The St. Johns herald., 1922-04-06
FARM FAR MlI7jC CHEAP C;IHifE AP'f''tE::A 'tE::AND''
Why Western Canada Agricultu-
 riStS Are Smiling.
Low Overhead Expense and Bountlful Crops Have Enabled Them to Overcome Agricultural
 Depression.

The recent agricultural depression brought to the eyes of the world the fact that one of it's basic industries was likely to suffer a severe blow un- less steps were taken to secure rem edy. Physician after physician ap- piled remedies, but even parliamenta- rians and newspapers were unable to place their finger on the pulse that would respond. As it appears today, it was a spasmOdic wave due to the ebb and flow of the tide of readjust- ment that was bound to follow a dis caused.
 Psychologically it was bound to change; there was certain to be re- flex movement that would bring agri- cultural conditions back to the place where they normally and rightly be- long.
 Efficiency and sound business judg- ment are needed more in agriculture today than ever before and are as i'm portant to the farmer as to railroad company, or to a great steel corpora tiOn.
 The farmer must endeavOr to secure an equal footing in the competition for a lower cost of production. In Western Canada the farmer has come through the dark era with that forti- tude and determination so peculiar to a new country, and is meeting the changed situation with energy and a smile. In Western Canada the farmer is not hampered by an annual over head expense of heavy interest on high-priced land. He is able to pro- duce at a minimum, because his land value seldom exceeds $50 an acre.
 Owing to the fact that he is farming land the price of which is from $25 to $50 an acre, producing crops of wheat running from 20 to 40 bushels per acre, and other grains in prOpOr- tiOn, he is able to produce at a low cost In addition to this, fact which should not be lost sight of, is the large area that he can farm at low cost, giv- ing him an added advantage in reduc- ing the cost of production.
 The corn that the farmer fully ex- pected to bring him over a dollar a bushel, he saw carried away to the market, and bring back 30 or 40 cent check. Wheat for the whole of Can ada averaged 86 cents bushel in 1921 as compared with $1.62 in 1920; oats 37 cents as against B cents; barley 47 cents as against S3 cents. Other grain prices similarly fell. While other parts of the continent, where grain-growing is carried on. have sui fered in like manner by defatiOn in prices, they have had to face a much higher cost in production, such as high rents, high-priced farms, and high taxes. Farmers had calculated on re- ceiving war or nearly war figures for their grain and therefore were amply justified in submitting to the tax that soaring land prices set upon them. Western Canada fortunately did not suffer from inflated land prices. There fore, when grain prices fell, the losses sustained were not so great; they did not cut out the margin of profit, ex- cepting in some cases where some cli- matic conditions caused it.
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