The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-08-12
NECESSARY TO
AGRICULTURE
Statement to the Joint Con-
gressiOnal Commission Inves-
tigating Agricultural COndi-
tiOnS.

tlonal COuncll.)
To put agriculture on a human ba-
sis of cost of production plus at
least current rate of interest profit,
three things must be done at once:
l. Costs of production must
be reduced.
2. Costs of marketing must
he reduced.
3. Governments, local, state,
and national, must stop taxing
away from farmers the small
money wages or return on in
vestment they get.
l. Farmers pay over half a billion
dollars year interest in indebted
ness against farm values. The House
should promptly adopt the Sinclair
Resolution, H. Res. 1902, providing
for an investigation by the House
Committee on Banking and Cur
rency of the alleged control and
manipulation of money and cur
rency by international banks and
banking corporations.
Congress should pass a bill to
end the control by the big invest
ment bankers of the Federal Re-
serve System, and establish a per-
sonal short time credit system for
farmers.
1t should Immediately loan the
livestock growers at least $50,O0O,-
600.
The Acknowledgement should i'm
mediately break up price fixing or
CARNATIONS.
The vicious tariff bill reported
by the Ways and Means Commit
tee should be defeated.
The Keller bill, Oh. R. 6773) tax
ing large landed estates should be
promptly enacted into law to check
speculative increases in land values.
The Newton Federal Coal Act
H. R. 20, should be promptly enact
ed into law.
The Federal Trade Commission
should be given larger appropria-
tions and power to investigate and
stop unfair trade practices.
2. Costs of marketing must be
reduced.
The railroads should be taken
from the stock gamblers now run
ming them, restored to unified gov
eminent operation and freight rates
reduced to those in force when the
roads were returned to Wall street
The government must retain oul
ships which Congress voted to turn
over to shipping rings of Wal
Street, and reduce ocean freight
rates, and coordinate railroads. in.
| land waterways, coastwise and tran
oceanic transportation for service
and not for speculative private
| profit.
Congress must pass a real pack.
err control bill, not the fake bill ir
conference; it must pass the Cap
| per-Tincher bill to control deal
ing in grain futures, and the Cap
per-Volstead bill authorizing coop
erative associations of producers.
| Congress must enact the Norri:
bill, S. 1915, to create THE Farm
ers' Export Financing Corporation.
Congress must pass a law en-
cOuraging national cooperative
banks.
3. Congress and State Legisla.
lures must stop taxing farmers SC
heavily and tax land values, in
comes, individual and corporate
and estates, and should levy a cap
ital tax to pay off the war debt.
Producing farmers are paying
close to billion dollars more taxes
year than they should pay and
sales tax of one per cent would
levy hundreds of millions additional
taxes upon them.
There is a striking and increas-
ing concentration of farm wealth
T., - s
one per cent of the farms repre-
sented over seven per cent of the
farm wealth of America.
The Census figure for 1910 re-
veal an astounding concentration of
farm wealth, and comparison with
the 1900 figures shows this con-
centration is increasing rapidly. In
1910, the farm property of the
50,135, farms of 1000 acres or more
had a value of $2,845 ,494 ,346, that
is seven-tenths of one per cent of
the farms had seven per cent of
the value of all farm property, while
the land values of this seven-tenths
of one per cent of the farms was
IL per cent of all farm lands.
The 1,153,505 farms of IT'S acres
anu ONGI-4c'A pei SSllC VI tliS lODeil
number of farms-were valued lin
Guiding all farm property at $19,-
| 443, 1855 or 47.4 per cent of the
total value of all farm property
while the value of the land on
these-less than one-fifth of the
total number of the farms-was
50.7 per cent of the value of all
farm lands. The value of farm lands
in the three states of Illinois, Iowa
and Nebraska was $7,506, 1924, POO
or 26.5 per cent of the value of all
farm lands of the United States,
while the acreage of farms in these
three states was only 11.9 per cent
of the total acreage of farms in
the United States, and the farms
totaled only ga per cent of the total
number of farms.
The value of farm lands, which
includes ditching, irrigation, grad
ing, orchards. fencing, etc, as re-
ported by the Census, increased
from $13,05S, 007 ,905, in 1910, to
$2S, AIS, 674,169, in 1910, i. e., by
$15,417, 666,174, or 1851 per cent.
! The annual ground rent at per
cent of farm lands in 1910 was
81, 423, 7S3,70S, and the annual
ground rent at 5 per cent on the
decades increase in farm land
values is $77O,SS3 1903. Much of this
increase in the selling price of farm
d land is speculative, and this big in
crease is a constant and heavy
waste in the cost of production
The increase in the value of farm
land due to improvements, such as
irrigation, orchards, fencing, etc
is a legitimate cost of production
but the speculative increase in the
cnllino ,n,icn in farm lands 10 ono az