The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1921-11-23
EARNINGS 7afHssoIL.

~ y
Albeit this is lean-year for agri-
cultural profits there is much from
which farmers and farming regions
may gather cheer. According to- re-
cent estimates of the National Gen.
sus Bureau the average American
farm of between one hundred and
seventy-four acres is worth in the
neighborhood of fourteen thousand,
four hundred and nineteen dollars,
and is forty-nine per cent more val
liable now than a decade ago.
That is far from a beggarly show
ing. This forty-nine per cent in ten
years represents, as the Louisville
Courier-Journal observes, " a capital
increase of virtually five per cent a
year, which has gone into the safest
of all savings, productive SOIL"
Dreams of avarice, it is true, will not
be satisfied by these moderate gains,
but sober judgment will be impress
ed by them; for after many high
brow adventure has come to grief,
the five per cent farm, will be drink
ing the sun and rain and yielding
Sseady harvests. Years there are
when the average is not maintained.
In 1921 the farmers earnings have
shrunk. But, the census analysis
points out, Gin 1881 further in
crease in farm values will be shown,
and between now and then the earn
ings will be about five per cent a
year upon capital, invested automat-
ically." These figures are subject, of
course, to wide modification for local
and individual differences, being
raised by exceptional ability and
good fortune, or lowered when con-
ditions are contrariwise. But they
bear irrefutable witness that in the
long run and in the main, the Amer
lean farm is a faithful rewarder of
him who tills it.
Particularly interesting are the
average increases in Georgia. Good
plow lands in this State have advanc-
ed from forty dollars an acre, in
1918 to forty-nine dollars in 1919
and to sixty-three dollars in 1920,
while the average for all 'ploy lands,
good and poor, has moved during the
same period from twenty-eight to
forty-six dollars. With such a record
and with assurance that it will be
,bettered in the years ahead, our far
ns-"S we!t may take courage and go
forward.
More interesting than these gains
themselves are the causes behind
them. The extraordinary prices of
farm produce during the war period
were responsible in part, but there
were other and more substantial fac
tors. Good roads, good schools and
churches, convenient and dependable
markets, along with skill and thrift
these ever have been and ever will
be the prime factors in enhancing the
value of Georgia farms. For these
touch the vitals of social as we'll as
economic interest. Every dollar the
state or the community invests in
education, in agricultural science
and research, in the extension anl i'm
Frovement of highways, in the SER
VICE and enrichment Of rural life, is
an investment for the upbuilding of
land values and for the betterment
of the common veal. Of special i'm
po-tancc at this juncture is the ques-
ton of markets for crops other than
cotton. To supply this pressing need
will be to assure a qu;ckened and
sustained rate of increase not only
in the value of Georgia fran lands
but in every sphere of the State.
prosperity.-Atlanta Journal.
1910 ~1-a- cnrr~yr