Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1921-12-22

possible aspect. Some farmers nave
doubtless done better in the past year
and 2 half than have these men;
many, especially in the South, GER
tainly have not done so we'll. On the
whole, | think we may say that the
above is conservative statement Of a
representative condition.
Is it possible to CLEAN any comfort
from such a situation
From the strictly economic stand
point, it takes very close study of the
price curves, and perhaps a bias to-
ward optimism, to detect signs Of i'm
provement, but it begins to look as
though the farm price curve has dip
ped as low as it is going on this swing.
More Optimistic
There is another point of view, how
ever, from which the outlook is more
definitely encouraging. If we turn for
the time from the cold, statistical
viewpoint, and consider the situation
from that of human life on the farm
/ in its relation to what we call eco
nomics, we find that the situation
holds promise strangely in contrast
to the present unhappy conditions. 1t
may sound paradoxical to say that the
economic crisis through which we are
now passing promises in the long run
to make for better farm homes and a
higher standard of living on the farm
but there is an aspect in which our
present loss seems to foreshadow de-
cided gain in that respect.
We are all familiar with the farmer
of that type so common in the past,
whose only idea of efficiency is to rob
the soil to the limit, and whose only
idea of way to use profits is to in
vest them in more land, and still more
land. Strangely enough, this course,
which would seem to lead at least to
financial prosperity, serves to defeat
it's own end. The continual effort to-
invest farm profits in more land tends
to bid up the price of land beyond the.
level justified by return from the
land, and thus to increase the cost of
production by increasing the charge
for the use of the land. At the same
time the effort to justify the invest
ment tends to increase production, ir-
respective of market demands. Thus
We have a vicious circle about which
the farmer chases the Will-o'-t -the-wisr
of profit, only to find that his effor.
has increased the price of land ans
lowered the price of the products of
the land.
The day of this kind of farming is
about over. The farmer of the new
day knows that such tactics are those
of the dog chasing his tail; that in
effect they serve to put him in COM
petition with himself, and that they
lead periodically to agricultural de-
preston. He knows that farming is
a fundamental industry, that the
laborer is worthy of his hire, and that
he is entering upon an era in which
sound agronomy and sound business
practices must prevail over the hap
hazard methods of the soil-exploita-
tion era of American agriculture.
Knowing this, he will realize that the
steady flow of profit necessary to the
successful prosecution of his business
and the happiness of his family will
depend on the way in which he gauges
his production with reference to de-
mand, and on the efficiency with
which he grows and markets his
products, rather than on his skill or
luck in handling real estate.
Slump Brings Good
From this viewpoint, at least, the
agricultural slump is not an unmixed
evil, since it's tendency is to shake
out of the running the type of farmer
whose influence has tended to keep
down the prices of farm products and
lower the standard of living on the
farm. To the progressive farmer, who
certainly has been hard hit by the
slump, this may seem poor consola-
tion now, but as the situation devel-
ops it seems likely that the advantage
will swing more and more to his side
/ The farmer who is fitted to cope with
the new situation is the farmer who
is able to adjust himself promptly to
the new conditions, and who sees that
in the long run, the cause of agricul-
ture and of rural life in general, is
served by maintaining or raising thu
standard of living on the farm, rather
than by using all surplus profits tt
bid up the price of land when ther,
are more bidders than the profits o.
the soil will justify
After all, better living is the true
goal of the farming business. There
is no more biting commentary on oul
modern life than that cynical aphor
ism to which it has given currency
business is business" That business
should become s'its own synonym" a
, someone has put it, is shameful
thing, and the farmer who thinks O
/ the farming business as having NJ
t object beyond mere financial success