The mirror., 1923-12-06
THE ECONOMIC SITUATION
(Oontinusd from page -

y
events of national life.
Following the close of the Civil War,
immense tracts of Western farm lands
were opened for settlement and production.
Procured at low price the greater part
of the early settlers made good profits on
their investment, but the major part of
their profits came in the way of the in
creased values of farm land and, as these
lands changed owners, values increased
out of all proportion to their actual earn
ing power. Whether the farmer as a class
can be truly prosperous until this situation
has been corrected is difficult to decide.
Artificial stimulation of the prices of farm
products and their markets may result in
semblance of prosperity, but the econ
omic situation of the farmer will not be
fundamentally sound until he can obtain
a reasonable return for his labor and in
vestment without the assistance of outside
help. 1t has been fact for so many
years that it is difficult to consider the
U. S. as other than food exporting ma
tion, yet, unless there is some radical
change in our general treatment of the
agricultural question as expert statisticians
say, we shall in a decade or so cease to
export food or food products, and will
thereafter be ranked with nations import
ing these products. What this would re-
suit in is very ably stated by DR.. Ball
Director of Research for the U. S. Dept.
of Agriculture, recently quoted in an
article by o. M. Kyle in Munseys Mag
azine, "It would mean reorganization
of our entire national life. 1t would mean
that the farmers interest in foreign mar
kets will have disappeared. 1t would
mean that the price of wheat in Chicago
would be the price in Liverpool, plus the
cost of moving it from Liverpool to Chi
cago, whereas now the price in Chicago
is the price in Liverpool less the cost of
moving it to Liverpool. 1t would mean
that manufacturing and industry which
have been moving westward toward the
source of cheap and abundant food, would
begin to move back toward the Atlantic
seaboard, if the food must come from be-
yond the waters. AS time went on they
would move to surplus producing nations
where more favorable conditions for there
development can be found"
1t can readily be seen what effect the
condition, outlined by DR.. Ball would have
on the population of the country and par
ticularly on the lives of the thousands who
are dependent upon labor in these indus
tries for support, so whatever govern
mental aid that is extended to the farmer
should not be objected to by the other
classes that make up our population, even
though it may exact certain toll from
their income, provided of course that the
aid so given is actual assistance and rea-
sonable in limits. One of the most prac-
ticable suggestions made thus far is a
"wheat loan" to Germany. Although
approved by the American Farm Bureau
this plan is meeting with strenuous objec-
tion from few active in farmer politics,
possibly because the idea did not originate
with them, but rather is sponsored by
business interests. In this connection it
was significant fact that at the meeting
of the International Farm Congress held
in Kansas City in October 1923, attended
by Government and State officials and
many athorities on agriculture no one sug-
gested the need of any new form of farm
legislation, state or national. Cooperative
marketing which has grown so rapidly
during the past few years. has done much
to reduce selling cost and by evening the
How of produce to market, has stabilized
prices, but it has shown to those interested
that it cannot raise prices above world
levels, nor increase the number of buyers,
nor overcome natural laws.
What possibilities does the future hold
for industry in peneral7 Il :. .h,,:.,,.