The Ward County independent., 1922-12-21


! tries where the popula tion is dense
and where farms necessarily are small
as in Denmark, that several times the
| farm products per acre are produced
and fairly satisfactory standard of
living is maintained by intensive cul-
tivation and by cooperative market
ing of everything produced in excess
of what the family consumes.
The Farmer as an Employer of Labor
The whole question reverts to the
farmer as an employer of labor. The
conditions under which he works and
the character Of labor available makes
farming extremely risky where de-
pendence must be placed to any great
extent on transient labor. Uncer-
tainty Of price for farm products, un-
favorable weather conditions, insect
and fungus diseases, hail, drought,
etc, when taken into consideration,
are occasionally liable to place the
farmers balance on the wrong side OF
the ledger
But where = the family performs
practically all the labor there is no
great outlay of cash required, and if
the income is small it is generally
more regular and the home is not SO
likely to be jeopardized.
Of course, the ambitious farmer de-
sires to get rich and to crafty that
ambition he undertakes to farm, many
acres. He has to employ much labor,
make large Investment, pay heavy
taxes and the depreciation Of farm
machinery and work stock must also
be taken into account. Should crops
fail as they occasionally do, and more
especially where the work is not per-
formed in the most skillful manner
he has nothing to fall back on es-
pecially where he practices single crop
farming, as too many get-rich-quick
farmers do. Moreover it generally
requires two or more crops to over
come the handicap of one crop failure.
In the end, after lifetime Of worry
and drudgery the big farmer is some
times compelled to borrow money from
the small farmer who took no great
chances, who neither worried nor
drudged, but lived well and saved a
few dollars each year.
1t is question whether Nature de-
signed the soil and climatic conditions
suitable for ordinary farmers to ac-
emulate great wealth, or if the coun-
try would be benefited if such were
the case.
A comfortable living with an ac-
emulation Of savings sufficient for
support during ones declining years,
in view of such poverty as afflicts mil
lions who toll hopelessly in the cities,
would seem to make the farmer with
modest ambition a happy contented
and grateful citizen.
| A quarter section farm skillfully
managed is, all things considered, a
safer proposition than a section farm
managed by hired laborers. More
over what difference does it make
when the Dark River is reached whe-
ther or not a large estate is left on
this side.
Jesus said: "How hardly shall they
that have riches enter into the King
dom of God"
This does not indicate that poverty
| is sure passport to eternal bliss, but
| it should cause those ambitious to ac-
cumulate great wealth to have some
regard as to how they make their
money.
Personally, believe that ultimately
North Dakota will support popula-
tion of 100000; when 80 acres will
! be made to support an average fam
| lily. But not until mortgages become
| obsolete and every acre is made to
produce it's best every year.
AZ LllC P1CSCHt IclS VI lIAlC CeAoC "
population in fifty years there should
be more than 200,00O,000 to feed in the
United States. The eastern and mid
die states are now fairly densely pop
ulated. The thinly populated states
like the Dakotas and Montana will
have to entertain much Of this surplus
population. Fifty years later the
population if the country should ap-
proximate 4O0,O00,00O, but that is a
long way off. Yes, but it is coming.
And old Mother Earth is their sole
reliance for food and most other nee
essities. Children now living should
see population Of two or two and
a half hundred million people. That
isn't so very far away. And remem-
Der that the soil we cultivate today
was created for them as well as for US.
Unfortunately while we have law
against cruelty to animals, there is no
law against exploitation of the soil.
j. H. WORST,
Bismarck, N. D.