The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-01-20
.atrmunt latrllman.
MORE INTENSIVE FARMING.

William G.. Brown, of the New YORK
Central system, gave some very sig.
nificant figures on vital topic, the
increase in the cost of living, and
pointed OUT The imperative necessity
of more intelligent and intensive ag-
ricultura methods,
Mr.. Brown said. in part
THE most portentous cloud dis
cernible upon the political or econom-
IL horizon at this time is the steady,
relentless increase in price of every
thing that goes to make up the cost
of living,
"With succession Of bountiful
hsrvests the price of grain has stead
lily advanced until the prices Of 1908
1909 show increases over those OF
1898, as follows:
{ Corn. an increase of 111.2 pef
cent
Oats, an increase of S5.1 per cent.
Wheat, an increase of $50 per
cent.
Potatoes. an increase of 7o.5 per
cent,
"Hay an increase of 49, per cent
with normal increase and no
disease to deplete our herds, values
have increased marvelously. Not
withstanding the advent of the auto
nd ,,,n1pC show in e
crease of value of more than l60 per
cent The products of the forest make
an equally marvellous showing An
thracite and bituminous coal have au-
vanced 20 to AZ per cent respective
ly: lard, 113 per cent. pork, 81 per
cent, aad tallow, % per cent, During
this time farm land in all parts OF
the West and Middle West has fully
doubled in value,
This unusual phenomenon 81
steadily rising values in the face d
a long succession of bountiful crop:
is one of the most important, as wei
as interesting problems that confron
the political economist today. Econo
mists agree that there is direct re
lation between the quantity of gol'
that is the basis of value and tn
general in dustrial condition The goI
production of the world for the yea
1896 was approx imately $2O2,251,6O'
For 1905 it was approximately $a45
100000, an increase of 12o per cen
THE significance of these facts
their effect upon present and futut
values may be better cpmprehendo
indestructiblc. In some form the gol
lat Columbus carried in the car'
wells is in existence somewhere Il
day. The crop grown in 1908 hs
been almost consumed. The co
mined last year has been burned, b
the gold produced ye8r after ye;
piles up and as it acumuiates, it TAX
more gold to buy a brshel of whef
a suit of clothes, a pound OF bee
steak, a sack of -four, or any of Il
other necessities of life.
For this reason the pay of lab
has steadily advanced and must co
tinue to advance in some fair rat
with the increase in the cost of thin
that labor must buy. I'd put it in a
other way, wages must go up in abo
the same proportion that the pure
.asing power of the money the labor
earns goes down.
Another force is working for hie
er cost of living, more insistent
more powerfully and with sinist
significance compared with which
others become negligible factors; a
this is the alarming rapidity W
which consumption of the products
the nations farms is overtaking p
.duction.
Statistics show that the failure
increase the product of our farms
anything like the ratio of increase
consumption, is eXerting more tt
three times the effect upon cost
living that the increase of gold
having.
81 doubt if any country in the wo
eXcels the United States in natu
fertility of soil, or has a more fay
able general climate, but with
careless, uniformed methods of S
selection. fertilization and cult
ton, our farms produce an ann
yield of less than foruteen bushels
wheat per acre, as compared "
thirty-two in England, twenty-ei
in Germany, thirty-four in The Ne
erlands, and twenty in France.
"If the converging lines of prod
tion and consumption in the Uni
States continue to approach e
other as they have during the past
years, before the middle of the dec
upon which we have just entered
been reached, the last vessel loa
with the agricultural products of
country will have left our shores,
exporting grain elevators in our
board cities will stand empty
this great Nation, like those of
old world, will be looking for p
to buy the necessaries of life.