The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-06-05

There is in prospect a greater ant
more permanent prosperity fo.
Northwestern agriculture due to thu
steady increase in Investigation.
Corn and 800 land go together
The cultivation of corn is spread
ing north and west, and with il
other activities of diversified farm
ing that it symbolizes.
Changes in livestock holdings il
four entire states of the Ninth Fed.
eral Reserve district during the last
three years give further evidence OF
readjustment in farm operations
The number of milk cows has in
creased 1875 per cent, the number
of swine has increased 1877 per
cent, and the number of sheep has
increased 1916 per cent.
Dairying in Infancy
The number of milk cows, swine
and sheep on the farms in these
Northwest states has increased
more rapidly than the number in
the United States as a whole, which
is not surprising when it is remem-
mered that dairying and live stock
feeding has been an established in
dustry for years in the greater part
of the United States, but is still in
it's infancy in this district and
such increases as occur in this ter
ritory appear large as percentage
figures.
The increase in the number of
milk cows, swine and sheep is
greater in the western portion of
the district than in the eastern
portion. Montana, South Dakota,
Minnesota and North Dakota show
approximately the same decline in
the number of horses on the farms.
Horses have been supplanted by
automobiles and tractors to some
extent and a 5 per cent decline
in the number of horses on the
farms is not alarming.
Farm Improvement Indicated
There are definite signs that the
farmers have improved their con-
This improvement has
come about, not through a great
rise in the price of farm products,
but largely through a reimbursement
farm costs and methods and
through a change in the type of pro
ducts raised. Farmers are buying
more in the aggregate, although
hey cannot be said to be buying
normal quantities now. AS the
pest test of the increased purchas-
ng power of the farmer, we have
.hosen two types of purchasing
which the farmer can do without,
When he is short of funds, and which
re, therefore, a better test of his
than his purchases of every
.ay necessities. Farm implement
nd lumber purchases were the two
indexes chosen.
During the first three months of
922, farm implement purchases by
Tinth district farmers from ten of
largest firms selling in this dis
riot amounted to $1,230,886. Dur
lg the same three months this year,
urcheses amounted to $2,510.025,
r more than double the purchases
.ring the same period last year.
Lumber purchases fom 637 coun-
y retail yards during the first 3
.onths in 1922 amounted to 49,
20, 0 board feet. During the
me three months in 1928, sales
mounted to 100000 board feet
an increase of one-fourth over
e same period last year. While
e purchase of new equipment and
lumber has probably been limit
to meeting emergencies, the fact
at farmers have been able to make
csc enlarged purchases shows con-
that a definite turn has
made to more favorable con
Are Economic Problems
John H. Rich, the late Ninth Fed
al Reserve district agent, said
''The serious problems confront
: farmers in the Northwest grain
area are the product of eco
mic causes.
''The failures, foreclosures, and
andonment of land that have oc-
rred are an inevitable part of a
change and reimbursement
agricultural conditions parallel to
reactions of the Civil war in the
stern areas then devoted to grain.
ey will continue until they have
/ their course, although they have
,bbaly reached their peak.
THE future of agriculture in the
rthwest grain raising area has
been impaired. 1t has not lost
appreciate percentage of its cap
e men. 1t has been undergoing a
site purging process involving the
nination of the unfit, the defla-
/ Of excessive land values, the
apse of credits built on an I'M |
nd basis, the wiping out of farm |