The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1923-01-26
ARM REWARD
SHOWN LEAST
OF INDUSTRY
apartment of Agriculture
and Labor Makes Search
ms Inquiry
TIE WESTERN LESSON
Use in Value of Montana Dry
Land Farms Is Discussed
BY Department
TIE WESTERN LESSON

Washington, Jan. 26.-Reports
e being received constantly of
rye numbers of bankruptcy pro-
'edlngs and foreclosures. of farm
ortgages in the rural districts.
he persistency of these reports
rs so alarmed the Administration
nat Henry c. Wallace, Secretary
/ Agriculture, has ordered test
lrvey to be made to discover what
rcportion of farm owners are
lffering from the adverse circum-
,ances indicated by these reports.
There are no reliable data avail
Die on that phase of the agricul-
lral problem now, but general
lrmise, based on knowledge of
arming conditions in various geo.
raphical divisions of the country,
as been ventured by persons con-
ected with the Farm Loan Board
nd the Department Of Agricul-
Ire. These surmises agree that
lie majority of foreclosures are
occurring in the intermountain
tates and in the northwest prairie
ection where production has been
ampered for several consecutive
ears by drought and other So
allied natural causes. In The
orthern intermountain states land
alues rose rapidly between 1916
nd 1920, based on the presump-
ion that wheat and other cereals
ould be produced as a profitable
rop in those sections.
The Montana Lesson
In Montana, for instance, exper-
ments in growing wheat by the
ry farming method were made
n period of exceptional rainfall,
nd the results were So encourag-
ng that hundreds of thousands of
cres of grazing land were subdi-
,ided into 320-acre farms and sold
o eager purchasers. Land rose
rom So and SIS an acre to $35 and
40 an acre, and the incoming set
lers planted wheat. In the last
hree or four years the rainfall in
hat area has been subnbrmal and
he wheat crops were total or par
ial failures. The farmers found
hat they could make a little pro-
it when wheat was selling at from
$50 to So bushel, but when the
lump came, wheat farming in that
part of the country was out of the
question.
/; The result has been, of course,
hat much of the land has not been
bowed for two or three years, it
has reverted to it's original use as
grazing land, and the value that
lad been given to it on account of
is supposed availability for wheat
production, has disappeared. The
armers have given up and the
'anks are foreclosing. The opin-
on of men here who are in clos
st touch with the situation in the
lorthern intermountain states is
hat both the farmers and lenders
will lose heavily by this unfortun-
tie experiment.
Farmers Are Stable Class
Census figures show that farm
rs are about the most stable class
n the population of the United
'tates. Thirty per cent of all per-
ons painfully employed in Amer
"a get their living from argicul-
ure. There were in 1920, 6,448,434
farm operators, and the
umber has increased only about
per cent in the last 20 years. OF
nese nearly 100000 operators,
5 per cent have been on the farm
yer 10 years and 50 per cent have
gen on the farm more than five
ears. Nor does the volume of
arm laborers fluctuate much eth
r, and the enumerators find that
his class numbers around 6,000,-
DO almost constantly. Yet the
ewards of this labor are below
lat of any other class.
The Joint Commission for Agri-
lltural Inquiry found that the
verage annual earnings by farm
ands were below that Of any 9TH
. industry, including estimates
,r board and lodging. The aver
&c farm laborer's income is plac-
! at 1923 year, compared with
755 in all other industries. But
le reward to the farm operator
II his. labor, leaving aside interest