The Bozeman courier., 1925-05-13
Bankruptcy Increased 500 Per-
cent and No Relief in Sight
Metropolitan Press Stories
Misleading
(COntinued frOm Page onel

AOOuLnueu 1IUU rage Ouck 4
classes, with its attendant distress"
Next, Mr.. Lowden dissected the fall
lacious reasoning of the city folks
when it comes to Judging the farm
problem from their economic stand
ards. According to the classical
economists of a century ago, he exc
plained,-and our political economy
today is based largely on its teach
ings-the competitive principle is the
all powerful and controlling factor
in the business world. They deducted |
from this the "iron law of wages"
under which wages never could rise !
above the point of bare subsistence.
Under the new law labor was doomed
forever to a life little above that Of
the beasts of the field.
"They now see that the iron law
of wages has gone into the discard
said Gov. Lowden, Former Presi-
dent Hadley of Yale, one of the fore
most economists of his time, says:
Those of US who were brought up on
the old fashioned text books of politi-
cal economy can hardly conceive how
small a part of the prices or wages or
rents have actually been determined
by competitionp , We are coming to
learn that unrestricted competition is
a form of warfare. Whether among
the nations of the world for larger
armaments, or among the producers
of useful commodities, it has been
found to entail losses to society far
beyond the benefits it has conferred" :"
High Prices, No Crops.
Illustrating his point Gov. Lowden
called attention to the recent state
ment issued by the department Of
agriculture on the estimated value Of
farm crops for last year which was
heralded in the cities as another proof
that the farmer had come into his
own, for it was found that the total
value of farm crops for the year was
three quarters OF billion dollars in
excess of the value of the crops the
year before. Welcome news-but the
corn crop was 20 per cent smaller
than the crop of the preceding year.
The total value however, exceeded
that of the preceding year by two
hundred million dollars. The quality
of the crop was far below that Of the
preceding year.
"And yet under a marketing sys-
tenn, which it is claimed is one Of the
most noteworthy achievements of this
commercial age, the smaller crop of
inferior corn was worth more in the
market than the large and superior
crop Of the year before"
Then Gov. Lowden proceeded to
show how the farmer is caught on
the horns of his marketing dilemma.
"The cause of this lesser and in.
ferior crop was cold, wet summer
he said. 'It was a summer disastrous
for corn, but very favorable for th'
growth of grasses. There was there
fore an increase in the production o.
milk with the result that something
like a hundred million pounds NOR
Of butter was produced in 1924 thai
in the year before. This was onE
five per cent of the total annual pro
ductiOn Of butter, but it created
surplus of two and half per cent
and this resulted in a decrease in tn
price of butter from twenty to twer
ty-five per cent. And the price c
butter, let it be remembered, largel
controls the price of all dairy prC
ducts.
Same Juggling in Cotton.
Last summer the cotton crop, pa
ticularly in the southwest, was su
fering severely for lack of rain. Al
then one day the heavens opened al
the rain descended. AS a result Il
government which before had esi
mated the crop at twelve million for
hundred thousand bales, increased t
estimate to thirteen million bale
This was an increase of less than fl
per cent in the yield. And yet, b