Marshall County Democrat

Hard Times.

Almost every man we meet now-a-days is complaining of the weather, the roads, and the hard times. It's no use grumbling. The weather is very changeable, and probably, before this meets the eyes of the reader, it will have changed from a snow storm to a rain storm.

The roads are not so changeable. They are generally spoken of as being "bad," but now they are badder, and not much prospect of being better soon.

The times are hard, if the people tell the truth—and we doubt not but what they do—but for the life of us we are unable to conceive the reason why. The crops raised in Marshall County last year were about an average, and the prices for all kinds of produce has been higher than it was last year. Good wheat has brought one dollar per bushel this fall, corn from forty to sixty cents, potatoes from three shillings to sixty-two cents, and everything else raised on a farm in proportion. The farmers have received cash for everything they have sold; unless they were head over-heels in debt, there must be considerable money in the County not in circulation. We hope that if they have any money 'past them,' they will see the necessity of 'shelling out,' and paying as far as it will go, the little debts they are owing—for instance, one man owes us a dollar for our paper; we owe the paper maker, the ink maker, &c., but so long as our dues are withheld those we are owing will have to wait on us, and their creditors will have to wait on them, and so on. One dollar put in circulation might, in a short time, pay a hundred debts.

We do not imagine that the farmers have brought their produce to town and received the money for it, and took the money home and locked it up in their trunks, when they are owing numerous debts that should be paid. However, there is one thing certain, and that is, that there have been thousands of dollars paid for the produce of this County last year, and that there is scarcely any money in circulation now. Where the money has gone, if it has gone, we are unable to say.

We are waiting for that good time coming; until then, we will have to 'grin and bear it.'