Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1920-09-09
lars, ruled as high as in the past four

lars, ruled as high as in the past four
years.
Farm land in the great surplus
heard Of rs, with every indica-
ton tha'. o>at for the tight money
conditj - it would go still higher.
Appo Sly the farmers of the land
are *, Dying unprecedented prosper
IT, = Why then, even by implication,
.cSgest that something may be
Wrong with our agriculture, and that
the trouble may be communicated to
our manufactures and commerce?
People in the cities are disposed tC
think that if there is anything wrong
it. is in the cities where food is SELL
ing at such high prices, Nd not in
the country where the food is pro-
duced. But both farm and city stu
dents of national problems see in
the present agricultural situation
certain conditions which give cause
for real concern to every lover of his
country
Cities Built on Cheap Foad
He stated that following the Civil
war, and from the middle of the
last century, farm lands of the CEN
trail and western parts of the coun-
try had been open to immigration,
the homestead law gave rich land to
every man who wanted it, railroads
were built, the prairies plowed up
and the production of grain in the
United States increased by SO per
cent. Grain was sold at the cost Of
production, and farmers of the older
states could not compete with the
flood Of cheap grain.
With this abundance of food as
basis the great cities in the United
States We're built. City building on
a. vast scale followed the over pro-
duction Of farm products during the
latter part of the 10th century and
the first few years Of the goth. From
1900 to 1910 city population in
creased 35 per cent, rural population
IL per cent. The indications are
that from 1920 our rural or farm
production will be as thirty per cent
Of the whole, while the town and
city population will make up the
other seventy.
A few years ago the United
States exported soil-grown or farm
produced materials, Jour imports
were manufactured goods. Exports
OF farm products, except during the
world war, have decreased and
manufactured exports have increas-
ed. Each year our imports show
more farm grown products "and the
time is almost with us when the i'm
ports of farm-grown products will
exceed the exports, in short. when
our farm population will not. be sup
plying the products necessary for our
own people," -
Forced to Grinding Economy.
The farmer suffered during this
changing period. Over-production
means low prices, and he over pro-
duced with a vengeance. though it
was an inevitable part of the scheme
of American development. He was
obliged to practice grinding econo-
my, and to live as far as possible
from his own acres. He did live es-
sentially within his own productive
itv, and the farm was the factory for
the agricultural home. Land poor
was common expression in the
farming country. Many, and espec-
tally the ambitious boys, abandoned
the farms and added themselves to
the growing population of the cities,
driven by the hardships Of the farm
and attracted by the greater rewards
offered by the cities"
BY 1905 prices Of farm products
began to advance. The consuming
public became alarmed over higher
prices of food stuffs. Land prices
began to advance, agricultural COL
leges helped farm production and
farming began to get on a better
basis. The world war increased
prices of food, but the draft from
the farm to the city still continued.
from 1905 to 1917.
Senator Harding paid fine tri-
butte to the loyalty and the efforts
of the farmer during the world war,
and said that. more than 25 per cent
of our fighting men came from the
farm, and fathers and mothers and
younger children turned in and pro-
duced more food than was ever
known before in the history of the
world, from the same area of land.
The farmers not only fed our only
people but our allies across the sea.
zone thing I may say-in every
American conflict, from the revolu-
ten for independence to the World
war for maintained rights. the farm
er has been LOO De::' cent American
and ready for e,ery sacrifice"
Grain at q Premium Over Live Stock
The senator showed wal put a
premium on grain production at the
expense Of live stock raising. Many
stock producers have suffered heavy
losses. In the future we ma, have
to pay very high prices for meat. We
are meat eating people, and the gov
ernment should do everything in its
power to restore the balance be-
tween live stock and grain produc-
ito, and return to system of d.
versified farming which alone can
maintain soil faiilities.
"No one can forecast with cer-
tainty the trend of prices of farm
products during the next two or
three years. Recovery from world
crisis such as We have. experienced
is, slow, inevitably. It is like the hu-
man convalescence from a long and
dangerous Illness"
There are no more cheap lands
and irrigation will be needed to de-
velop lands now of no use. He was
confident that the farmers of the
country by organization and intelli-
gent leadership, can promote the
farming industry, such as the fruit
growers on the western coast have
done. The grain growers of the
west and northwest can do the same
thing The senator said that in the
past seven years 'sthe right of agri.
culture to a voice in government ad-
ministration has been practically ig-
nored, and, at times, the farmer has
aM ffay>nd or rovf CT a q HNh.>