Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1921-05-30
LIGHT ON LAND VALUES.

| LIGHT ON kAAND SALOEIS.
Not long ago f. Il. Taylor, of Traer,
n business man of sound Judgment and
for many years editor and publisher
Of the Star-Clipper, said that while
Iowa land values might for time be
stationary or even decline that they
would eventually increase. The general
trend of good land all over the United
States. in fact all over the world, has
been upward. There have been seasons
lof depression when no sales were be-
| ing made, but sooner or later conditions
Improved and the selling price OF land
steadily increased.
There is no question but that i'll the
bloom days Of 1919 the speculative spirit
added more to the exchange value OF
IONa farms than was warranted by
circumstances and good business juds-
ment. On the average land prices in
iowa increased approximately $50 per
acre in single year. That was too
much and now those who bought at
peak prices are unable to realize fair
return upon the investment. This con-
EDITION may remain for several years,
hut there are many reasons to believe
that land owners who can hold on will
Eventually come out all right and be
able to sell mt a fair profit.
DIR. Raymond Pearl, professor of
biometery and vital statistics ut John
Hopkins University, discusses the ques-
ton of production and population i'll
the May number Of Harper's magazine.
He has given the problem painstaking
consideration and penetrates in to the
uuick. He is of the opinion that land
values are bound to go higher and that
the outlook is anything but discOurag-
ing to the farmer how can stem the
pl escnt adverse tide. In the course of
Lis article the doctor says:
1T is altogether probable that the
next dozen or fifteen years may see the
end of much food exporting We shall
need all our food for home consumption
even in This present generation. Much
closer to us than peopIe imagine is
|tle time when a bad crop year will
mean food rationing, somewhat similar
to that during the war.
England, for instance, couldn't sub
sist more than about three months if
she depended upon home grown food.
She gets part Of her food from the
United States. But in Il dozen or fif-
teen years the United States will
probably be obliged to keep all the
food raised here for our own use.
There are still Australia and Africa
and the Argentine and a vast amount
OF space left in which to cultivate
crops: hut the population in those
countries is increasing, too, and evvry
year brings us little nearer to a seri-
Gus food problem, whether we consider
liz for any one country or for the world
as whole.
I lFt us HOW IotN az tIlt utoJ-
| lem as it win be in the United States
when we have reached the maximum
iot 1G7 million souls. At the present
time each average person requires from
5000 to $500 calOries. or food units,
Il day. On that basis the population
would need 2GO million units Of food a
year. The figure is so large and re-
auires such an absurdly long string OF
ciphers that it really means nothing.
But where the 2GO appears above we
must substitute 1877 to represent the
present total annual production Of food,
cd States. In other words, we should
require nearly twice as much food as
we now produce. Hence. unless there
is not merely big, but a radical, in
crease i'm our agricultural output. we
should have to get nearly one half of
orr food from outside the United
States. And by that time just what
country is going to have the food to
send to us: 1t is more likely that there
will then be such dire need for food
by the densely populated countries OF
Europe that the competition will be ter
riblc to contemplate.
"'Ah, yes somebody suggests, but
we shall simply farm more 'intensively.
Many nonplp bpIipv;. thcra iS something
almost magical about the word 'mten-
|sivcly.' The truth is, according to the
invest legations of Prof. East. that this
country has already entered upon the
era of diminishing returns in agricul-
turc As he expresses it. Novel methods
of culture, more efficient machinery,
new and better yielding varieties, are