Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1921-10-22
LOWER LAND VALUES
WOULD BENEFIT FARMING
Belief that High Priced Lands Are
Beneficial to Farmers In
founded.


hampers the efforts of thoseagencies
whose object it is to improve the
condition of agriculture, declares
Mr.. Nordman, Commissioner of
Markets, in a statement issued
Monday. Farmers must bear in
mind that high priced land means
low prices Of farm products and
that land values must come down
if the business of farming is to take
turn for the better.
This is true of both city lands
and farm lands and before farmers
can hope to obtain better markets
for their products, high prices of
land value must be removed.
High priced city lands cause high
rents. The farmer has a great in
terest in the question of the rent
paid by city people. Rent enters
into the cost of every article which
the farmers buy. High rent makes
every pound of nails, every yard of
cloth, every pair of shoes, every
gallon of gasoline higher than it
should be, thus raising the farmers
cost of living and making his cost
of production Unfortunately high.
On the other hand, high rent en-
tiers into the power to purchase on
the part of those who buy and con
sumo the products of the farm.
The first item of cost which the
consumer must pay is rent. After
the rent is paid, the worker and
his family may begin to buy food
and clothing. The higher this
rent the less money is left with
which to buy other products. High
rent is therefore direct cause of
poor markets for farm products.
Inflated land values in the coun.
try have the same effect on the
farmers market as inflated land
values in the city. High priced
land makes farming inaccessible.
1t prevents those who are capable
of farming from going out on the
land. 1t crowds industries with
more workingmen than are needed,
creates an oyersupply of labor, re-
duces wages and earnings and
causes a permanent condition Of
unemployment. The purchasing
power of city workers is decreased
and the products of the farm do
not find any market for the simple
reason that the source OF the farm
er's market is the buying ability of
the city people. This buying
ability is proportionate to wages
and earnings. The less the work
ers earn the less farm products they
can buy.
The only way to remedy this
condition is to give the city worker
an opportunity to gain access to
the land. Every man that leaves
the city gives an opportunity to
the man remaining in the city to
earn more and to buy more, thus
creating a greater demand for farm
products. The man who leaves
for the country 10 work on the
land creates a greater demand for
manufactured commodities, thus
stimulating industrial production.
Greater industrial production caus-
es a greater demand for raw mat
erials which are furnished by
agriculture.
Accessibility to the land will be
beneficial to both the farmer and
the city man because it will result
in better markets for the products
of farm and factory It will also
make it easier for the tenant to be-
come an independent farm owner.
The producers as well as the con-
sumers will be benefited if the cause
of the inaccessibility to the land is
I removed. This cause is monopoly
which concentrates large areas Of
land in the hands Of few individ-
uals who hold them not for prod
uctive use but for purposes Of
/ speculation. Besides making land