences which have affected them so far as these influences
are exhibited by the material collected in this monograph.
What is said about these forces must be understood to apply
to the farmers of normal ability, who have at their service an
average amount of capital. Unusual shiftlessness or misfor-
tunes may have accelerated the failure of some, and unusual
ability may have given positive prosperity to others, but such
elements we may for the time leave to a certain extent out of
consideration. It seems sufficiently evident from Part II. of
this paper that over and above those who have failed owing
to personal causes, there are men whose ruin or financial
embarrassment has had behind it causes which cannot be so
localized ; and their lack of success has been described as due
to prevalent agricultural conditions, a phrase, which we are
now to analyze.

However, of the conditions possibly unfavorable to the
farmer, we evidently have no data here from which to exam-
ine those which may be connected with the whole economy of
our industrial society, such as indirect taxes, changes in the
value of money, the modern distributive process, and perhaps
also the influence on prices of the greatly increased produc-
tion from the recently opened prairie states. Other matters,
however, of a less wide-reaching character we are in a posi-
tion fairly to examine.

From our account of the farmers' condition, it is clear that
the central fact is the rise in the value of land. For it is this
rise that has given the opportunity for the continued increase

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

80 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [358

of good crops, they could at once invest their profits perma-
nently on their farms.

It may well seem that these statements in regard to the
frequent unprofitableness of farming operations are not in
harmony with such facts as that the market price of land is at
present increasing rapidly, and that there is now a more eager
demand for good agricultural land than has obtained for a
number of years; and again that land is now being eagerly
sought by renters who are willing to pay a larger proportion
of the produce for rent than ever before, and who will in
some cases even pay a quite high cash rent. It might be
said that in order to occasion such a demand for lands to
purchase and to rent, farming must be very profitable, or at
least that the chances of high profits in it must be very good,
and this would not agree with our preceding inferences. At-
tention should, however, be directed to one or two influences
of importance which, apart from the profitableness of the
investment, might create a high demand for land.

In the first place, although the available free government
land has been practically exhausted, yet the tradition of cheap
farms easily obtainable still lingers in the minds of the
people, and so the home-seeker still turns his thoughts toward
the West, where prices of land are really low in comparison
with those current further east. But the conditions make it
necessary for him to resort to new methods of acquiring the
desired land. If he has some little capital he will probably
try to purchase as large a farm as possible with what means
he has at his disposal for the first cash payment; then, giving
a mortgage for the balance of the purchase money, he will
trust to Providence for the ability to meet the debt when it
comes due. If the newcomer has not money enough to pur-
chase land in any way, he will seek for a farm to rent with the
hope that he may before long become an owner himself. In
these facts we see a prominent reason why the demand for
land may have increased without regard to the income pro-
duced by it, until its selling price, and as well its rental, have
become much higher than the income really warrants. The
possibility of such influences having their effect upon the

359] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 81

demand for land is made greater by one of the characteristics
of investment in farming operations, which may be specially
mentioned; this is the slowness with which the true rate of
agricultural profits can be estimated, owing to the great var-
iations from year to year in the size of the crops and in the
prices at which farm products will sell.

A special case of this migration of home-seekers to the
newer western states is exemplified on a considerable scale
by the large parties of farmers who at the present time
(March, 1893) are leaving Illinois for Nebraska, the Dacotas,
and neighboring states. As the value of land in such
states as Illinois increases, the younger generation finds it
constantly growing harder to acquire farm homes of their
own. Consequently it often happens that the owner of a
small farm sells it, perhaps to a non-resident landowner, and
moves with his sons further west, where the proceeds from
the old farm will purchase enough land for both father and
sons.

But again, a cause for the increased demand for farming
lands may be sought! in the deeper relations underlying all
industrial society. Farming may be an uncertain means of
getting a living, and yet it, or the ideas of it current in the
eastern states, may seem to many a laborer so much better
than his existing lot, or may actually be such an improvement
upon it, that he is only too glad to seek to better himself by
means of it; and thus he helps to swell the already over-
crowded ranks of agriculturalists, and so raises the price of
their primary necessity — the land.

Though the special peculiarities in the character of the
income derived from farming operations should by no means
be left out of account in considering the status of the farmers,
yet a brief mention of these peculiarities must suffice here.
In the first place, the irregularity in the amount of the
income from year to year has very important effects. Though
even the tenant farmer may almost always feel confident that
a sufficient supply of food is assured him, no matter how poor
the crop, still every farmer is liable to have his year's profits

!

82 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [360

totally wiped out, or even to suffer quite a heavy loss if the
season should be very bad; for the margin between the
normal net income and the sum of the living expenses and the
interest on the investment is often very narrow. Thus while
a well-to-do farmer may be able to recuperate in succeeding
years from a heavy loss of crops, yet such a blow may be too
great for one who is poorer or deeply indebted, and may
effect his ruin before he has time to attempt to repair his
losses. The effects of bad management in wiping out this
margin of profit are very similar to those of bad seasons, and
when poor management and poor crops are found in con-
junction, there is little hope for the farmer.

I^ should be remarked, however, that while the crop failure
of 1890 ruined many farmers who were already heavily
encumbered with debt, still in some cases indirect results of a
very different kind can be traced. For maAy of those farmers
whose affairs were in moderately good condition and who
had sufficient energy to cause them at once to set to work to
recover their lost ground, have really profited by their
experience. They have become much more conservative, and
are less inclined to enter upon speculative transactions,
especially where they would have to make use of credit. Con-
sequently they will soon be in better position to resist heavy
losses, should such again befall them.

Next, in regard to direct taxes, it has been seen that these
are by no means so high as seriously to affect the farmer's
prosperity, being probably in no case above four or five mills
on the dollar of true valuation.

Freight rates have played a more important role, especially
since of late years it has become necessary to ship large
amounts of surplus products to distant markets; and they
often absorb a large part of the gross price for which the
product sells. Whether the responsibility for this deduction
from the farmer's receipts lies with railroad companies which
charge excessive rates, or with the conditions which make
necessary the shipment of grain for such great distances,
must be decided from other evidence than that which we have
gathered.

3G1] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 83

The influence of the use, and more especially of the abuse,
of credit will require a more extended treatment, for it is by-
no means a simple matter and needs to be looked at from
several points of view. In the first place, the mere borrowing .
of money cannot be said to be in itself a harmful thing.
Credit has a tendency to multiply as well the opportunities
for gain of the man who makes use of it, as to make greater
his dangers of loss; but it is only rarely that it can be called
the direct cause of either gain or loss. Merely to say that
the farmer pays too high interest for his money is in no way
an explanation of his financial difficulties; for the rate of
interest is adjusted by a competition acting with comparative
freedom, and we must go back of it to consider the earning
power of the material things in which the borrowed money is
invested.

The economic significance of a mortgage debt depends
partly on the previous financial condition of the debtor, but
perhaps to a still greater extent on what is the corresponding^
item on the opposite side of his balance-sheet. As to this\
latter, we must consider whether there stands back of the 1
debt an asset, the liquidation of a loss in the past, or a presentj
personal expenditure. If the money is borrowed for either
of the last two purposes, then the debt will be a dead weight-,
to be provided for from other sources. If the item offsetting
it in the accounts is an asset, then one must consider further
whether it has the actual present value of the debt; for in so
far as it has not, the debt will be a drag, just as in the cases
above. If the asset does actually have a value equal to the
debt, then we must examine first whether it is likely to appre-
ciate or depreciate, and second whether it is income-produc-
ing or not. If income-producing, then such income must be
investigated as to its amount, as to the regularity with which
it accrues, and the probability of its permanence.

Applying these principles, we shall be able to see why a
mortgage bearing seven per cent interest, that represents in
part a payment for high-priced land, in part a new house, and
in part losses or expenses in excess of income, may perhaps
be more burdensome to the farmer of to-day than a small ^

84 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [362

loan at three per cent a month given by an early settler who
had practically no means to obtain the funds to begin cultiva-
tion or even to make the first payment on cheap land. For
the early settler could reasonably expect to make and save
both principal and interest out of a single crop, while the
variable income of the farmer to-day may often fall so low as
to fail to yield sufficient surplus to pay the interest on that part
of the debt which is represented by income-producing assets,
much less on the remainder of it.

* In the region which we are considering, capitalization of
all agricultural property is too high (it has been previously
maintained that the basis of capitalization is not so much
income as a demand arising from other causes), and from this
two results follow: first, that the rate of income from land is
low compared to that from other investments, and second,
that the marginal amount of money that can be borrowed on
the land is high in just the proportion that the capitalization
is high. Now under these circumstances let a farmer pay
the rate of interest which is current in the money markets,
and if the debt is large or long-continued, the tendency is for
him steadily to lose. It must of course be remembered that
agriculture is a highly uncertain occupation, so that a suc-
cession of good crops may entirely overcome this normal
loss, or a succession of poor ones may greatly increase it.

What we have thus far said of the use of credit has been of
such general application as to apply to all borrowers alike,
but it will now be necessary to show how borrowing becomes
a much greater evil to certain classes of farmers than to
others. It is a fact often commented upon that the small entre-
preneur who is out of debt takes pride in his condition and
usually avoids investments or speculations which would make
the use of credit necessary to him, while one who has once
become heavily encumbered becomes callous to the incon-
veniences caused by his indebtedness, and often does not
hesitate to plunge deeper if possible; moreover, the latter will
become reckless in his speculations, because if he is successful
the gain is his, and if he loses, much of the loss falls on his

363] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 85

creditors. Now, as has before been pointed out, an excep-
tionally energetic man can sometimes attain prosperity even
though he starts out with a heavy debt incurred for purchase
money, and if he meets with good fortune he can gradually
free himself from his burden. But under the prevailing con-
ditions, the man of just ordinary ability, who is owing a heavy
debt, will be more likely than not to allow it to grow contin-
ually larger; and not only will the effect of the debt be seen
in making more grievous the ill effects of losses or misfor-
tunes, but when a man's credit is exhausted or badly strained
he will often be unable to avail himself of opportunities
which he would otherwise have had to make profits, as for
instance when he is forced to sell his grain at a low price
when, had he been able to wait on the markets, he could have
realized a much larger sum.

Perhaps the effect of his debt on a heavily mortgaged man
may be summed up by saying that in order to use the money
profitaj^ly, the borrower must be a man of normal ability; if
his qualities are exceptionally good he may profit greatly by
his loan; but if they are under the average, or if fortune
should go against him, his debt will almost surely operate to
increase his troubles. Any man who undertakes farming in
Nebraska at the present day requires, in order to be as-
sured of success, at least three things, — ^first, that he have
some little capital, second, that he possess good business
qualifications, and third, that -he escape any extraordinary-
misfortunes. If he lack any one of these, or is seriously defi-
cient in it, his success will be much retarded, if not rendered
entirely impossible. And though the same statement would
probably be true of almost any business enterprise, yet it
seems clear from the facts that it applies with especial
emphasis to the western agriculturalists of the present time.

Thus far what has been said in discussing the various
economic influences at work has been said mainly from the
point of view of the unsuccessful farmers. The term unsuc-
cessful must not only be taken to include those who have
failed completely owing to causes of a general nature or of

86 The Condition of the Western Farmer. [364

nature not clearly personal (for these latter causes have been
excluded from our consideration), but it also includes the
many who are still struggling for success, though badly
embarrassed by debt. In brief, it comprises all those who have
to a greater or less extent fallen short of the measure of suc-
cess which their efforts seemed to deserve. Nor should it be
forgotten that to the men classed as successful the same con-
ditions have applied as to the unsuccessful, though not with
equal results ; for the successful ones are those whose energy
or business ability or external advantages have been so great
as to enable them to overcome in some degree, at least, all
the unfavorable influences.

And now let us see what this measure of success is which
the more successful in the township have attained. The
largest landowner among them has 480 acres of land, while
only four or five, all told, own over 240 acres apiece. Of
those who have more than one quarter section of land, the
great majority have had some exceptional advantage, such
as a capital greater than the average, when they first came to
the countr}^, or external help of some kind, as land or money
received by inheritance, or they have been men of excep-
tional thrift. In no case can the improvements be called
more than comfortable, and it is rare to find an exception-
ally good house without noticing that the outbuildings have
to some extent been sacrificed to it, or mce versa. In few
cases will the income from his farm support the owner after
he has retired from active life. To the. writer it seems that
the condition of the successful farmers more strongly indi-
cates the disadvantages under which they have labored than
the condition of the more or less unsuccessful ones. For
here we see good business men who have carefully labored
for many years, and who come now toward the close
of their active careers, feeling fortunate if their farms are
unencumbered and their property sufficient to support them
in their old age, while they live with their descendants who
have taken their places in the active operations of agricul-
ture. It is true these men have had little inherited wealth

365] The Condition of tlie Western Farmer, 87

behind them, but they are among the men who have helped to
build up a new country, and who, it would seem, should have
as much share iil the prosperity of the new territory they
have helped to open, as those who cast their lot with the
towns and cities.

The farmer who has once become fairly well equipped,
and who is not burdened with a heavy debt, has, it is true,
certain advantages which make his lot in some ways quite
desirable. If not in debt, he feels sure of a comfortable living
even in poor years, and a small deficit is easily tided over.
Moreover, he is in a position to make advantageous use from
time to time of a small line of credit for temporary purposes ;
and, being able to get money at very low rates, may some-
times be able to make very profitable investments.

As compared with the pioneer farmer of twenty years ago,
the farmer of to-day requires a much larger capital, and in
consequence the cost of production of the grain that he raises
is higher. Not only is it found necessary to give the land
slightly more cultivating, but also there must be figured into /
the cost the interest on the investment in the land, which was "/
very small in the early days, but is of considerable importance
now. Then the standard of living, by which each family
gauges its expenditure, is much Higher than formerly, and
the enforced economies of the pioneer period cannot be prac- •
ticed, and indeed ought not to be demanded or expected.
The markets are no better to-day than before. In short, if
the farmer of to-day expects to achieve the same success as • •
the pioneer achieved, he must, except where good fortune
and the possession of unusual personal qualities are com-
bined, have capital in sufficient amount to offset the free land :
and the low cost of living of the pioneer period.

N

v.— APPENDICES.
A. Land Laws and Technical Expressions.

In order to avoid the necessity of frequent digressions
throughout the text to explain the ownership of the land at
the time settlement began, and the ways in which the settler
could acquire title to farming lands, it has been thought best
to gather all those matters, together with some related ones,
into an appendix, to which reference could be made from the
body of the paper.

When the lands now included within the borders of the
state of Nebraska passed out of the hands of the Indians and
into the possession of the Federal government, the latter
proceeded to have land surveyed as fast as the rate of settle-
ment seemed to warrant. Without going into the details of
this survey, it may be said that the main subdivisions created
were townships, each six miles square; that the townships
were divided into sections of approximately one square mile
each ; and these in their turn into quarter and quarter-quarter
sections. The disposition of tlie land by the government
was on the basis of these last subdivisions. The survey was
completed in Hall county in July and August, 1866, and in
1869 a U. S. land office was established at Grand Island, the
county seat.^

The federal government gave to the state of Nebraska
sections sixteen and thirty-six in every township for a school
endowment; it also gave to the Union Pacific Railroad, as to
the other roads built in the earlier days, a land grant consist-
ing of all the alternate sections for ten miles on each side of
the railroad track. As Harrison township lies within this
" ten mile limit," all of the odd-numbered sections within the

^For a concise account of this and the following matters, see
Sato's History of the Land Question in the U. S., Johns Hopkins
University Studies, Vol. IV., Nos. 7-9.

367] The Condition of the Western Farmer. 89

town were the property of the railroad at the time our inter-
est in the land begins, and since the two sections sixteen and
thirty-six belonged to the state, there were only sixteen
square miles in the township subject to entry under the fed-
eral laws. We have so frequently to make use of this class-
ification of the lands that the classes are referred to respec-
tively as "railroad land," "school land," and "government
land."

There were various ways in which the settler could acquire
lands on which to begin his farming operations. If he desired
to take government land, he had during most of the time
choice of pre-emption, homestead, or timber-claim The pre-
emptor had to improve his land and actually reside upon it;
he was allowed thirty-three months in which to make final
proof in compliance with the law, and pay the $2.50 an acre
which the government charged him for the land. The
"homesteader" had to reside on his land for five years
before he could make final proof and gain full title. But he
was allowed, if he so desired, to " commute his entry " after
six months residence, by paying the full legal price for the
land. This latter prbvision meant practically that his home-
stead was changed into a pre-emption. A timber-culture
entry gave the claimant title to the land after eight years, on
condition that he plant on it and keep in good condition a
certain number of acres in timber.

In 1872 one could pre-empt one hundred and sixty acres
of land within the township, or could homestead eighty acres.
By the act of March 3, 1873, ^^ could take in addition one
hundred and sixty acres as a timber claim. Two years later,
the soldiers' additional homestead act of March 3, 1875, gave
former soldiers the right to homestead one hundred and
sixty acres, which right was extended to all persons capable
of taking land at all, on July i, 1879.

If, owing to arrival in later years or for any other reason,
the settler wished to purchase railroad land, he had to pay for
it in most cases from four to six dollars an acre, but was
given long time, usually ten years, the principal to be paid
up in yearly instalments.

90 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [368

School land was for a long time leased by the state, but
has in comparatively recent years been sold to lessees on the
appraisement of residents of the county, most of it at seven
dollars an acre.

The state still holds unsold one quarter section within the
township. The general government retains the title to three
pieces of land, containing in all three hundred and twenty
acres; this fact being due to the delay of the occupants in
complying with the conditions required as a preliminary to
the transfer of the legal title.

Certain technical terms that are used in this connection
throughout the paper perhaps stand in need of explanation.
An " entry " is the settlement upon government land in one
of the three methods described above. " Proving up " is the
expression commonly used for completing the proof that the
government requirements have been fulfilled. It is a neces-
sary preliminary to the transfer of title to the settler. A
" soldiers' declaratory statement " is a paper stating that the
signer had been a soldier and intends to make a regular
entry for a designated piece of land. It is one of the few
entries that can be made by proxy, and serves as a bar to other
entries upon the land for six months after it has been filed.

In early years settlers now and then abandoned their
claims; the land would then simply lie open for a new entry
by the first person who chose to take it. If an occupant sold
his claim before having acquired full title, he would enter a
formal "relinquishment" on the records of the land office,
and the purchaser would then make a new entry for the land.
In order to avoid taxation, or sometimes for other reasons,
it was not uncommon when the time for " proving up " had
almost expired, for a settler to have his own claim canceled
by relinquishment. His right as to the kind of entry which
he had before made was now exhausted, but he could imme-
diately make a new entry of some other kind, and thus retain
his interest in the land. He could thus continue till he had
exhausted his rights under the land laws, which up to *79
allowed the settler to take in the aggregate 400 acres, and

369] The Condition of the Western Farmer, 91

after that date 480 acres. One or more of these causes will
explain the fact, frequently observed, of several successive
entries vipon the same tract of land.

The progress of the paper shows the importance of
classifying all the settlers into those who took land from the
government, those who purchased of the railroad company,
and those who purchased of other former owners. It has
not been found necessary to make further classification of
those who took government land, according to the kind of
claim which they chose, because no pre-emptions taken by
resident farmers were paid up, and whether a home-
stead or a timber claim was taken the land was equally a gift
from the government to the taker. The reason why a dis-
tinction is drawn between purchasers from the railroad com-
pany and other purchasers is because of the difference of the
terms of sale in the two cases. For the sake of simplicity
the few purchasers of school land are, except when given a
special heading, included under the third class above, i. e.^
the purchasers from other than the railroad company.

There are included under the name of takers of govern-
ment land all those who made entries direct from the govern-
ment, even though they had paid former holders to relinquish
claim upon the lands in order that they, the newcomers,
might take it; and this plan is adopted because the newcomer
had to carry out all the government requirements just as if
he were one of the earliest settlers. On the other hand, those
who bought from other settlers contracts for the sale of rail-
road land are included with the purchasers from former
owners rather than with the purchasers from the railroad
company, because the burden to which they subjected them-
selves was exactly the same as it would have been if they had
purchased lands to which the title was already complete.

B. Comparison of the Figures of this Paper with

THOSE SHOWN BY THE CeNSUS OF 189O.

The United States Census figures for the state of Nebraska
show that of all taxed acres, 58.13 per cent were mortgaged;

92 The Condition of the Western Farmer, [370

that the average amount of debt in force per assessed acre
was $3.74, and per mortgaged acre was $6.43 ; that the aver-
age value of an acre (estimated) was $14.45, ^'^^ that the
total amount of the mortgages represented 44.47 per cent of
the total value of the acres mortgaged ; also that the average
amount of debt to each mortgage in force against acres was
$844. Now these figures formed the average of the mort-
gages in both the older settled and the very recently settled
portions of the state. Since the average value of an acre is
as low as it is, we may conclude that the number of mort-
gages from newer parts of the state was comparatively very
large.

The figures brought out in this paper showing the per-
centage of acres which are mortgaged and the percentage of
the value of mortgaged acres represented by the debt in force
against them, are very nearly the same as those shown by
the census, but corresponding to the fact that in the present
study the value of the land per acre is much higher than in
the census figures, we find that the average debt per farm
and the average debt per acre are in almost the same propor-
tion higher. These facts help to show the relationship which
exists between the facts shown in this paper and the average
facts for the state as a whole.

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