Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1920-02-21
Farm and Garden Notes
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farmers are called. But the facts
show that nearly ons-half Of the
people engaged In buying and selling
farm lands In Iowa during the recent
boom" were city people and
this one half who lived in the cities
got about two-thirds OF the money
represented by the Increase Of sale
value In farm lands during 1919.
In the light Of these facts ana OF
tho almost universal prevalence OF
what might be called profteering,
the department Of agriculture thinks
II is unfortunate to single out ~ a
profiteer the farmer--the man who
sells his goods In an open market
characterized by intense competition
and free, 90 far a the farmer him.
self is concerned. from any element
OF monopoly /or price control.
There can be, no question, the de-
partment believes, that the recent In
crease In the price Of Iowa farm
lands is unfortunate, even In rela-
ton to farm earnings under the
favorable conditions Of production
and prices In 1918. and that 1t Is
doubly unfortunate II the world faces
the period predicted py many eco
Monies profits. The land economies
specialists of the department say,
however. that the increase was an
Inevitable result of the present In
dustrial system and that the farmers
were more to blame for II than any
,fbar c1a 90 Of OeODle.
Losing Money on Cattle.
The position Of prevailing cattle
values as compared with those Of a
year ago Is well demonstrated by
comparison Of prices paid this week
for a large string Of choice cattle
shipped to Chicago by a South Da-
kota feeder, with prices received by
the same feeder Tor q large bunch
of choice cattle he sold here last
February. Fff.
The feeder Is Joe cambridge OF
Bonhomme county. He was in Chi
cago Tuesday with fifteen cars of
choice Hereford steers Of his own
feeding The lot avera ged 1440
pounds and brought $500, top cattle
that day bringing slb.75. ON Feb. %,
last year, Bainbridge was here with
seventeen cars Of cattle averaging
l247 to 1890 pounds that brought
sl7.75 to 1885, with the bulk sell
ing at the top prices Of the day. OF
last years consignment more than
100 head brought 1885, seventy five
went at s1s and 100 at $3.50. The
lot at s17.75 consisted of yearlings.
while the others were heavy cattle
that brought an average price of
Sl9.15.
The slump in prices Of good heavy
cattle this week lie shown by the fact
that his SIS cattle were considered
as good as the choice steers that
Brought SIG and better last week,
and the consignment was practically
as good as the large string that sold
so high a year ago.
cambridge is a good feeder. as in
dictated by his market record. The
cattle were fed ration OF alfalfa and
corn for a period Of four months and
showed an average gain of $40
pounds per head. comparing weights
at time of purchase and time of sale.
THE 340-pound gain was net gain
above shrinkage during shipment.
q The cattle sold Tuesday cost $12
per hundred weight delivered at his
farm, while the string sold year
ago cost $3.50 delivered. Balm
bridge says he paid an average of
s1.25 a bushel for his corn this year,
as against about 90 cents a year
ago. and he figures this increase
was about. offset by the lower cost
OF the cattle as compared with last
years purchase.
Here is specific case of loss on
cattle, which plenty Of other men are
experiencing. They don't need to
read about it to know 1t; neverthe-
less the figures clfnth the claim of
loss SO frequently heard.