The American Settler from London, Greater London, England • Page 2

THE SETTLER KANSAS MOBTGAG: BX-GOVBBHOA DISCUSSES THE Fl- NAMOIAL The bolder of a mortgage on a Western farm wrote recently to ex-Governor Samuel J. Crawford, of Kansas, asking forinformation concerning the value of farm mortgages in that State. In his reply, which is of some comfort to those with present investments in Kansas, although it may be not entirely satisfactory to would-be investors, the ex'Governor, writing from Washington, under date of the 14th instant, says DEAR letter relative to Kansas mortgages reached me this morning. In reply permit me to say, as I said substantially in the interview referred to, that you aud others who have invested in Kansas mortgages have nothing whatever to fear on account of such investments. Every Kansas mortgage, with isolated exceptions, is secured by a tract of land, worth, at the time the mortgage was executed, at least twice as much as it called for.

Having resided in Kansas for 32 years, I know something of the quality and value of Kansas and I say without the slightest hesitation that your mortgage and other Kansas mortgages unless fraud was practiced in securing them, are juet as good and safe as Government bonds. The great majority of Kansas farmers commenced life in that State with little else than the naked prairie, and hence they found it necessary as well as advantageous to borrow money. But at least nine-tenths of the money so borrowed was invested in (stock or substantial improvements which the farmers now have as the fruits of such investments. Kansas, mind you, is larger in area than all England, New Yqrk.Mew Jersey, combined, and hence it has taken a great deal of money and labour to bring it tip'to its present position among the agricultural States of the Union. Two years ago the aggregate yield of corn (one crop) exceeded bushels.

Last year the corn was ctat short by reason of the drought, but the wheat, in quality and quantity, was above the average, while this year the prospect for corn, wheat and other agricultural products is all that aby person could desire. Throughout the the ground was never in better condition for cultivation. We have had an abundance of show and rainfall during the winter and spring, and the farmers are actively at work preparing for the cultivation of a larger acreage of corn and wheat combined than ever before. The wheat crop is already assured, and the yield is estimated at 65,000,000 bushels, while that of corn will not, in all probability, fall short of 350,000,000 bushels. This added to the large herds of cattle and the great number of horses and mules which our farmers will ship to mars ket during the year, will place the State in the front rank with products for the market worth at least $80,000,000.

"Then, with such a grand prospect, why should the holders of Kansas mortgages be uneasy There is DO good reason for it. But there may be a cause behind the scenes that they do not understand. The Alliance vagaries the gloomy forbodings of the croaker and the malicious threats of repudiation by disreputable agitators and demagogues in Kansas are magnified and held up before the people of the East by speculators who know the value of Kansas mortgages and are anxious to buy them at a heavy discount. A few days ago a gentleman of your city who held a Kansas mortgage for $1,500 was frightened by false reports about Kansas and the purposes of the Alliance until he sold his mortgage for $400, and the same thing to a greater or less degree, as I am informed, is going on in Now York and Pennsylvania. The members of the Alliance, generally speaking, are farmers, are just as honest and honorable in their dealings as any other class of citizens.

They would spurn the thought of not paying their debts or an insinuation that they are in favor of repudiation. No doubt some of the leaders and agitators who are not farmers, properly speaking, and "who never succeeded in any legitimate business or profession, would hail repudiation with as much delight as they do the drought or hot winds, because something of the kind is essential to their political success. But not so with the real farmers, or any other respectable class of people in Kansas. Our people are aware of the fact that the bulk of the money invested in Kansas mortgages belonged to iarmers, mechanics, factory ployes, clerks, teachers and the estates of deceased persons in Pennsylvania, New York and New England, and on that account, if for no other reason, every honorable man in Kansas will sooner or later fulfill his business obligations. But there are other reasons, the first and foremost of which is that the people of Kansas do not believe in repudiation.

They have too often been tested in the scale of justice and humanity to deserve even an imputation of kind; besides, as, already stated, there is behind every Kansas mortgage a tract of land, generally speaking, double the face value of such mortgage as security for its payment. I trust, therefore, that you end your friends ard all others who have invested in such securi- ies wij make no sacrifice on account of false reports put in circulation by sch'-iers, croakers, demagogues and political mountebanks for selfish purposes. Truly yours, SAMUEL LUNATICS AND IDIOTS DIPPED FROM EUROPE. (From the New York Times, April 80.) The new Immigration law says that "all idiote, insane persons, paupers, or persons likely to become a public charge shall be excluded from admission into the United States." This is not a new provision, but the re-enactment of an old one. The act which was approved on August 3, 1882, provided that no convict, lunatic, idiot, nor any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge should be permitted to land." This law, it will be noted, has been in force for almost nine years, and an impression prevails, we presume, that it has been enforced.

But there is ample proof that this has not prevented the entrance into America, even at our to say nothing of the Canadian a large Humber of those classes for the exclusion of which nothing more than a brief inspection was required. There is also ample proof thai hundreds of insane, idiotic, or feeble minded migrants who have gained admission since the id of 1882 was enacted were shipped to this country from Europe by the authorities of cities and towns, or by so -called benevolent societies. By the same agencies convicts have been sent to us. The Treasury Department now has the case of Nicholas Bader, a convicted murderer, who arrived at New York en April 23d, having been shipped to America by the authorities ot a town in Germany, where he had been confined in prison for one year and in an asylum for the insane for twenty-four years. But it Is not easy to discover whether an immigrant is a criminal, while in most cases the defection of a lunatic or an idiot is a matter of no difficulty.

There is abundant and positive proof, as we have said, that the authorities of cities and towns in Europe have for years unloaded lunatics and idiots and paupers upon the tax- papers of the United States, and especially upon the people of New York State. We find in the Philadelphia Press of April 27 the following story relating to this practice "An American physician who has been studying in Germany for some time reached New York April 26, and in speaking of the immigration question, said that one effect of the new law was demonstrated in a startling manner during a lecture that he recently attended with many other students in one of the German Universi ties. The lecturer produced before the class an said the American doctor to a Press reporter, and, after discoursing upon his condition, said to his class gentlemen I shall send this patient into our own rural districts. Of course, it has been our custom heretofore to send idiots and the pauper insane to America. But laws were enacted a short time ago which made such a course difficult.

We might be able to slip this man into one of their ports, but the chances are against That is what a German medical professor told us continued the physician, 'and you know that the professors there act under the direction of the Government. But this is not all. I was told in Austria, upon what I believe to be good authority, that per-, sons convicted of crime there are in great numbers of cases given the alternative of going to prison or emigrating to America." The new law is not more severe in its exclusion of lunatics and idiots than the old one was. Possibly it will be more effectively The "custom" has become so notorious in Germany that professors at the universities speak of it freely in their lectures, and apparently out shame. Now for a part of the proof.

Since 1885 the Board of Charities of this State has sent back to Europe more than 600 lunatics, imbeciles and feeble minded persons who had been shipped to the United States by the authorities of cities or towns, by immigration societies and "benevolent" organizations, or by relatives, guardians and friends. At least two- thirds of these persons entered the State by way of New York. They were found in the asylums, hospitals and almshouses of the State, and in many cases they had come with through tickets to interior towns, where they at once became public charges. The town or city authorities that provided for the transportation of these unfortunate men and women not only sent them to America, but in many instances even selected the asylum or almshouse in this State to which they should be consigned 1 It is established by satisfactory proof that these immigrants were lunatics, or idiots, or feeble minded persons bes fore they left their homes, and after they were sent back to Europe in no case was complaint nifde that the action of the Board of Charities had been improperly taken. In these cases the history of each immigrant was traced.

Obviously it is not possible to procure this history in the cases of a majority of those immigrants who were insane when they left their homes in Europe, have been contiouously insane since their departure and are now found in some asylum. It is probable, therefore, that for every insane migrant sent back to Europe by the board several of the same class have remained here to be public charges throughout their lives. Statistics relating to the insane point directly to this. The following is an official statement as to the num- ber of insane persons in the institutions of the State of New 9,537 16,022 Increase' 6,486 earache number has increased 68 per cent. theaame 10 yeMfl the increase of the populsjtion of tie State has only cent.

A part oft this great increase of the her of persons in the institutions is due to causes notrelateJ to immigration, but the mem bers of tee Board, wboje experience and inquiries have given them "an of the facts, have repeatedly recorded their lief that by far the greater partf la-due to the shipment of insane persons to this'State from the countries of Eurone. No attempt enforce the old law on the Canadian boundary was made, nor was it effectively enforced at the seaports. Thus far there has been no attempt under the new law to exclude lunatics, idiots and paupers at the Canadian line, but commendable energy is shown at New York. Upon the people of no other State does the evasion of the law impose so great a burden, and the people of New York should insist upon a rigid enforcement of the statute at all points where immigrants come in. A DECADE OP RAILWAY TRAVEL.

(from the New York Nation.) The Census Bulletin giving comparative railway statistics for New England during the laSi decade suggests a number of points having economic importance. The growth of passenger travel is one of these. It appears that population in New England increased 17 per cent from 1880 to 1889, and the length of railroad line 16 per cent; the growth being nearly the same in both. Yet the number of passengers carried almost doubled (increase 98 per cent) during this period. The greater use of railway facilities in 1889 than in 1880 is due primarily to the increase in suburban travel more people, that is, live out of town and go daily into the city for business or pleasure.

This fact is clearly brought out by another comparison though the number of passengers increased 98 per cent, the number of miles travelled by all of them increased but 78 per cent, showing that the larger part of this increase was in short distant neys. Other census figures have shown us that our larger cities are growing faster than the smaller towns or villages it is an important fact to remember in connection with this that there is also evident a movement of population from the more crowded portions of cities toward the suburbs. The shortening of the average railroad journey shows this batter than the census, because city suburbs may be practically in the country although included within the municipal limits. This growth of suburban travel may be more clearly brought out by some statis tics of a Western road. From 1880 to 1889 the mileage of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway increased 91 per cent, and its passenger movement (miles travelled by passengers) but 99 per cent.

Thus its passenger traffic has scarcely more than kept pace with its extensions; but the character of that traffic has changed completely, the in crease in the number of individual travellers being 190 per cent. That is, had it not been for the suburban travel (ia and of Chicago principally), the Northwestern's traffic would have shown a tive decrease. The same is true of the Western roads. The difference in the percentages of increase between New England and the States beyond Chicago indicates more than a growth in suburban population. It will be noticed that the increase in passenger traffic per mile of road in New England, 1889 over 1880, is about 55 per cent, while on the Northwestern it is only 4 per cent.

This means that country people aud villagers use the railway much more frequently in New England than at the West. No doubt the census statistician is right in ascribing this in a great measure to the manufacturing induss tries in New encourage travelling on the part of operatives seeking or changing employment, and also on the part of salesmen aad other business men connected with factories. Yet the fact that the number of individual travellers has increased during the decade six times more than population, seems fairly to allow the inference that persons living in the villages or large towns in New England are now taking more frequent trips to neighboring cities or to Boston or New other words, that opportunities for general culture are more common and more generally availed of. The railways west of Chicago find a different state of aftairs. Many of their lines reach into sections hundreds of miles from any great centres.

The struggle for existence is hard. Farming considered as a business requires but little travel- ling on 'he of those engaged in it, and, as a matter of fact, agriculture, so important to the community at large, furnishes less freight and passengers to a railway in proportion to its general importance than mining or manufucturing. The villagers of New England travel for other purposes than merely the sale of produce or the purchase of supplies. In the April report of the Department of Agriculture the statistician ventures to prophesy. He proportion of agricultural labor will decrease, production will be more varied, rural in- telligence and skill will advance, and the farmer be in a better posit ioyo demand and secure an equitable share in tnftet proceeds of national falKng off in rural population shown by the census; may be accompanied by an increase of prodnot per capita, and be therefore to a certain extent a sign of progress yefc until the farmers are in a rLitaoi of live comfort and wealth, it is evident they will afford to railways such an amount of passenger traffic as will be a source of muo net profit.

Th rai wh ambitious to receipts must, at least in took to the cities. The English manager', Mr. paper before the InteTna- Honal Railway at Paris "in 1889 summed up his experience in these words "As regards longdistance traffic, I do not believe that the reduction of fares or any other concessions tend to materially increase the volume of bu itiess as a rule, people do not take long journeys unless they have an actual necessity to do so, and in that case they will travel whatever the fare may be, within reasonable limits. Of" course, this remark is not in. tended to apply to the traffic between large towns and seaside and other holiday resorts, this being a case in which, by judicious concessions, a traffic is created which could not otherwise exist." All this seems to confirm the view that a compulsory reduction of passenger fares on the part of the Western legislatures will not of itself induce a corresponding increase in the travelling of the farming class.

A growth in passenger traffic must depend for the present upon other things, such as more diversified industry. If the iarmers cannot yet take frequent trips to the city, it is the part of wisdom to induce the city residents, if possible, to live in the country. Through such an exchange our railways may increase their traffic, and at the same time rob the fact of our cities' disproportionate growth of some of the terrors with whinh alarmists have clothed it. RESULTS OF IRRIGATION IN NEW MEXICO. Superintendent Porter of the Census Bureau has made public a bulletin on the subject of irrigation in New Mexico.

It shows that in that Territory there are 3,085 farms that are irrigated, out of a total number of 4,174, not including those of the Pueblo Indians. The average first cost of water right is $5 58 per acre, and the average cost of preparing the soil cultivation, including the purchase price ot the land, is $12.96 per acre. An estimate has been made of the cost of bringing the land from a wild state under cultivation, excluding the cost of wa'er, but including the plowing, grubbing, cutting mesquite, fencing and levelling, or otherwise preparing the ground for irrigation. The cost averages $11.71 per acre. Assuming the original purchase price of the land, not including the Mexican grants, to have been $1.25 per acre, the cost of preparing the ground, as above stated $11.71 per acre, the entire cost of water right $5,58 per acre, the entire cost to the mer has averaged $18.54 per acre.

In son with this, the estimated present value of the irrigated farms of the Territory, including, buildings, fences and other improvements, is placed at an average of $50.98 per acre.showing an apparent pronr, less cost of buildings, of $32.44 per acre. Comparing the average nual expense for water $1.54 per acre, with the average annual value of productions, which is $12.80 per acre, it appears that the average annual return per acre is $11.26. The irrigated farms or areas cultivated by each person have been classified as irrigated farms of 640 acres or upward, 14 of from 320 to 640 acres, and 56 of from 160 to 320 acres. These 63 farms contained an average of about 312 acres each, and a total area at 19.676 acres, over one-vfifth of the entire amount watered in the Territory. The remaining 3,022 farms, under 160 acres in size, comprising nearly four- fifths of the total irrigated area, averaged 24 acres is to say 2 per cent of the farmers of the Territory owned over one-fifth of the productive land, excluding the non irrigated areas, and the remaining 98 per cent of irrigators cultivated farms whose average size was 24 acres.

LEAKS IN RETAIL STORES. (From the Storekeeper.) I happened into tha office of a large factory oae day to see a friend, and during the call I met the proprietor and asked him how business was. I'm about discouraged," he replied. But you seem to be vory busy filling orders." So I am, but for some reasons I can't make any money. It seems as if the more we did the less profit we made." On the di-sk before him was a bill he had marked 0.

It was for stuff paint and oil. Without meaning to do so I glanced at the items, and footed up the column of figures. It stood as Follows Dr. to 6 kegs paints, $1.80 each $10 80 10 gallons oil, at 63 ceats per gallo i 6 30 Lun.berfrom Neff's 1800 Hauling same 1 75 Hoop iron 3 f-0 Paint Brushes 4 20 ToUl $58 2S.