The call of the North. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1923-1924, 1923-12-26
BIGGEST BUSINESS IN THE WORLD
DANTE M. PIERCE In Iowa Ho


1 have in mind an American indus
try which is so great in magnitude as
to make all other businesses almost
insignificant by comparison. In num-
Der of employees, in actual property
investment, in funded debt, and in
quantity and value of product it is so
large that if we compare figures,
such organizations as Standard Oil,
the United States Steel Corporation,
or our railroads appear as dwarfs.
This industry is the occupation of
some 31,614,269 individuals in the
United States of America, according
to census figures of 1920. It has a
property investment Of ST., 1924, 100, ;
338-a billion dollar industry seven
ty-seven times over.
It has 6,448,343 distinct productive
branches, each of which may be con-
sidered as one of the units of a gi-
gantic whole. It carries a bonded
Indebtedness in the shape of mort
cages of $4,0O3, 767,1 1872, in addition
to what I may term floating debt
of probably twice this amount.
This industry has been compelled
to face some serious problems dur
ing che past few years. In the year
of 1917 it produced wealth amount
ing to $19,331, 600, 900, measured by
the market value of it's goods. In
1918 the same value rose to $22, $780,
100000; in 1919 the figure reached
the tremendous total of $24,9s2, 000,-
900. Two years later, in 1921, the
gross wealth produced, measured also
by market values, had dropped to
1857 100000. Yet this loss of
value did not represent any decrease
in volume of production, which in
creased rather than diminished.
This business, which is that of my
readers, agriculture, is the founda-
ton of all other industry. Yet,
through all history, those engaged in
it have had a desperate struggle to
obtain recognition of their import
ance in the general scheme of things.
The farmer has too often been con-
sidered a creature of the soil, with
no rights of his own save a bare liv-
ing, and with arduous duties to per-
form for representatives of other
classes. Under what was known as
the feudal system in Europe the tiller
of the soil belonged to the land he
cultivated. He had no rights. If the
land changed hands, so did the cult
vator. Even his crop was not his
own. The lord or baron surveyed the
products Of his serf, took all save
what he deemed would permit bare
living to the worker and his family,
and, if there was protest, the whip,
the rope, or the ak was always avail
able.
Throughout many ages the great
battle of the farmer has been to at
tain ranking or equality with other
classes. There is nothing new in ag-
ricultural discomfort. More than one
government has been overthrown,
more than one bloody war fought, in
the effort of agriculture to gain re-
cognition.
The French revolution grew out of
oppression of the peasantry. Count
less minor uprisings in French his
tory resulted from the i'll treatment
Of the farmers by the nobility. In
Great Britain such men as Wat Tyler
and Jack Cade led mobs of farmers,
armed with scythes and pitchforks
against the armored ranks of the no
bility, and closed their careers on the
gallows.
Men now living remember the lib
Grafton of the serts in Russia. Slav-
cry, in the United States, was only
survival of the custom of the cen
turtles of keeping the tiller of the
soil under an iron hand. An ignor-
ant, czar-oppressed peasantry laid
the foundation for the soviet govern
ment in Russia, which finds it's chief
stability in the hunger of peasants