The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-08-13
ACORNER
With the
FARMER
By r.. WEBB SPARKS
Market Editor of The Times =


uation:
July was ushered in with the usual
drop in wheat prices, and promptly
the official pessimists set up their ac-
customed wall Of the farmer is
broke" The Amalgamated Order Of
Volunteer Farm Advisers called q
hasty meeting and Immediately began
deluging the country with suggestions
for saving the farmer from chaos.
True. the price Of wheat falls every
July, due to the fact that new wheat
is about to come on the market, but
this fact did not dampen the spirits
Of those who take a melancholy pride
in viewing with alarm" the status Of
the farmer.
The situation is amusing or irritat.
ing, according as one views it before
or after ample lunch. If rumor were
to be believed, the farmer spends most
of his time packing his grip for the
poorhouse. But somehow he never
goes. He is still at the old stand,
producing food for the Nation and
spending a greater average income
than the wage Garner in the city.
The total drop in wheat was 10 per
cent, or 10 cents a bushel. Mind you,
this was not 10 per cent loss in the
farmers total income. but merely a
10 per cent drop in the price Of one
OF the many products he sells. Con-
sidered in It's true proportion. with re-
lation to the total farm income OF
1000 900, 900, the drop in wheat was
about one-half of l per cent Of the
total farm income.
Ten cents a bushel on 10000, 900
bushels amounts to $S1 900 900 This
is only 31s per cent Of the wealth pro
duced each year by farm COWS! So
the wheat crop is nothing to worry
about. even If 1t were not Offset by
gains in other places.
But consider! While wheat was
dropping 10 cents corn rose % cents.
And farmers raise three times as
many bushels OF corn as they do
wheat. W. other words, for every dime
taken off the price OF wheat there is
70 cents added to the price Of corn.
That's why the farmer is able to
whistle cheerfully while the sky
task of saving him from ruin.
The Italian fruit vendor said, What
/ make on da peanut l losa on the
dam banan" But the farmer says,
THE little I seem to lose on wheat
I am making several times over on
corn" Anyhow. the loss is purely
theoretical Farmers have adopted
new marketing methods in the past
few years and they no longer dump
their products on the market at what
ever price the buyer chooses to pay.
The farmers financial situation is
sound and he IS able TO hold back his
crops untn the market price is right.
Such a hold-back movement was prac-
ticed with wheat and in a single July
day the price Of wheat was ADVANCED
several points, This in the face Of
new wheat coming on the market.
Wheat has a certain dramatic"
value, and for this reason is apt to
be over-rated n the popular appraisal
Of farm conditions. BY the term dra-
matte value is meant the fact that
wheat. being raised in gigantic group
acreages, becomes a symbol OF farm
Many think Of wheat as the prtn-
cipal cash crop of American farms
when as a matter OF fact the value
of the wheat harvest is less than
Dor cent Of the total farm income. The
estimated December. 1922, value Of all
wheat. according TO the Department
of Agriculture, was 1884, 100000. The
total annual value of all farm crops
and livestock is from fourteen to six.
teen billion dollars So you can draw
your own conclusions. The American
hen alone produces more new wealth
than the total wheat crop amounts to.
The average American farmer prac-
tees diversified farming. He raises
wheat corn. oats. vegetables, fruit,
livestock. He keeps cows and re-
ceives a good income from dairy prod
ucts. A loss in any one crop by no
means spells ruin, or even privation,
to the farmer. any more than loss
on a single deal means ruin to the
city business man.
The following special correspond
ence from a Middle West State
shows how farmers feel in the corn
belt: There IS no pessimism In this
part of the corn belt. Scores Of farm.
ers have been talked with en- route
and the general sentiment most aften
expressed it. We're getting along
pretty we'll, all things considered In
the last two years the farmer has
done a prodigious amount Of read
justment. There has been a vast
economy and the farmer has voiled
harder and longer until now he sees
daylight ahead. Before the war the
farm price of corn in this section,
for the five-year peroid, averaged 55h
cents a bushel. In June two years
ago 1t had dropped to A cents. Now
it stands around IS cents. Twenty
cents a bushel Improvement, the ex-
perts point out, means something like
$S5. 900, 900 for the State"
In other words, the gain in corn
from one State exceeds the loss in
wheat for the entire country. SINH
lar report from other States would
show like conditions, all indicating
that the farmer has not been Jared
from his seat and that he is still Jog
ging along"