The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1918-07-25
TRUTH ABOUT
FARMERS PROFITS
After Allowing Per Cent on Invest
ment the Average Income In
Guiding the Living is $318.12.


After Allowing 5 Per Cent on Invest
ment the Average Income In
Guiding the Living is $318.12.
The following excellent article con-
corning the average profits for farm
ers, is sent to US by Wesley White of
Des Laos. There is lot Of food for
thought in this article as it furnishes
plenty of reasons for farmers organ
izations and shows how under prop
er management they may become a
great factor in proving of untold
benefit to the producers:
Is farming a business, or is it
merely a job? It is time for every
farmer to ask himself this question.
According to our agricultural colleges
our United States department of ag-
riculture and our farm papers farm
ing is not only a business, but it is
business second to none in the coun-
try and capable of the highest and
most efficient organization, and to re-
turns on the outlay as big as any
other business.
But according to actual average
farm conditions all over the United
States and according to cold, unsym-
! pathetic census figures, farming is
merely a job where the farmer risks
a considerable investment, employs
labor and gets less than wages for
himself out of it, to say nothing of
utterly failing to get anything what
ever on the investment.
The census of 1910 shows that the
6,631 500 farmers in the United States
received $5,487, 100000 for their pro-
duce on farm investment amount
ing to $4O,991 100000. This means
that the average total gross income
per farm was only $827.41 that year
and that the average farm investment
was $6,181.32.
Not Even Decent Wage
This $827.41 does not even cover
the question of wages for the aver
age farmer, the help he gets from his
family, and "outside" hired help. 1t
doesn't touch the question of seeds
and other raw materials he had to
use. 1t does not provide for any
interest on his investment whatever.
THE AVERAGE FARMER IS AC-
TUALLY WORKING FOR LESS
THAN WAGES AND GETTING NO
INTEREST WHATEVER ON HIS
INVESTMENT.
This is the way the United States
department of agriculture sums up
the general results of the farmers
"business" in a report issued in Au-
gust, 1917: ''The average income of
the farm families of the United
States, which represents what the
farmer gets for his labor and man
agerial ability, after allowing 5 per
cent on the investment, was shown to
be, by an intensive investigation by
the department of agriculture, $318.12
for IL months. This includes what
he received toward his living from the
farm and therefore represents the
total income of the family"
This means that counting all the
farmer and his family use of their
own farm produce, the average farm
er gets only $318.12 a year and S per
cent on his investment. The average
h farm investment is now estimated at
E6,444. Five per cent of this is
$32220. This makes the average
farm income, according to the
department of agriculture, $40.32
per year. This isn't even de-
cent wares for one man, not to men.
ton pay for help, and interest on in
vestment.
From this we see that farming as
it is now conducted in the United
States is not a business; it is not
even a good job.
Production in War and Peace
Much is now being said about how
to make farming a good business
Most that is being said is not com.
prehensive. 1t does not touch all the
factors involved. In most cases il
does not touch. the main ones. These
schemes usually concern themselves
wholly with telling the farmer how
to double and treble his crops, or how
to properly diversity them. War
needs, of course, demand production
above all things, and the farmers are
Loyalty rising to the occa sion. But
after the war, there will be an effort
to return to the old inefficient mar
keting methods.
It looks reasonable that if double
my crops, I will double my income
Just like and are a. Strange tc
say 2 and are not when it comes
to getting bigger money out of big.
ger crops, as many farmer has found
to his sorrow. Bigger crops, in the
old days Of peace, before price-fix-
ing, generally meant lower prices and
less money, as any experienced farm
er will testify. The crux of the farm
problem is not bigger crops but bet
ter control Of the market and better
prices. Sell
Il The only way the farmer cold bene-
fit by raising bigger crops is when
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