Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1922-10-12
from such q situation?


price curves, and perhaps q bias to-
ward optimism, to detect signs Of i'm
provement, but it begins to l7ok as
though the farm price curve has
dipped as low as it is going en- this
swing.
More Optimistic.
There is another point of view. how
ever, from which the outlook IS more
definitely encouraging If we t,1rn for
the time from the cold, statistical
viewpoint, and consider the situation
from that, of human life on the farm
in its relation to what we call eco
Monies. we find that the situation
holds premise strangely in contrast
to the present unhappy conditions. 1t
may sound paradoxical to say that the
| economic crisis through which we are
now passing 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
decided gain in that respect
We are all familiar with the farmer
of that type so common in the past,
whose only idea of efficiency is to rob
! the soil to the limit, and whose only
idea of way to use profits is to in
vest them in more land, and still more
land. Strangely enough, this course,
which would seem to lead at least to
| financial prosperity, serves to defeat
! it's 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
! production by increasing the charge
for the use of land. At the same time
the effort to Justify the investment
tends to increase production irrespec-
tive Of market demands. Thus we
have a vicious circle about which the
farmer chases the will-o' -the-wisp of
profit, only to find that his effort has
increased the price of land and low
cred the price of the products 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
effect they serve to put him in COM
petition with himself and that they
lead periodically to agricultural de
preston. He knows that farming is
fundamental industry, that the
Iaborer is worthy of his hire, and that
he is entering upon an era IN which
sound agronomy and sound business
practices must prevail over the hap
hazard methods of the soil-exploita
ton 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 guages
his production with reference to de.
mand, and on the efficiency with
which he grows and markets his
products, rather than on his skill OF
luck in handling real estate.
Slump Brings Good.
From this viewpoint, at least, the
agricultural slump is not an unmixeC
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 anC
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 consola-
ton now, but as the situation develops
it 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 is
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
of living on the farm, rather than by
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 cts own synonym" as
some one has put it, is a shameful
thing, and the farmer who thinks of
the farming business as having no
object beyond mere financial success
is in a fair way to miss the best of
| life
There is a 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 agri-
| cultural slump has spawned, will not
| be SO foolish as to forget that the