The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1924-02-28
SOUTH DAKOTA'S
OUTLOOK BRIGHT
New Wealth Produced On the South
Dakota Farms In 1928 Amount.
ed 10 S19syO00, 900

Below follows the first of a series of
articles by irwin ID. Aidrich. Commits
sioner of the Department of lmmigra-
tion at Pierre, on the conditions and
resources of South Dakota. These ar
'ticIes are very interesting and will
appear from time to time.
Some people have feared that re
cent bank troubles in certain parts of
South Dakota portend a general col
lapse of our business and financial
institutions. We have had some bank
failures, but not more than other ag-
riculturaI regions in the middle west
where conditions are similar.
II jars a ~schoolboy TO have the chair
drawn out from under him just after
he has been asked TO take a seat. This
is what happened to the banks of the
middle west. Flush with money, en-
couraged by their city correspondent ,
to make all the loans possible, within
four months the glad hand was re-
placed by the frozen face, and falling
prices for farm products reduced the
paying power of the banks debtors:
The outlook for the banks depend
on the outlook for agriculture. The
wealth of the state comes from It's
farms, and practically all it's business
depends on the value of Its farm pro-
ducts. The banks depend on farming
just as truly as the farmer himself
does.
O. Let us see what South Dakota Is
doing. which way the aid of a Sontli
Dakota representative and several
hundred correspondents, largely faT
mers, makes an estimate of the crop
production of the state each year, with
Its value at farm prices as Of Decem-
Der 1. The estimate of the total value
of all field crops in South Dakota in
1923 Ia 1892, 466 200, which lis Sill ,006,-
900 more than in 1922, and nearly 81
OO0, 900 more than in 1921. In 1913 it
was $94, 1897 900, so II will be seen that
our gross production has more thar
doubled In ten years. These figures
will be found i'm Weather, Crops and
Markets" for December 80, 1928.
These figures do not consider our
live stock production. II is assumed
that a large part of the field crops Is
turned into beef, pork and dairy pro-
ducts and that the selling value o
that portion rs increased from Afty
to one hundred per cent thereby. In.
deed our total production Of wealth
from all sources is estimated close to
S400, 0eO, 900.
The 1923 corr crop of the state was
lis, 176. 200 bushels. which is about
twenty million bushels more than tn ,
greatest corn crop we ever had raised
previously, the crop of 1921.
Corn production is the basis of su
ccssful farming anywhere in the mid
die west. Whether the farmers IN
come is from beef, pork, or dairy pro.
ducts he must grow corn.
Corn acreage is the barometer that
indicates the material prosperity of
any farming community in this great
In South Dakota the old corn
growing section of the state, the fir Il
congressional district, has increased
her corn acreage 1876 per cent since
1919, the northeast quarter of the
state, long the great wheat-growing
section, has increased her corn acre
g 48.7 per cent, and the newer sec
ton west of the Missouri river has in
creased her corn acreage STA per
cent in the same time. "
The lines of agriculture recognized
as profitable at the present time are
Hive cfnnL vrnAt.cfsnn and doiryinu
You may tell the world that South Da-
kota is working in that direction very
rapidly.
There was a decrease of stock hogs
In the United States in 1923 of about
5000, 900 head, but South Dakota
comes up smiling with an increase of
s $1,000 head. Our dairy cows have in
creased in number from 800, 900 in
1921 to 1885, 0 in 1929, a gain of 65.-
600.
South Dakota as a whole is a new
state, and sparsely settled. The in
fuence OF the land boom" reached
over but little more than a third of
her ares Land prices in two-thirds
of the state never reached a fictitious
figure. Over this vast area there is
still room for a substantial increase
In land values based only on the pro-
ductive capacity of the soil.
South Dakota Is one of the few ag-
ricultural regions In the middle west
In which the price OF land is still low
enough SO that the product of IN
average season will allow a reason
able return of interest on the invest
ment after paying all other expenses.
Many instances are known in the
central and western parts Of the state
where a single crop Of fax, corn. or
alfalfa seed has brought more than
the present cost of the land.
With the denser settlement of this
territory will come increasing land
values. The farmer OF a large part
of South Dakota has his ~"unearned
increment" still TO come to him, as
we'll as the returns from his constant
ly increasing yearly production.
He may have had a hard experience.
but there is no question but that he
will work out, and do so much sooner
than the farmer in states farther east.
where boom land values and war
w~fAzu Rr~A~A-L A. su1.-~fu~ 30 epoot-