Evening star., 1923-09-16
BY WILL p. KENNEDY.
Prosperity is here-and growing.


States-which speaks for organized
business--the federal Department of
Commerce and Agriculture and the
Bureau Of Railway Economics, the
records of all of which reflect pros
perity hand and indications that
it will Continue, and that times will
be even better.
This means agricultural. railway,
manufacturing. commercial and gem
eral prosperity. both are now here
and coming strong
The basic industry is agriculture.
and much Of business. studying future
prospects, figures from prices which
the agricultural crops are bringing.
Then they figure on what the rail-
roads are doing.
Much has been said about the
ruinously low price of wheat" which
will drive thousands of farmers bank
rupt. The public has been surfeited
with this wall. II has been pointed
out that wheat represents but or
per cent of the agricultural total
The United States Department of
Agriculture points out that three
years ago this fall the price of
cotton plunged to bankruptcy depths
Two years ago corn followed suit.
Last year 1t was potatoes. Now it
Is wheat Let's study Department of
Agriculture statistics on prices re-
ceived by farmers for these prod
ucts. Cotton-in July, 1921. he re-
ceived SO cents per pound. and July
this year he received 23.5 cents;
corn-in July, 1921, he received 62.2
cents per bushel and in July this year.
S7.4 cents; potatoes-fn July. 1921.
he received 69.9 cents per bushel and
this year $1.227. Even as regards
wheat the farmer is not as bad off
as before the war. when. in 1913, he
got I'll cents per bushel.
Getting Better Prices
All along the line the farmer is
getting better prices: Butter has
jumped from % cents in 1921 to 36.S
cents; wool per pound from 15.5 cents
to 1873 cents. and lambs per 100
pound from 7.37 to 10.G, as Il few
examples. Remember. these are the
prices which are paid "at the farm"
Department OF Agriculture figures
also show that the purchasing power
OF farm products has risen from g.
per cent-based on the 1913 figures
10 72 per cent while the wholesale
price of non-agricultural commodities
has fallen of relatively from 10 to
161, which shows that agriculture
Gnd industry and commerce are grad
ually being brought into more nearly
normal relationship. and this is the
fundamental solution of the entire
problem, Secretary Wallace en-
phasizes.
There IS further evidence of farm
prosperity in the fact that with corn
showing an increase Of more than 20
cents per bushcl to the farmer the
crop is the largest on record in re-
cent years, 2.9S2. 900 coo bushels, which
is larger even than in the slump year,
1921. Reports from 4,0G0 farmers in all
parts OF the country to the Depart
ment of Agriculture, showed that on
an average In 1922, it cost 66 cents
per busheI to produce corn. They are
now receiving. S7.4 cents.
wallace Conservative.
While the Department of Agricul-
ture has been very conservative in
making any prosperity" statements,
presumably fearful OF the effect it
might have on the radical farm group
in Congress, the department has
stated: Wheat does not dominate the
agricultural situation as a whole.
In general conditions over the coun-
try are apparently somewhat better
this season than last. The east. the
south and the corn belt, the range
country, and the Pacific coast all show
Improvement, rather than otherwise
both in position as to debts and out
look for fall income. In the main
this is a pretty good crop year"
Now as to the railroads-they not
only show that business generally is
good, but they are doing their big
bit of speed prosperity. While pre-
viously, at times. when there was
plenty of business. the railroads were
not able to handle 1t, and so damned
up the tide of business prosperity,
this is not the case now. There is a
very unusual absence OF complaint
against the railroads, even in the
face of unprecedented freight traffic.
Ha1IFO00S below NOFmuhs
While the railroads are not earning,
Just yet, the 81 per cent fair re-
turn, for the first seven months, up to
August /, they did earn very close
70 it, 5.51 per cent, on the valuation
fixed by the Interstate Commerce
Commission. The American railways
have already broken all traffic records
so with August. September and Octo-
Der the three best months in the year.
they may reasonably, be expected to
better financially the rest of this
year.
conservatively put, the most i'm
nortant factor for the railroads is
stability. Even if the railroads did not
make their fair return" of 5% per
cent, and yet were able to make some-
thing like 5.51 regularly and know they
could reasonably expect fair level
of earnings 1t would very largely re-
move the fear that the railroad man
ayers have been carrying in their
hearts for the last few years.
The way in which the railroads have
been breaking service records shows
that business generally has been un-
usually good. Railroad traffic is the
best barometer of industrial activity.
The railroads can't make this busi-
ness, they handle what is brought to
them.
During the first eight months of
1928 TO September / the railroads in
Al;e haua Iaoded mora