The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1914-06-03

VI uIOuIlu oO,uvV. AHC VI
farms of from 100 to IA acres about
held their own. there being an in
crease of but 200 on 799O0; or, to be
exact, from 1928 to S0,121. The larg-
er farms show much larger proper
tionate increase, for the $4,000 in 1900
had increased to $4,000 in 1910.
A careful study OF these figures, that
are all taken from census reports
will explain to any man who wishes
to know the facts, what Is the matter
with Iowa. Thert has been no de-
crease In the acrfage of the state;
neither has there been any decrease
in the acreage under cultivation. 1t
is simply better farm management to
cultivate a farm that is large enough
to enable you to get full work out OF
your horses and machinery than it is
to cultivate one SO small that neither
the horses nor the machinery can be
used to the greatest advantage. Hence
the small farm disappears and there
are fewer farms, but larger and more
profitable. The more horses and the
more machinery, the fewer hired men
needed, and the more economically is
the work done.
1t will be said at once that this i.
against all sound agricultural teach
ing; in fact, violation of the little
farm we'll titled" theory, and of the
doctrine of intensive cultivation. This
is not true. The man on the larger
farm-not the largest farm. but say
100 acres-with more horses and bet
ter machinery, can. II he will. give
more intensive cultivation than the
man on the small farm with more
horses and machinery than the farm
can use proiitably. The report Of the
bureau OF farm management Of the
United States Department of Agricul-
ture, covering several hundred farms
in the states of Indiana, Illinois and
Iowa, proves this conclusively and be.
yOnd question.
There is a good deal OF speculative
value in lands In Iowa, and as long
as this continues and farmers believe
they can get more value for their
money in lands elsewhere. they will
sell out and move to other sections
So long as the tenant who has made
few thousand dollars by renting land
can buy land which he thinks is a.
good in other sections, for fifty to
seventy-flve dollars an acre. as he can
in Iowa at from q hundred and fifty
to two hundred, he will buy elsewhere.
So long as father with three or four
sons thinks he can buy quarter sec
tion apiece for them by going to Can
! ada, or to Arkansas, or to New Eng
land, for the price Of the farm he
lives on in Iowa. and on which he
reared them. he will do so.
Iowa cities have; not grown as fast
Us they should, because railroad rates
are against them. There is not a
gateway" so called in the state. while
there is great city. which is termed
a gateway. a division point. in every
state adjoining except South Dakota.
Iowa farmers are caught III the mat
ter of rates both going and coming. it
being almost as cheap to ship freight
across the state as to any point in
the state, whether from the east or
the west.
The question arises: Will this de
cline continue? For a time it will.
but not forever When Iowa farmers
quit specializing in land and get down
to real farming: when they so arrange
their farming that they can hire help
the year around to look after their
stock: when they get more and more
into dairying and stock growing and
feeding, there will then be an increase
in the population. first by the doubling
OF the families on the farms. This
vi v,ap n in
towns, and q much larger growth in
the cities. If the railroads would make
Des Moines division point. there
would be a great increase in the pop
ulation Of that city and of the other
Iowa cities.
There Is another cause. not for the
decline, but for the lack of growth in
city population. California is very al
Turing to Iowa farmers, partly because
of the climate and partly because they
do not have to pay any taxes on their
moneys and credits.
The hostile attitude OF the farmers
of Iowa to the railroads Is due to the
fact that for many years the railroad
systems undertook to make the state
back pasture. charging low rates
through 1t east and west, and high
rates on short hauls.
We submit these facts to the care
full consideration Of the critics who
are bewailing the fact that Iowa is de
clining or remaining stationary as to
population. We believe they are en-
tirely sufficient to explain it. The sum
and substance of it is that Iowa has
too much good corn land, which sells
at too high price. We are but obey
ing tie law which applies both in the
British Isles and in the United States
that the better the land. the fewer
people live on it. There is like de
cline Of agricultural population in the
general farming sections OF England.
Wales and Scotland. according II
their census OF l911.-Wallaces' Farm
er.