Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1922-01-27

Ing upon SOllC VI LIE plleSSS " ILLS
topic lies in the fact that I am a com
parative stranger to you and your
community and as such can perhaps
offer you somewhat more of bird S
eye view of local situations, and their
relation to conditions in general than
will be possible year from today
In a general way my impression of
Northern Wisconsin and Villas County
in particular approximates very close
ly the idea which comes almost i'm
mediately to one who travels from
our East into our West and is so
beautifully put in verse from under
the title Out Where the West Begins
truly believe that in a great many
things these lines apply to Villas Coun-
ty, Wisconsin. county Of the Hail
Fellow Well Met where the very
atmosphere fills one with spirit Of
optimism.
There is no question in the minds
of any who are here but what we are
passing through one Of the critical
periods in the economic history of our
nation and to bring it nearer home,
we in Eagle River and Villas County
are passing thru q. period which is
pregnant with disaster from the stand
point Of our immediate and future
development if we fail in doing every
thing in our power to, steer a course
of broadminded, unselfish and unstin-
ting service to those who are in need
about us. SLet US look for a moment
into few of the causes of our present
predicament that we may have a bet
ter understanding of the problem as a
whole. VA
To quote from Sec. Wallace's last
report to the President Of the United
States, any circumstance which de-
presses agriculture, making it i'm
possible to exchange the products of
the farm for the products of the fac
tory on normal basis makes for
closed factories, and unemployment in
! Industry.
William /. King, one of our most
noted economists, calculates the net
amount received by the average farm
er for his own labor, plus that of the
members Of his family. who work on
the farm without receiving money pay
t~ment, as follows In 1919 the farmers
total annual income was $4,000 and
in 1920 $4,000 and the figures for
1921 fall considerably below this. All
data being based upon the 1913 price
level in order to give wages measured
in purchasing power.
The producer Of a manufactured
article knows what it is and what it
costs. He knows this better than the
buyer. The REVERSE is true in agri-
culture.
Farmers like other manufacturers,
operate a good deal on credit, buying
cattle and hogs to feed with borrowed
money and borrowing in the spring to
carry thru until the harvest. The drop
in prices caught farmers when the
crops Of 1920 we're ready for market,
after all costs of production had been
met, with the highest priced labor
and materials in history. Farmers by
the ten thousands could not pay their
debt This was due in a large measure
because foreign nations were unable
to buy our products.
By a we'll known economic law it
is the last bushel that largely fixes the
price. You put ten bushels of apples
on a market in which there are ten
buyers, each wanting a bushel The
whole ten bushels will move off
smoothly at normal price But when
you put ten bushels on a market in
which there are buyers for only nine
bushels, in the haggling of the mar
ket the price of the whole ten bushels
will fall until somebody turns up to
take the final bushel SO although the
domestic demand for agricultural pro-
duets remains almost unchanged the
price is bound to fall until the sur
plus which we produce for export is
disposed Of.
Before the World War our exports