The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-11-17

provement. but 1t begins to look as
| though the farm price curve has dip
ped as low as it is going on this
swing.
There Ia another point of view. how.
ever. from which the outlook is more
definitely encouraging. If we turn for
the time from the cold. statistical
viewpoint. and consider the situation
from that Of human life on the farm II,
Its relation to what we call economics,
we find that the situation holds prom
ise strangely In contrast to the pres
ent unhappy conditions. It may sound
paradoxical to say that the economic
crisis through which we are now pass
ing 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 pres
ent loss seems to foreshadow decided
gain in that respect.
We are all familiar with the farmer,
of that type 20 colpr,on 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 sem to lead at least to
financial prosperity. serves to defeat
its 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 the cost of pro-
duction by increasing the charge for
the use of land. At the same time the
effort to justify the investment tends
to increase production. irrespective of
market demands. Thus we have a
vicious circle about which the farmer
chases the will-o'-t he-wisp of profit,
only to find that his effort has in
creased the price Of land and lowered
the price Of the prouucts Of the land.
The day Of 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 eff
feet they serve to put him in compe-
tition with himself. and that they lead
periodically to agricultural depression.
He kows that farming is fundamen-
tai industry, that the lab0rer Is wor thy
of his hire, and that he is entering
upon an era in which sound agroncmy
and sound business practices must rre-
vail over the haphazard methods of
the soil-exploitation 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
refernce to demand. and on the effi-
cheney with which he grows and mar
kets his products, rather than on his
skill or luck in handling real estate.
From this viewpoint, at least, the
agricultural slump is not an unmixed
evil. since it's 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 consolation
now but as the situation develops 1t
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 IL
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
or living on the farm. tatneF IMAM ny
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 "its own synonym" a
| some one has put it. is shameful
thing. and the farmer who thinks OF
the farming business as having no oh.
ject beyond mere financial success is
in fair way to miss the best of life
| There is great class of forward
! looking farmers in this country who
know better than that. We may rest
assured that these men. in working
out the vexing problems that the ag
ricul tural slump has spawned. will mo-
be SO foolish as to forget that thu
| question of the financial future o.
American farming is inextricably con
nected with the question of better liv
ing in the farm home and the farm
community.