Morris tribune., 1919-07-04
WHY FARM LAND
is SELLING HIGH
John Scott, North Dakota Farmer
Gives His Version of Ad-
vancing Prices of Farms.
Mapleton Enterprise

MaDletOn Enterprise
It is a we'll known fact that farm
lands and farms have increased great
Iy in price in this country, and par
ticularly in the Northwestern states
in recent years. And often wonder
how this could have come about when
we consider and take into account
how the farmers have been robbed
by the stockyards, packers, big mil
lers, banks, farm machinery dealers,
merchants, elevators, chambers OF
commerce, boards of trades, and big
business generally. But,notwith-
standing all of these drawbacks as
some, yes many, of our farmers see
them, no one can deny the fact that
farm lands have increased ten or
more fold since the days when there
was no big business" worth talk
ing about.
Now for the reasons as l see them
and no one that knows me doubts
the fact that l am farmer. There
are so many reasons crowding in my
mind that I am at loss to know
where to start to enumerate them,
so l will start with what / consider
the two greatest factors, namely,
big business and the decreased value
or purchasing power of the dollar.
When I was a boy or a young man,
farm lands were very, very cheap,
and so were all farm products. Labor
was also very cheap, with long hours
and arduOus work, practically on the
the farms. Would you believe that
I purchased rich land in Wisconsin
at five dollars an acre, and sold it
for the same price because thought
it to be a poor investment, and that
land or lands of no more value are
now selling in Wisconsin at from
one hundred to two hundred dollars
an acre
The farm in my b0yhood days was
the factory also There was no big
business, there was no stOckyards,
no large Strengthening or packing
plants; there were no large flour
mills there were no great farm i'm
plement manufacturing industries
in fact. to cut my paper short, there
was no present-time denOuncing big
business. There were but few of the
denounced middlemen that so many
farmers at present want buried dead
or alive.
travelling man in q small town
was a curiosity, but there were a
few commercial travellers, as they
were called at that time. Money
was scarce and the farmers hand
led very little Of what there was.
Say, do you know that farmers had
eggs, dressed hogs, etc, to pay their
no check books in those days? They
used farm products such as butter,
bills. AS said before, the farm was
the factory and the big business.
The thrifty, successful farmer
kept bunch of sheep. They sheared
the wool, secured and boiled it, took
it to a carding mill and had it
carded, and then took it back to
their farm where the farmers wife
or girls spun it into yarn. Some
farmers whose wives could not get
time to spin hired neighbOr girls to
do the spinning, a real good, smart,
experienced spinning girl could earn
the magnificent sum of one dollar
and fifty cents per week, spinning.
On some farms the farmers wife
wOve this yarn into cloth, others took
their yarn to a nearby weaver and
had it woven into flannel from
which most of the clothing for the
men, women and children was made;
and most of the clothing was made on
the farm. I wonder how many Of our
present day farmer girls would wear