The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-02-01
Some Aspects of Agricultural
Community's Attitude.
How Affected by Financial and
Industrial REIMBURSEMENT.
BORROW MORE FREELY
Still, Farmers Are Not in Any
Financial Distress.
High Plains Country Stays at
Experimental Stage.


condition of the western money mar
ket and the experiences of last year
have brought some new ideas to the
students of business operations in the
interior. Notably, there is a marked
change from the point of view so
prevalent two or three years ago, when
it was a popular boast that the prairie
states were becoming Independent of
the east To account for this atti-
tude was the rising level of prosper
ity with the increased prices received
month after month by the farmers.
The starting of new banks, and the
attendant examples Of advancement
financially, led to extravagant state
ments, and the larger outlook was for
gotten.
In contrast with this stands the pres
ent very definite realization that the
west is sharing in the same conditions
as the other states, and thai it has, in
addition, some new problems of its
own. The really big things done of
late in the west have not heen financed
at home. The railroads have not been
built with western money. and the
bonds for the larger part of its i'm
provements have been sold in the east.
The bulk of it's farm mortgages go to
eastern investors, and even vast
amount of its bank stocks are held east
of the Mississippi river. This has be-
come more apparent in the past few
months when there has been a stiff
money rate, and when the borrowers
were not at all to be accommodated
with home funds.
Underlying Conditions.
In the older settled sections of the
interior, which may be roughly given
as east of the sixth principal meridian,
cutting Nebraska, Kansas and Okla
homa in half, east and west, the pc
Rod of experiment has passed. The
farms are producing with average reg
ularity, and the income varies from
year to year only with the variation of
some crop which rises or falls in pro-
duction, or with the price variation.
In this area there has resulted con-
dition very like that of Illinois and
Indiana. Few chances are taken, and
the farmers gauge their expenses by
their income. If prices fail, they go
without new machinery, give up the
winter trip and economic. They do
not, however, lose materially and the
only outcome is that the communities
do less business. Trade is affected,
and merchants are the larger sufferers.
This is what is happening just
now. The income of the fields has
been curtailed slightly with the sell
ing price of wheat 20 per cent less
than year ago, and corn prices in
about the same proportion. These
| communities borrow more freely from
cial distress. AT a farm sale this
week, in typical community 200
miles west of this city, $4,000 worth of
| implements, machinery, and stock was
sold. All was paid for in cash but
| 1920. Two years ago probably a
| tied on the spot, but even this weeks
| record was good. 1t is about the ra-
! ito of the numerous farm sales now
in progress in preparation for the an
nual settlement day. March 1.
The Newer West.
| The farther west, the high plains
country, is still in the experimental
| stage; therefore, the ups and downs
| are certain to be more violent. With
a leSSening of available funds, this
| section will suffer and the older set
| tied sections will gain. The large
| loaning institutions and investors will
place funds more freely in the older
| portions where conditions are estah-
| lished, giving them better facilities,
withdrawing from riskier field. This
also is what is happening now, so that
| the we'll based portions of the west
are receiving more attention and cas-
| Ter rates than a few months ago. But
the money for the large operations is
not found at home-it comes from the
| financial centers and the ebb and flow
1 of currency is as marked today as it
was ten years ago.
| In the towns. one sees another
phase of the problem. The building
period brought large pay rolls and
consequently apparent prosperity. But
| the money for the expenditures mostly
come from outside, and when the
| buildings were completed they were
not productive in the sense that the
| farm gives an income. The borrowed
money must go back to the investor
| along with the interest and there was
waiting period while this obligation
was being met. The years of prosper
ity have overcome much of this handi-
| cap, and homes are owned by their
l IN 1nr- hi h.r-f
houses have fewer mortgages upon
| them.
| What Is to Come Next?
| With this accomplished, the mu-
| nicipal improvement period has ar
rived. For instance, Kansas towns in
| the past three years have issued some
thing like $1O,00O,000 in bonds for
various forms of municipal better
ments- The larger portion of this
| money has come from the east. though
been available. The effect has been
| to make the towns and cities much
| better places in which to live, but it
has emphasized the need of still larger
| sums for the vests advancement in
material things.
That saner view of the large finan-
cial affairs should exist was inevitable.
| as the average westerner came closer
| to a realization of actual business con-
ditions. It is seen in the more tenn
perate tone of the legislatures and the
| absence of many vagaries that have
| become familiar as opponents of prai-
RE lawmakers. The west has been
| doing wonderfully we'll at a time when
there has been uncertainty in other
portions of the country, and it has
little need to claim impossible attri-
butes, which even if it had them,
would be of doubtful worth. That this
view is taken by an increasing number
!; of men of affairs is evident, and that
it will have salutary effect on future
investment conditions is certain. The
SOLDERING effect of responsibility is be-
ing manifested in the more remote
communities, as we'll as in the larger
. centers, and it is bringing about a
sentiment that should be welcomed by
, the eastern investor as we'll as by the