The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-09-16

In this table it is significant to note
that the lowest per capita of wheat con-
sumption during the last fourteen wears
occurred during the Democratic period
from 1891 to 1897, and that since the
first election of William Mckinley and
the Inauguration Of Republican policies,
up to the present time there has been
AN INCREASE OF OVER ONE
THIRD IN PER CAPITA CONSUME
TION OF WHEAT.
Increased \ alue of Farm Lands.
The farm lands of the United States
represent the great portion of it's real
capital. When crop after crop is pro-
auced 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
with mines and forests the annual in
come from which represent not real in
come, but instead encroachments on real
capital.
How the Increment Is Earned
The value of the crops produced dur
ing n 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 Tor
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 to
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, on
economy and on other traits Of long
headedness. But while there are many
different ways by which individuals of
our country have grown wealthy, yet to
trace out how the United States as a
nation has grown to be n multi-billion-
aire, we must primarily consider the
record OF yield and prices on our crops.
1t is a popular delusion that the size
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 his
crops. But the financial appraisement
of this great work of Providence and
himself, which makes up the Supply"
is determined by the market demand"
and this in turn, is affected largely by
national economic policies.
Except for wheat the supply from
this years crops of the United States
will probably be greater than for last
year. In the aggregate as regards size,
the crops will this year very likely be
the most abundant in our history, unless
the present bumper prospects in corn
should, at the eleventh hour, be reduced
by unlucky visitation of frost. And in
the aggregate, as regards values, it looks
as if our crops would this year bring
greater wealth to the United States than
ever before.
steady Gains in Value.
The following tables show how steady
have been the gains in cash values of
staple crops, despite fluctuations from
year to year in size of crops:
CORN.
Production. Total Value.
Totals-19O3, 2,244. 176,925 952,S6S.So1
1902. .2,o23. 64S.312 1,O17,O17,3 49
1901. .1,522,5l9 1891 921, 800, 7GS
1900. 2. 105. 02,516 7%51,22O.O34
1899. POS. 1903 629,21O,1 10
1898. 1924, 1874, $50 552, ,42S
1891. 1909, 9G7 1888 5O1, O72,9 5
lS96. 2,2S3. SO 1853 401. OOG. 967