The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-08-21
An Increase Of Eight Billions in
the Value of Agricultural
Property.
Statistics Show That Prosperity
Rode on the Wave During
Past Eight Years.
Thrifty Husbandman Coming
Cash, and Is Sure to Con-
tinue Doing So.

| Washington, Aug l1-That old main
stay of prosperity, the American farer
has been making hay and other thing!
at a record breaking rate i'll the last
few years, in spite of the loud com
plants of others, less industrious, that
the economic sun has not shone Sc
| brightly as it should. The results OF
his silent toll, when put into figures
fairly stagger one.
A summing up of these wealth-pro
ducing operations is given in the fol
lowing comparisons:
Total value farm property, 1880, $l2,
lSO,0OO,G0O; 1907, $2s,O77 100000 Tota1
value farm products, 1880, $2,2l2,OO0,
600; 1907, 4l2,OOO,OOO.
How each member of the farming
population has shared in this good for.
tune is shown by another group OF
statistics:
Farm property per capita, 1880
$l,579; 1907, $2,34l. Farm products
per capita, 1880, $3.50; 1907, 6ls.
The increase in the value of farm
property between 1900 and 1907, ac-
cording to statistics published by The
Manufacturers Record of Baltimore, is
SIS, OOO, 100000, or nearly nine times as
great as the aggregate national bank
ing capital of the United States, more
than half as large as the total CAPT
talization, bonds and stock included, of
all the railroads in the United States,
and nearly three times as large as the
aggregate savings bank deposits of the
whole country.
Think for a moment of the increase
simply seven years increment-in
the value of farm property being half
as large as the entire capitalization of
all the railroads in the United States,
into which the surplus money of the
land has been pouring for over three
quarters of a century!
Growth of Industry Unrivaled.
The story of what the farmers are
doing and of what they have accom-
plished within the last few years is
unmatched even by the marvellous
growth in manufacturing. In 1890 the
S,565,0OO people engaged in agriculture
in this country produced a total of
$2,466,OOO,O00, or an average of 1921
per capita In 1907 the 1891 600
engaged in agriculture produced a total
of 81, Alp 100000, or an average of $6lS
per capita. During that period the
number of people engaged in asricul-
t,lre increased by 30 per cent, while
the value of farm products increased by
200 per cent and the value of all farm
property increased by 80 per cent
SIN the brief period between 1900
and 1907 the value of farm property
advanced in value from 20,439 100000
to $2S,O77 100000, a gain of nearly
$S,000,00O,0OO, or 81 per cent, though
the number of people engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits increased only 10 per
cent.
A study of facts bearing upon -agri-
cultural conditions since 1870 shows
that year the value of all agricultural
products per capita to those engaged i'll
farm pursuits was 1926 while from
that figure there was rapid decline
to $3.50 in 1850. and during the next
ten years the per capita was practi-
callv stationary. as the average in
1890 was only $2S7. If reliable figures
were available, they would show a
marked decline between 1890 and 1896,
because it was during that period that
the agricultural interests reached their
most acute stage of poverty.
Marked Change Comes in 1900.
BY 1900, however, there had come a
great change, due to the advance be-
tween 1897 and 1900. and in the latter
year the value of farm products per
capita was $45l, gain of $l64 per
capita, or about 81 per cent, compared
with 1890 Since 1900 this gain has con-
tinued uninterruptedly, rising in 1905
to 1858 per capita, in 1906 to 500,
and in 1907 to $6lS.
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson esti-
mates the total value of this years
farm products at $s,OOO,OOO,000, or a
gain of about $fQO,OOO,0OO over 1907.
accepting Mr.. Wilson's figures as cor
rect, though 1t is believed that they
will prove to be too small, the per
&pita production will show another
rapid advance this yean
The effect of this really amazing
change in agricultural conditions finds
an ILLUSTRATION in the advance in the
average value of farm property to the