Arizona republican., 1920-02-12
The Other Way Around

Some westerner long while coined the pression the "effete east" which many years ago regarded being overworked and the use of it was discontinued except by humorous writers. Yet there is often temptation take it out and brush up for active employment Recently staff cor responder of a Washington newspaper turned loose on middle When he home he nounced discovery of the cause of the high cost of living He had found wild orgy of speculation in land Prices had boosted to unbelievable heights and the farmers make profit on the new bases; consequently they put up the prices Of products.
 The new secretary of agriculture, MT. Meredith a few days ago reply to this absurd statement It was hardly worth a reply The farmer is the one producer in the world cannot fix the prices of his products That is done for him, partly by the demand often than it ought to be- by manipulators, dealing in farm products The government has fixing the price of wheat; the beef trust fixes the price of live stock various other persons determine the prices of butter poul- try milk, potatoes whatever comes off the farm The middeman, big and little, determines the prices and at one he slaves the farmer and at the other takes the skin off the consumer Both are helpless; they have as little with prices the in the moon.
 There is no part of the country where the prices of land have bounded upward more violently than here in the Salt River Valley We all understand that there is relation between the new land prices and the price cotton which indirectly has raised the price of alfalfa and even of dairy products, by shifting the relation the supply and the de-
 
 Certainly no one foolish pose that the Salt River Valley farmer has had thing to fixing the price of his cotton at a figure fit the present prices of land
 In the course of his reply, Mir Meredith made known the following findings of a conducted by the department agriculture of actual sales of farm lands state of Iowa Fifteen hundred sales were brought under the survey;
 l. That the higher price per of farm lands had forced food prices higher but were the natural sequence of period of high 1ood prices. The high food prices had sent the land up not the other way around, as is generally charged.
 2 That there had been excessive speculation in farm lands, but big share of it came from city specuators buying farms for speculative purposes and not entirely from the farmers themselves.
 3 That the recent increase in farm lands unfortunate" even based on present farm earnings might become more unfortunate if the world faces 'the period predicted by many economic prophets"
 The third finding do think is applicable to the new values of lands in this valley or any where else where the cause of the higher prices has been the development the long staple cotton industry It is true that cotton may always hover around the dollar it is doing now but it may fall far below the present prices and still good return on land at the present prices per We know that of things the price of cotton go. With the area in which be grown limited, and with the uses of it becoming and more numerous, long staple cotton is much likely to be affected by readiustment of the prices of farm products than any other commodity.