El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-10-14

acre. but he must reduce his acreage.
| If he would avoid bankruptcy.
Distributing the Cost.
HE must reduce his yield per acre
( to the point where the last oushel
! forced from the soil costs no more than
: the price which he gets for il, and ne
4 must reduce his acreage. keeping the
} better acres in cultivation and reject
/ ieng the poorer. to the point where
: the poorest acre cultivated can be
made to yield some bushels at a cost
no greater than the price which they
viii bring
When farmers generally do this,
and they who do not will speedily be
! eliminated through bankruptcy. the re-
suit is not only a reduction in the yield
{ per acre, throughout the country, but
( also a reduction in the acreage in all
old and Well-Settled communities"
Farmers Not Getting Rich on Products.
A very mistaken notion has gained
prominence during the past fifteen
years that farmers Of the United States
are getting rich out Of farming As
I a matter of fact, their increasing
wealth is mainly the result OF the IN
precedented rise in land prices. The
office of farm mana cement Of the L.
= department OF agriculture, using da-
Ia collected in the census OF 1910. es-
timated the average annual labor in
come per farm for the entire United
states at S$1S-22 This amount in
cludes unpaid family labor and all the
farm furnishes toward the family liv-
ing, except milk and cream" 1t does
not include the income from outside
sources, and the amount paid for live
stock bought must be deducted from
this sum"
Greater Profit on Big Farms.
In the sulmer OF 1911. a farm man
agement survey was conducted by the
office OF farm management covering
200 farms in these representative areas
Of Indiana. Illinois and Iowa The re-
suits OF this surve- showed the aver
age annual income from labor Of farm
owners to be S4GS. allowing five per
cent interest on the Investment ".
J. Snillman, chief Of the office Of farm
management. states; IN all Of our
farm management surveys. We find,
where. large number of farms are
studied. that both the largest losses
and largest profits occur on the largest
farms, but on the average. the larger
the farm. the greater the profit
Where Land = Too High.
Farmers and others the country over
are seriously wondering what is to be
the sequel TO this phenomenal rise IN
land prices While ! have personal
views on the matter, ] will only say
that I expect to see land prices ad-
jCsted by the law OF supply and de-
maRd. Prices OF land VIII gradually
become based upon economic prOduc-
ton. Where land prices precede eco
nomic production one Of two things
VIII eventually haDpen-either the pro-
dUCtiCn will be brought up to where
ii VIII support that price or the price
win come down to correspond with the
production. Where prices are boosted
toe high. due to a speculative demand.
normal Development IS hindered and
q reaction is the natural result Land
is worth the amount on which IL VIII
pay q reasonable rate OF interest after
deducting from the gross receipts all
Epenses-including taxes. interest.
repairs and depreciation on equipment.
and reasonable pay for all labor.
Don't Cater 10 SpeeulatOrs.
7 believe the type OF farmers which
should be sought for this valley are
young. Industrious farmers who have
had some irrigation experience They
must not be expected to be men or
large means The well to do farmers
who have accumulated a considerable
amount Of capital are not going 20 do
much pioneering and where OCCASION 3
ally they do invest in new lands. il is
usually for speculative purposes. and I
this valley cannot afford TO cater TO I
sIch business
think any efforts which are intend
ed TO be put forth toward inducing
migration OF Belgians TO the valley
could be better used in other direc- Z
tiOns.
In America labor is high and land
plentiful. whereas in the densely pop +
ulated European countries LABOR is /
cheap and plentiful and land scarce. !
American and European Farming.
The American type OF farming needs 70
large areas and is based upon the max
iuum product per man. The European +
type requires a small area and Is
based upon the maximum product per
acre of land
Under their home conditions. the .
Belgians can afford TO use enough Z
labor to produce the maximum yields .
OF which the land is capable. If they I
were 70 attempt to put such methods &
into practice here. they would either 1
quickly become discouraged and quit I
or be compelled to live on a very low !
compatible with the best interests OF Z
the valley
Not Reaching Over Our Limit.
There is no shortage Of good land I
in the western hemisphere and will /
not be for generations to come While 9
our agricultural imports have doubled 4
in the past 10 years and now amount /
to about a billion dollars annually, /
and while our agricultural exports /
previous 10 the outbreak Of the Euro j
pean war were practically at a stand /
still, it cannot truthfully be said that \
we are reaching our limit in agricul- 4
tural production and are becoming de- 4
pendent upon foreign agricultural pro- /
ducts.
The truth Of the situation is that the I
cost of production in some foreign 4
countries, especially Canada and South 1
America, is low enough so that pro- :
ducts from those countries are being
laid down in our great market centers f.
in competition with domestic products
munity is a part Of a world market I
and the bulk Of its produce must be
shipped out and the bulk OF its articles j
Of consumption shipped in
PIehtF of Soil Here.
The soil OF the United States is capa-
bic Of feeding a population Of one
billion, 10 times the present number.
without even approaching the limit OF
possible production. Prices Of most !
staple farm products have increased
in the last few years but
prices of labor and farm supplies are !
advanced in about the same ratio so
that the average net farm income in !
the United States has not increased |
on the other hand, while the rise in /
prices of farm products has not IN I
creased. the American farmers net in /
come, it has stimulated importatiOns !
Of foreign agricultural products TO the
1etriment of domestic production.
In many prosperous farming sections
the farmers are keeping up their labor !
incomes by farming more land but at
q sacrifice in yields per acre. The
average farm unit in most parts OF the !
United States is increasing in size. In
many Of the principal dairying and
live stock regions, such as southern
Wisconsin. southern Minnesota and !
northeastern Iowa. statistics show
that through the more thorough utili-
zatiOn Of farm products. the farm In