Evening star., 1925-12-07

| "A large, ina yorlly OF our inhabitants
were engaged in that occupation
They not only titled the soil, but they
| owned it. They not only directed the
Government, but they made 1t. The
fertile lands and generous homestead
laws under American institutions all
worked together to produce an en-
tirely new position of place and power
FOR agriculture. When there was add
ed to this the marvellous inventions of
farm machinery which have come into
| modern life it made it possible to es.
tablish here the first agricultural EN-
pire which did not rest upon an op.
pressed peasantry. This was a stu
pendous achievement.
Following this came the vast bust
ness growth which brought~- great
changes. The town and industrial pop
ulation for the first time began to ex-
ceed that of the farms. From the sur.
Plus or food products requiring for
eign markets we began to reach some
thing like a balance between domestic
production and consumption. Before
1910 so wise a man as James j. Hill
expressed the opinion that In the near
future we should be importers of
wheat
Under normal conditions Mr.. Hill
might have been correct, but the
World War intervened. The enor.
nous demand from abroad brought
the high prices which so stimulated
production that it reached a new rec.
ora In amount and value. Without
thls service, famine undoubtedly
would have prevailed over wide areas
IhlS resulted in a great imitation and
In an overproducetion, reaching its
summit in 1919, which was followed
by the inevitable deflation of 1920 and
1871. The best economic authority
tells us this was inevitable. Whether
1t was or not, it came. 1t afflicted
both agriculture and industry The
values of manufacturing plants and
their stocks on hand went down, their
orders were Cancelled, their operations
ceased, and the buying capacity of
their wage earners being greatly re.
duced, the consumption of food prod
uctS declined causing a fall in prices
that reached back to the farm. The
resulting losses have never been fully
recovered either in industry or agri.
culture, but starting from the low
point of 1920 and 1921 both have made
progress and from every indication
appear to be entering an era of pros
perity.
Suffered Drastic Deflation.
"It has seemed to me desirable to
consider thus briefly the developme mt
OF our American agriculture, in order
that by better understanding OF the
method of its progress and the posi-
ton 1t now holds we may better com
prehend its needs and better esti-
mate what the future promises for it,
Every one knows that the farmer,
who is often least able to bear it, went
through the most drastic defation.
Considered as whole, his position
has steadily improved since 1921 /
do not mean that land values or prices
have reached their former level That
was not to be expected. But l do
mean that, generally speaking, the
present business Of farming as a
whole is beginning to be profitable
OF course, there are. exceptions to be
made of localities, individuals and
crops. Some people would grow poor
on mountain of gold, while others
would make a good living on a rock
We cannot bend our course to NEE,
the exceptions, we must treat agri
culture as a whole, and if, as whole
it can be placed in prosperous con
dition the exceptions will tend to
eliminate themselves.
There have been discussions which
seem to indicate some fear that our
it has already reached its highest
point. and that, becoming Improbable
1t is likely to diminish. Nothing in
the appearance of the country or OF
its people as l have travelled over II
has seemed to indicate any deteriora
ton, nor do 1 find anything in the
farm census and reports that warrants
this conclusion
Some Population Decrease.
1T is true that there is an increas
| ing interchange of population between
the city and the country. With the
coming OF the automobile many of the
city people are moving out into the
country, and with the increasing use
OF machinery some of those formerly
employed on the farm have been re
leased for employment in the indus
tries. For the past Is years urban
population has been increasing, while
farm population and the number OF
| farms have slightly decreased This
has reversed the condition that existed
before that period. But this is only
part of the story.
The real question is not the mum
bers employed but the amount of pro
duction. If that should appear to be
inadequate to meet our requirements
for food and raw materials. if the
| morale of the farmers should be break
Ing down. the situation might be seri
| Gus. Such does not appear to be the
fact. In Intelligence, in education, In
the general standards of living, farm
life was never so well equipped as il
Is today. In the past As years, which
| roughly marks our great Industrial de
Velopment, the index number of pro
duction rose from 100 to 237, while
| that for population is estimated to be
but 226. Production has outrun pop
ulation, according to the statistics OF
the Harvard service. While the mum
| Der Of farms and people engaged ir
farming was slightly less in 1924 thar
| in 1910, production in 1923 and 1924
was ID per cent greater than in 1910
Fewer people but more production
means each person on the farm will
receive more.
Value of Products.
ut is not only production, however
but price that is important to the
farmer. The vaIue OF his produce for
1924, excluding crops fed to animals
was about S12.136, 100000 The esti
mates for the present year are about
the same.
This compares with $3,549, 900 .0OC
in 1900. According to estimates, the
huiiipoi VI pcopIe oll IdTllS IN 1873
was about 10 per cent greater than in
1900. The amount of money received
was about $50 per cent greater But
as the general price level of all com
modities had greatly advanced, meas
ured In purchasing power the amount
received was only. about 90 per cent
greater. This means that 110 per cen,
of people engaged in agriculture re
ceived 1870 per cent more in 1924 than
they did in 1900. While it is true that
there was a great decline in farm
prices in 1920 and 1921, and an even
greater decline in the purchasing pow