The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1910-08-12
IrIE FARMER
THEN AND NOW
Exchange Value of Farm Prod
Ucts in 1896 and 1910.
PROSPERITY OF THE FARMER
How Many Would Turn Back from,
Taft Prosperity to Cleveland Pc
nury?-vaiues Have Prac-
tcally Doubled.
PROSPERITY OF THE FARMER

How many Wisconsin farmers have
stopped to figure the difference IN thelr
standing in this year 1910, and in 1870,
the closing year Of the last Democratic
administration in the United States!
What would the average yield of an
average Wisconsin farm buy in line
of the necessities or the comforts OF
life, then and now!
Let tie voter study the figures here
presented from the bulletins OF the
United States Bureau of Labor and then
reflect whether he had better lift his
hand to injure or tear asunder the party
which has made the record possible, or
decide to support President Taft and
those Republicans who are standing by
him and holding up his hands.
While the prices of practically all
commodities have shown some advance
during the last few years, the products
of the farm show rlch greater ad-
vance than do the products OF mines
and factories The financial condition
of the grain raiser, the general farmer
and the dairyman is better than ever be-
fore and never was the purchasing pow
err of farm products so graf.
Senator Reed Smoot in a speech be-
fore the United States senate, May II,
1910. declared farm land itself had ad-
vanced in value rapidly and everything
produced on the farm has risen ma
terially. Financially, the farmer has
become independent The rural free de-
livery and the telephone have placed him
in touch with the world and he is as
Nth &c thA
city dweller.
The average prices of the principal
farm products in March, 1910, and
March, 1896, as shown by thee bulletins
of the United States Bureau of Labor.
reveal in a striking manner the pros
perity Of the farmer.
In the interval named the price OF
these farm products has practically
doubled: Corn has advanced 1884 per
cent, wheat has advanced 1871 per cent,
oats have advanced 1922 per cent, rye
has advanced HI per cent, barley has
advanced 1868 per cent, hay has adj
vanced 4o.5 per cent, potatoes have adj
vanced 1871 per cent, fat cattle have
advanced 927 per cent, fat hogs have
advanced 172 per cent, dairy butter has
advanced 573 per cent and eggs have
advanced 1913 per cent. These figures
are based on the average prices in
March, 1910, and in March, 1896, as
compiled by the Bureau of Labor.
But the real value of any article is
its exchange value The real worth of
farm products is measured by COMPARE
son with the value of articles which
the farmer wants to purchase.
Figuring on the general wholesale
price of articles in 1896, 10 bushels of
corn would buy II pounds of Rio cof-
fee; in 1910, 70 pounds; 10 bushels of
corn equalled in value So gallons of re-
fined petroleum in March, 1910, q gal
Ions in March, 1896; 10 bushels of corn
equalled in value 1,040 brick in March,
1910 and $40 in March, 1896; 10 bushels
of corn equalled in value 337 pounds
of wire nails in March, 1910, and o5
pounds in March, 1896; 10 bushels of
corn equalled in value 131 pounds of
graduated sugar in March, 1910, and SO
pounds in March, 1896, ETC.
A 300-pound hog when valued in mer-
chandlse at the wholesale rate, was
equal to So barrels of salt in March,
1910, and to 10 barrels in March, 1896.
Twenty pounds of butter showed values
as follows when measured in the whole
sale price Of staple articles: Coffee,
No. Rio, in March, 1910, 20 pounds;
in March, 1896, % pounds; graduated
sugar, 100 pounds in March, 1910, as
compared with 81 pounds in 1896, etc.
A case of eggs which would have
bought u yards of Amoskeag gingham
in March, 1896, would have bought 10
yards of the same material in March of
this year
These comparisons might be con-
tinued indefinitely, the same state of af-
fairs existing in every line of goods
which the farmer buys, whether to eat
or to wear, whether to house himself
and his stock or to operate his farm. In
every case the rise in value of the prod
ucts of his farm has been crater than
the rise in the value of the products he
desires to buy.
Agriculture is the foundation of our
national wealth. The farmers consti-
tute our greatest class. When the farm
er prospers, everyone else must neces-
sarily prosper and the, whole country
goes ahead
Does the Wisconsin farmer, in the
light of these comparisons, desire to
turn back the hands of the clock dial?
Does he prefer Cleveland penury to Taft
prosperity? Let him answer at the polls