Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-05-16
FACTS FOR FARMERS.
STATISTICS SHOW GREAT AGRl-
CULTURAL PROSPERITY.
Money. Making Prospects of the Amer
lean Farmer Are Brighter To- Day
than They Ever We're Before-Great
Increase in Farm Wealth.

SssS~ @sA
Some statistics just issued by the ag-
ricultural section of the twelfth census
indicate that the farmers have no rea-
son for feeling envious over the recent
substantial increase in the values OF
investments in railways and manufac-
turing and commercial enterprises.
The farmer has been by no means left
behind in the prosperity race, accord
ing to these figures. On the contrary,
he is found to be leading the process
sion.
In q general way the census stausu-
clans show that during the past ten
years the increase in the aggregate
farm wealth Of the country has been
greater than the entire value OF the
country's agricultural resources hfty
years ago. In other words, the farmers
have more results to show for their Ia
bors during the past decade than all
the agriculturists hadaccumulatedf from
the time of the very first settlement OF
the country until 1850. In 1850 the
number of farms was l, 149,O73. Inc
present census will show that there
are now at least 100000 farms, or
about one to every thirteen inhabitants.
While the number of farms has been
increasing in this way the value OF
farm investments has been growing,
the Increase for the past forty years
being estimated at the enormous total
of $6,OOO.OOO,OOO
The twelve States comprising Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Mich
igan, Wisconsin, Kansas, Nebraska,
Minnesota, North Dakota and South
Dakota show the most gratifying re-
suits during this period of great agri-
cultural development. In the past ten
years the number Of farms in these
States has increased from 1923, 8S2 in
1890 to 100000, while the value Of
the farm wealth represented has been
augmented by $2,5OO,O0O,O0O. OF
course successful farmers do not need
statistics to know that they are better
off than the farmers ever were at any
previous period in the history Of the
country. But the increase in our agri-
cultural wealth has not come in such
leaps and bounds as to impress the bet
terments distinctly on the mind, and it
may be that the figures Of the census
department will serve a useful purpose
in inducing a new realization of the
magnitude of the progress which has
been made.
1t is scarcely necessary to say that
the money making prospects of the
farmers are brighter to-day than they
ever were before. With the expansion
Of the agricultural industry during the
past forty years has come a radical i'm
provement in farming methods. Ma
chinery has been invented which makes
the labor Of the farm less arduous, and
cheapens production. At the same time
have come systems Of drainage, irriga-
ton and fertilization which greatly in
crease the productive possibilities of
the soil. The farmers have been learn
ing the principles of crop rotation and
the variety of crops best suited to diff
ferent soils and climates. Seeds have
been improved. Wastage has almost
disap! cared, and new and valuable by
products are round in materials which
were thrown away few years ago. In
every way farming has become more
Of an exact science. While all this i'm
provement In farm methods and econo-
mics has been going on larger possibili-
ties in the way of transportation have
widened the available markets, giving
the farmers easy facilities for dispos-
ing of their larger crops to the best adj
vantage. With a growing population
in this country and growing DISPOSE
ton in the foreign markets to come to
our granaries for their food supplies,
there is no reason why the period of
expansion in American agriculture
shall not continue with even more
profit to the farmers in the future.
The American farmer need not worry
when he reads about the big dividends
of the railways. In large measure
1t is his own continuous prosperity
which has made these dividends posi-
BILE, and while the railways have been
making some money out of him he has
been making money out of the rail-
ways and every other department of
Industrial life. And he is going to keep
on doing so.--Sioux City Journal.
Wool Substitu'es