The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-08

would not be much further west than the
Mississippi to-day. In the West. last year.
i rented a man I150 acres OF land. he
planted It IN sod corn and this year he has
q crop from one thousand acres OF it
There IS no reason why, with modern me-
ohaniea1 appliances any man should not
clear and cultivate a thousand acres Of
this level prairie. There it lies ready for
the pillow
'eThis land the government has been Civ
fnE away No such thing was ever seen be-
fore I'M the history OF tho world. Suppose
the government OF the United states should
build and equip a plant for making steel as
good as Carnegie's and should give it 10
any one Who wanted il and tell him he
could have il without cost. Carnegie could
not stand that kin Of competition. No one
could. Wen. that is just what the govern
ment has been doing with the farmer. 1t
has been said % the people OF the United
States. Here are farms 20 be had for the
~taking-much easier 10 cultivate than the
farming land Of New England, or Of Penn
sylvanla. or Of Ohio. It has thrown open
this land to free settlement until the farms
Of New England lie idle and you can find
a thousand IN the Eastern States which
can be bought for the taxes. Land in the
East which was worth $40 an acre is not
worth SO now. In this way the agricul-
tursl population Of New England has been
driven into the cities. For while the gov
eminent has been guaranteeing by the dis
trlbution Of free farming land the cheapest
food. at the same time It has, by a pro-
tective tariff. guaranteed the highest prices
FOR manufacture. What is the result Of
this2 The farmer has got the lowest price
e. H. ---ra -n1. hoe rafT Tho EfrHner miro
for his manufactured goods. The increase
or wealth in the agricultural community
has been far less proportionately than it
has been in the manufacturing. commUn-
1ty."
but the farmer is reported to be pros
porous suggested.
He isn't prosperous in the country
where I own land, said Mr.. Bookwalter.
ne hasn't paid off his debts. He has re-
funded them at 8 per cent. Good times
have meant that to him.. But he has paid
of very little If any Of them"
What about the stories that he is buy
ing jewelry and putting money in the
bank"
NOT BUYING JEWELRY.
III he is buying jewelry it is because
some one is pcrsuading him to go into debt
for it. The agricultural machinery agent
sits on the fence and persuades the farmer
that he viii be better off if he pays $3.50
FOR a threshing machine. though the whole
product Of his farm may not be worth
more than 500 a year. The agent doesn't
care so long as he can get the farmers
name to a note. And then we hear how
prosperous the farmer is. because he is
buying machinery for his farm.
NO. the farmer is getting it on both
life TO make a living. How many million
aires do you know. by the way. who have
made their money farming? \ newspaper
published. last year. a list Of $3.50 million
aires IN the United States. They were all
in the cities. There was not a farmer
among them. Yet the farmer represents
one-haIf the population of the United
States.
"A WaIl-street man told me, the other
day. that ne knew a farmer who had made
a million dollars in Minnesota. We figured
out the possibilities Of his land. The high
est return he could possibly have got from
It IN the ten years in which he made his
million, planting il in wheat and allowing a
fun crop every year, was $4,000. When he
deducted the cost of raising his crop 1
don't believe he had a dollar left. In fact,
he was probably in debt If he made a mill
lion IL those ten years, he made it in some
thing else-nOt in farming.
Now we have had an extraordinary run
OF uck in the last thirteen years. Think of
#. In all that time there has been only one
poor crop. The others have all been, not
average crops or good crops, but bumper
crops. Yet in the face Of this enormous
production we have to-day no surplus of
corn or oats and very little wheat. Neces-
earily the result Of a poor crop of grain
win be a shortage. That is what we have in
corn this year. one or two poor crops Will
mean a famine.
WORLDS FOOD SUPPLY.
II am not a calamity bowler, but four
years ago. before Professor Crooks at
tracted the attention of the world with his
prediction that the world was facing the
possibilities of a famine, 1 wrote a letter
In which 1 predicted that the worlds ca
pacity for producing food was not keeping
pace with the worlds increase in pOpula-
ton. ard that it was a question of easily
calcuIabIe time when the worlds supply of
food would run short. That is going to be
demonstrated in our own country before
very long. Our population has been in
creasjag very rapidly. 1t has been a boast
with as. At the same time our food pro-
0EcALE capacity mas Deeu Increased bQL
not inf the same ratio. Now the land avail
able for producing cheap food is about
gone. What land is left for settlement in
the West is largely land which must be
irrigated TO make it productive and that is
a slow process and expensive. A few bad
crops. as I have said. are going TO mean
not only that We have no food TO export.
but that we shall not have enough for own
use. High-priced food is going TO be coinci-
dent with low-priced manufactured prod
ucts and low wages. IL that comes, it viii
mean prosperity TO the farmer. but pretty
hard times for the urban population. 1
have believed for many years that we were
concentrating our population too much. II
the state Of affairs 1 have suggested should
come about, il is going 10 create condi-
tions such as have occurred in Europe
more than once. The fight is on now in Ger
many. and we may see German agrarian
troubles duplicated here.
Il was quoted not long ago as saying
that there might be a conflict between the
urban and the agricultural population in
this country. I have not said anything like
that or believed II. What 1 do believe is
that there may be a bitter feeling between