=The price of what the farmer has to buy has declined in equal if not
greater ratio, and so his margin is as great as ever.=

It is evident that you are not a practical farmer. However, your
non-acquaintance with the figures is not to be wondered at when we
consider what has been said by great scholars and statesmen. I recently
heard a politician, and one of perfectly Himalayan greatness, say in
debate that a day's work on an Illinois farm would now produce more than
twice as much as in 1870, and another clinched it by adding that a man
could pay for a good farm by his surplus from five years' crops. Now go to
some practical farmer and get him to make the calculation, and you will
find that what he has saved by reduced prices is less than one-fifth of
what he has lost from the same cause. The average farm family in the
central West consists of five persons, and their greatest saving has been
on clothing. You may set that at $30 per year. The next is in sugar, for
which they pay but half the price of 1873. There is no other item that
will reach $5, not even including all the iron or steel they have to buy
in a year. The largest estimate of gains, unless they go into luxuries,
does not exceed $90 per year. At least a third of this gain is offset by
increased taxes.

Now let us see what this farm family has lost, counting only the price of
the surplus it sells and taking our average from the official reports. On
500 bushels of wheat, at least $250; on 600 bushels of corn, $120; on ten
tons of hay, $30; on rye, oats, potatoes, and so forth, $50; on three
horses and mules sold per year, $100. Total, $550, being more than ten
times the net gain over taxes.

The Agricultural Department figures indicate that, taking the United