Evening star., 1923-04-28
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

There is open opposition expressed
| by many Virginians to the plan to
erect monuments in the Shenandoah
valley in commemoration of Gen. Phil
Sheridan's raid.
1t is said that the monuments were
to have been built by the Betsy Ross
| Chapter, ID. A. r., of Philadelphia.
| and for that purpose the chapter had
procured from the government two
| French cannons from the late world
| war. 1t was, thought that these guns
| would mark shrines in the Shenan-
doah valley which would do honor to
| Sheridan
"Nothing doing" is the latest re-
port as to progress of the plan
When one stops to think over all
! the elements of the project. is it
surprising that it does not work out
as it was expected to do by its
promoters?
There is paper printed not far
from Independence Hall which deals
perch Of gentleman. 1t is so thor
oughIy entrenched in city wealth that
it cannot conceive the reality of
inclined to scoff at the sta tistics
given out by the Department of Agri-
culture, recently, based upon the
actual earnings Of more than 5000
farms.
Without showing any basis what
ever for his allegations, the editor
ridicules the statistics Of the depart
ment, and then announces that in
1913 the average farm produ for
each person engaged in farming was
sixteen tons, and in 1922 it was forty
three tons According TO that the
farmers Of today are nearly three
times as prosperous as they were ten
years ago.
X X
"Methinks he doth protest too
much" The figures call for support
er now produces more than two and
A half times as large crops as he did
ten years ago. It is often pointed
out that by the use of improved la
bor-savine machinery farmers can ac-
complish far more than they could
fifty years ago. but what labor-saving
machinery has been introduced in the
last decade that nearly trebles pro-
duction? In what crops does it
operate?
The most concentrated values Of
what is produced on the farms is
found in the live stock. 1t is nearer
finished product" than grain, for
grain is raised largely to be fed to
stock.
In 1911 the yearly marketing Of
beef cattle from farms to the chief
stock markets amounted to S.o61.494
head. In 1921 they were S.676 n63
head. Hogs in 1911 were about 90
100000 head: in 1921. 220S0.S70 head.
Sheep in 1911. 100000 head; in 1921
there were 11.755,677 head.
Surely if the volume of farm pro-
duCtiOn had increased two and a half
times in one decade it would show
up in the live stock. at least approx
imately.
Xxx x
The average prices received by
farmers in 1916-the year before we
entered the war-were: For hogs,
$3.50. and in 1922. $3.50. For beef. in
l191G. s5.s5; in 1922. s4.75. Sheep. in
1916, S5.52: in 1922. S4.57. Horses, in
1916. SIPS: in 1922. $50.
While a mortgage sometimes rep
resents enterprise, when ii is given
in a purchase of a farm, yet who will
say that the whole volume of mort
cages do show increased activity,
when in 1910 the farmers of America
owed s1,726.112,S51, and in 1920 they
owed $4,000. .767.192. In 1910 the mort
cages averaged. per farm, s6.2S9, and
in 1920 s11.546
The total value of all wealth pro-
duced on American farms in 1918 was
50. $40 900. and in 1921, 2.361,
900. 600, and the acreage producing the
increased yield in 1921 amounted to
80 per cent more than in 1913. That
indicates about the same yield per