The Teton peak., 1904-09-15

C
loos .b17, I43, 143 639
In this table II Is .:g ieeant to note
tnat the lowest per capita of wheat con-
sumption during the last fourteen years
occurred during the Democratic period
from 1893 to 1897, and that since the
iirst election Of William Mckinley and
tue tna'%nration OF Republican policies,
up 10 the present time there has been
AN INCREASE OF OYER ONE
THIRD IN PER CAPITA CONSUMP-
TON OF WHEAT.
decreased alse Of Farm La nds,
The farm lands Of the United States
represent the great portion OF it's real
capital. When crop after crop is pro-
daced from the soil, the capital still re-
mains practically intact, unless bad
| Judgment is used in planting crops
without rotation, or unless the cream of
the soil is washed away by floods, or
unless the productive value is otherwise
destroyed through various kinds of i'm
providence like the interference with
forest life at the headwaters of streams.
The farm lands Of the country are thus
unlimited sources of wealth as compared
|
come from which represent not real in
come, but instead encroa achments on real
capital.
How the Increment IL Earned
The value Of the crops produced dur
Ing particular season tend to regulate
the value Of the capital (the soiD from
which they are produced, just like the
dividends which different securities
which pay them. Henry George has
spoken of the "unearned increment" that
has arisen from the appreciation in land
values. But while the agricultural his
tory Of the United States for the last
eight years has shown an enormous
amount Of this Increment" yet to say
that it has been "unearned' Is a rank
injustice to the farmers who have CO.
operated with Providence to produce
the crops on which not only land values
but the national prosperity is based from
year to year.
There are some people who seem tc
think that it is only by speculation that
wealth is acquired. There are Other
people who hold that hard industry is
all that is needed for the accumulation
of the riches of this earth. There are
others who lay stress on smartness, OF
economy and on other traits of Ions
headedness. But while there are man,
different ways by which individuals Of
our country have grown wealthy, yet t.
trace out how the United States as q
nation has grown to be a multi-billion
aire, we must primarily consider thu
record Of yield and prices on cur crops
1t Is a popular delusion that the siz'
Of the crops is the whole thing as re
CARDS agricultural prosperity. Provi
dence and the farmers individual dill
: gence are responsible for the size of hi
, crops. But the financial appraisemen
Of this great work of Providence ant
himself, which makes up the supply,
is determined by the market demand,
and this in turn, is affected largely b!
national economic policies.
Except for wheat the supply from
, this years crops of the United State
| will probably be greater than for las
year. In the aggregate as regards size
/ the crops will this year very likely b
| the most abundant in our history, unles
9 the present bumper prospects in cor
! should at the eleventh hour, be reduces
! by unlucky visitation of frost And il
: the aggregate, as regards values, 1t look
as II our crops would this year brin
, greater wealth to the United States tina
{ over before.
: steady Gaias In Value.
The following Ia bles show how stead
\ have been the gains in cash values o
;. staple crops, despite fluctuations fror
: year to year in size Of crops:
D CORN.
! Production. Total Value
o | T><nls-1NO0. I.244, ,176,923 052 S6S, so