The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-12-22

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 a 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 he cost of
production by increasing the charge
for the use of land. At the same time
the effort to justify the investment
tends to increase production, irrespec-
tive of market demands. Thus we
have a vicious circle about which the
farmer chases the will-o'the-wisp of
profit, only to find that his effort has
increased the price of land and low-
cred the price of the products of the
land.
The day or 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-explolta'
ton 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 or his skill or
luck in handling real estate.
From this viewpoint, at least, the
agricultural slump is not an unmixed
evil. since its 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 conso.a-
ton now, but as the situation develops
is 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 agriculture
and of rural life in general is served
by maintaining or raising the standard
of living on the farm, rather than by
using all surplus profit to bid up the
price of land when there are more
bidders than the profits of the soil Will
justify.
After all, better living is the true
goal of the farming business. There
is no more biting commentary on our
modern life than that cynical aphor-
ism to which it has given currency
business is business" That business
should become tits own synonym as
some one has put it, is a
thing and the farmer who thinks OF
the farming business as having no Cd
iect beyond mere financial success IS
in a fair way to miss the best OF life
There is a great class OF forward
looking farmers in this country VINO
know better than that. We may 'est
assured that these men, in working
out the vexing problems that the agrl-
cultural slump has spawned, will not
no en- foolish as to forget that the
question of the financial future OF
American farming is inextricably con-
nected with the question of better Nv
ing in the farm home and the farm
community.
--W.S s. S.