The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1920-07-22

Wv - : !.
But bold peasantry, their country:
pride:
When once destroyed, can never be
supplied"
! Here in North Dakota, distant from
industrial centers. we have hardly be.
i gun to feel the effect Of the scarcity
Of farm labor experienced elsewhere
but we cannot hope or expect to es.
cape very long the present famine in
farm hands. It is estimated that
there are more than half million less
of them than before the war. The
farmers own sons are leaving them
lured by the bright lights, the shorter
/, hours, the higher pay, and the greater
attractions Of the city. Lately we
have been spared much of the disgust
ing babble Of shallow people, in cri-
ticism Of automobile sales to farmers,
but just recently it was reported to mo
on good authority that certain bank
ers in our own state were discriminat-
ing against notes taken from farmers
for electric lighting and power plants
which save so much drudgery on the
farm in addition to lighting the build
ings., I cannot believe there are many
bankers so narrow or shortsighted as
to class as a luxury a moderately
priced car or an electric lighting sys-
tenn purchased by solvent farmer for
use on his farm. To withhold neces-
sary credit for the judicious purchase
of such highly useful farm imple-
ments, for rightly used that is what
they are, only makes farm life less
attractive and stimulates the alarm
ing movement to the towns, which for
the good of the country we should do
everything we can to prevent.
Another evil which we should do
everything in our power to remove
is the unfortunate friction between
the country and the town which has
been fomented and fostered by politi-
cal demogogues to serve partisan
ends. There is, in fact, no better
friend Of the farmer than his banker,
and on the other hand, the banks of
this state are supported chiefly by the
farmers and the industry Of agricul-
ture. The interests of town and coun-
try are not merely mutual; they are
identical, and the town contributes as
much to the country as the country
does to the town. A live enterprising
town like Valley City adds from $25
to $50 value to every acre within its
marketing radius, and a larger town
like Fargo adds even more. This is
strikingly proven by a study of farm
mortgage statistics. The most relia-
BILE appraisement of the value of land
is not what the owner may ask for it,
or what his neighbor may think it is
worth, nor can it be found in the as
SCISSORS valuation for taxation pur-
poses. The Most reliable estimates
are found in the appraisals on which
farm loans are written. Now more
than 36 per cent of all farm mort
cages in the United States are writ
ten on land in the four states: Iowa,
Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri.
Within these four states or close to
their borders are the cities Of Chicago,
St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, St.
Paul, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and
scores and hundreds OF other cities
and towns all of which contribute i'm
measurably to the value of the tribu-
tary farm land, on which this rela-
lively heavy volume Of credit was OBJ
tanned. Moreover, the average inter-
est rate in these four states is low,
there being only five states with a
lower average rate than Wisconsin,
and only seven states with lower aver
age rates than Iowa and Illinois, and
these states where slightly lower rates
obtain than in Wisconsin, Iowa and
Illinois, are all eastern states directly
tributary to New York City, Philadel-
p.ia, Boston, and where the proper
tion, Of urban population is greater
than in the four states named. These
farm mortgage statistics demolish an
other familiar argument of the polit-
ical demagogue, in that heavy farm
mortgage indebtedness does not in.
dicate poverty or hard times, but
proves conclusively exactly the oppo-
site. The four states of Iowa, Illinois,
Wisconsin and Missouri, aggregating
only 8 per cent of the area of conti-
mental United States, but carrying
more than 36 per cent of the total
farm mortgage Indebtedness of the
entire country, are the four most pros
porous agricultural states in the
Union, where values are the highest,
farm, improvements the best, acre
yield the greatest, and credit the cas-
lest and the cheapest.
NY authority for the foregoing
statistics is Department of Agricul-
ture Bulletin No. 384, based on the
1910 census. When the figures for
1920 become available, I am positive
they will he along the same line. It
was in the 1890 census when the gov
ernment first collected separate data
covering farm and other real estate
mortgages. Edward Atkinson, the
leading statistican Of this day, and
q leading economist as well, writing
in The Forum (the monthly magazine