Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-10-28
WALLACE A|S|lUO1ED
AGRICULTURAL WRITER SAYS HE
DID NOT SAY FARMER is
LOSING MONEY.
TESTIFIED AS TO RETURNS
C ,NsIDERINe INVESTMENT
Told Commerce Commission in Rate
Hearing That Other Businesses Pay
Better Dividends Considering Capt.
tai EN- pioyed-Wallaee Issues State
ment Explaining Attitude.

Des Moines, Oct 2S.-H. G. Wallace
president of the Corn Belt Meat Pro-
! ducers' Association, declares that his
| testimony given at the interstate COM
merce commission hearing in Cntcaso
| ~ by some of the newspapers. The
! Des Moines man declares that he dio
not say that the Iowa farmer was not
! prosperous and was losing money.
| What he did say, Mr. Wallace declares
was as follows:
! L said that the Iowa farmer is pros
! porous, bur not nearly SO prosperous rs
/ he is entitled TO be, considering the
amount of money he has invested and
the labor he expends.'
Mr.. Wallace's full statement is as
follows:
Some of the newspapers when &
ported a portion of my testimony be-
fore the interstate commerce comnlS-
sion in Chicago Wednesday have not
only reported it Incorrectly but placed
an entirely wrong Interpretation on IT,
In some of the headlines am made to
say that the Iowa farmers are not
prosperous but are losing money L
said nothing of this kind but the very
reverse | said that the Iowa farmer
is prosperous but not nearly pros
porous as he is entitled to be consider
ing the amount of money he has MI
vested and the labor he expends- l
said that if a fair allowance was al
lowed as interest on his investment IN
the land and on the equipment neGcs-
.. N,,s.
and If to this was added fair allow
ance for depreciation. and if to this
was added fair allowance at prevail
ing prices for the labor expended on
the farm. and if the sum of these was
deducted from his gross income ii
would be found that the average Iowa
farmer is not securing nearly the re-
turns on his inves trent and for his
la Dor that are secured in many other
classes of business and especially in
the railroad business
Purpose of Testimony.
The testimony was given in the
hearing which is now being held before
the interstate commerce comm ission, TO
determine whether the railroads are en-
titled to advance their freight rates.
Among the advances proposed is one on
livestock from the Mississippi river to
The eastern points and on livestock and
packing house products from Chicago to
stern points. Some months since
.,hen these advances were first pro-
posed, a conference was held between
the railroads and the Chicago packers.
After this conference the packers We're
| quoted in the daily press a s saying that
| they believe the railroads should be
entitled to these advances and at the
same time. they assured the eastern
consumers that no advance in the price
of meat would be made on account of
the advance in the price of freight.
When freight rates are advanced. some
one must pay the advance In this
particular case the advance might be
paid by the consumer who eats the
meat; but the packers gave notice that
he would not be expected to pay it.
The next person who should pay 1t
would be the packer The past his
tory of the packers does not reassure
US on this point. They have never yet
shown a disposition to pocket the loss,
which in this case would amount to
something like $4,000 900 a year. II the
consumer does not pay it. and If the
packer does not pay it. the only per-
son renai ming to pay it is the man who
SeIluS the IINeSlOch 10 tIlcdSO anu u
! the east. For this reason the Corn
Belt Meat Producers association de-
termined to fight these advances and
en- ploved Mr.. Clifford Thorne, who has
represented the associa ion in it's other
cases of this nature and who is one of
the republican cand dates for railroad
comm: ssiorer. to appear before the
commission and conduct the case so
! far fa iroia
cerned. Mr. Thorne has attended all
Of the hearings since Aug. 10 and in
fact has neglected his own campaign
entirely to represent the interests of
the western people
Comparative Returns
In their evidence in the effort to
justify the advances, the railroads have
undertaken to show that the returns
| from the money invested in railroad
property were not commensurate and
| We're in fact lower than the returns
/ from other lines of business-mention-
| ing among others the manufacturing
business and farming. My testimony
was to show, as nearly as possible, the
returns from farming and farm land
and what would happen in case the
railroad rates would advance to a
point where growing livestock and the
feeding Of farm crops to livestock were
discouraged and finally abandoned. In
preparing my testimony on one phase
of this matter assumed that the state
of Iowa was owned by one man who
rented it to quarter section farmers
on a share rent basis, and I assumed
| that this renter would grow grain and
sell it, but allowed him liberal pay for
the pasture land and for his stalk fields
and stubble fields. Then taking the
crops Of each OF the years Of 1907, 1908
and 1909, and the prices as reported by
the government Dec. l each year. 1 fig
ured the total income and the total ex-
|pense Of these farm renters, and Of the
Hand owners. On this basis the land
owner would have received in 1907.
516 per cent interest on his investment,
| assuming that the land was worth $50
an acre. Out OF this SIG per cent he
would be required to maintain his
buildings and keep them insured, main
tain his fences and do any other re-
pairs necessary on the farm. For 1908.
with $50 land, his return would be sos
per cent and for 1909, on $50 land, IA