Philip weekly review. [volume] (Philip, Haakon County, S.D.) 1918-1920, 1920-02-26

"The national wealth by this
year, 1920, has reached such {
total that l hesitate to attempt
to conjecture what it is.
/ "The production of new
wealth in this country is esti
mated to be in excess of $40,
00O,00O,O00 per annum.
| Farms Lose Population
Zone more factor: 1t is moi
long ago that rs per cent of oul
people lived on the land. | think
it is safe to say that the 1926
census will show that at least sc
per cent of our population is in
cities and towns. That is to say
where there was one consumer
for three farm producers, to.
day they are as one to one.
"And the change in the ratio
will be in favor of the market
for the man on the land. What
are some of the direct ways in
which growth in population and
wealth affect land values? The
first makes more mouths to be
fed. The second gives the con-
sumner more with which to buy
and shortens the distance be-
tween the producer and the con-
sumer. Increased capital goes
into railways and steamships.
1t builds grain elevators, pack
ing houses and creameries.
Let me say a word about
what | shall designate as the
centralized packing house and
the centralized creamery. When
the settler came into Iowa, mea-
ger transportation facilities,
with heavy freight rates and a
low proportionate number of
consumers made low prices for
his grain. The other two fac
tors, the packing house and the
centralized creamery, were not
yet erected. Cattle and hogs
brought from 2 to 6 cents.
Increased Returns
with her poor Accommodations
the pioneers wife could get but
small results from her efforts. lie
cows were MIXED she put the
milk in the dlgout in pans for.
the cream to raise. Try as hard
as she would she could make
but an Indifferent quality of
butter. This went to the store
keeper who allowed her from g
cents to Is cents per pound in
trade.
To-day the homesteader in
his shack on the prairies of
western South Dakota has the
cream separator. The centraliz-
ed creamery Of Omaha, Sioux
City. ST. Paul and Minneapolis
is at his door fighting for his
cream and pays him 40 cents to
20 cents per pound. The GEN.
tralized creamery ships the
concentrated product, the pound
OF butter, to the most remote
points of the globe. The cen
tralized packing house, in like
manner brings the world mar
ket to him, and pays him a
fabulous price for his beef and
his pork.
While the settler of one or
two generations ago on the
prairies of Iowa and eastern
South Dakota got little for
what he produced, the western
South Dakota farmer today.
thanks to the centralized pack
ing house and centralized
creamery, turns the products of
his labor into cash at rates
three to six times as high as
those received by the pioneer of
80 and SO years ago.
Cause of Increase
these conditions give value
to land, and these same condi-
tions will shorten the time, in
comparison with past advance,
when the low priced land Of to
day will be worth and sell on
the market at high prices.
Following the civil war it
took two years for wheat to
reach the high point. The dis
location Of world industry and
finance then was small in COM
parison with the present.
When we recall that for
four years 10000, 900 to 4O,-
600, 900 men on the battlefields
were subtracted from produc-
tive occupations, and at the
same time the energies of the
world were expended in supply
ing munitions for them to des-
troy, and food, clothing and
transportation to maintain them