The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1908-11-05
WHAT HIGH PRICES
MEAN TO THE FARMER
In 1895 Two Hundred Bushels of
Kansas Corn Bought 1000
Feet of Lumber,
Now Ono Hundred Bushels BUYS
1000 Feet-A Concrete Illustra-
ton Showing Why Land Values
Have Increased.

Out In Kansas a great deal is pelng
said Just now about the lumber trust,
the high prices of lumber and the ter
rible expenses attached to the building
Of houses, cribs and other buildings,
says the Jewell County Republican.
The principal buildings being erected
this fall on the farms are corn cribs
in which to store away the immense
crop which was raised throughout Cen
trail Kansas, and is now matured and
will be ready for the crib in a very
short time. In a political discussion
here the other day the old story OF
the high prices came up and it was as
serted that a large amount OF corn
would necessarily be placed on the
ground this year because of the high
price Of lumber. One farmer who has
no particular love for the trusts, but
is inclined to look on the bright side
of everything and who is well salts
fed with present conditions, declared
that in 1895, when lumber was very
cheap, and likewise corn, it took 200
bushels of corn to buy 1000 feet Of
cr1bbing lumber. Now, when lumber
is at the highest point it ever reached
in the history of Jewell County, 100
bushels of corn will purchase 1900 feet
of cribbing lumber. According to ]. W.
Berry, of this county, who is a good
authority on the prices of farm prod
ucts and lumber, and makes this asser-
ton, using corn as a purchasing power,
lumber is only one-fourth as high as it
was thirteen years ago.
Now on Easy Street.
Although this county is in the wheat
belt of Kansas, many of the farmers
have raised corn. Both crops were
just like they had been made to order.
and the prices will place the tillers of
the soil on Easy street for some years
to come.
In Jewell County there is a farm
which has been on the market for sale
for the past year, and was held at $50
an acre. The farm consists of 12O
acres. Fifty acres are planted to corn.
The other day the entire crop was sold
for SIG an acre, the purchaser to gath
er the corn, leaving the fodder on the
ground. A part of the field will be-
light and will not average more than
/ twenty bushels to the acre, while the
remainder of the field will give up from
fOrty-five to sixty bushels. Fifty acres
of the land was planted to wheat and
the value Of the crop was equally as
great as the crop of corn, while the
five-acre patch of alfalfa produced even
more money in proportion than either
of the other two crops.
Value Increased Five Times.
There are no improvements whatever
on the farm, but the price has been
raised 100 per cent and the owner is
not very anxious to sell at that. How
ever, he says if he had the slightest
idea that Bryan would be elected on the
third of November he would sell his
land at $50 an acre, and in two years
he could buy it back and make more
money than by farming it.
In this county there is another farm
which was sold in 1894. There are 80
acres in the farm, and the purchase
price was $500, or 5000 bushels of
corn at the prevailing price at that
time. In the, meantime, the so has
been considerably improved. A part
of the land has been put to tame grass,
a fine orchard is now one of the assets,
good buildings nave been erected and
the land has grown more valuable be-
cause Of the development of the coun-
try. This month the land was sold
again, the purchase price being $500,
or the price of 5000 bushels of corn at
the present price.