Evening star., 1925-09-05
ARTICLE vi.

To increase business prosperity
something must be done to make the
farmer more prosperous. This seems
almost elementary, yet hardly per
cent of the business men of the
United States who have contributed
their answers to your correspond
ents question, How can we attain a
greater degree of prosperity" have
reckoned the farmer in the picture at
all.
THE chief thing needed to increase
business prosperity hereabouts," says
Don V. Stephens, president of the
Fremont (Nebr.) State Bank, "iS a
good crop prospect and a good crop
later. We can't have prosperity
without producing a crop, as Ne
braska is a strictly agricultural State
and has nothing to sell except the
production of her soil"
That is the answer, too, that comes
from Iowa. 1.-The Midwestern coun-
try" says A. F. Dawson, president
of the First National Bank of Daven-
port, Iowa, needs a good crop to
restore the buying power of the
farmer"
President Stephenson of the South
Bend Qnd.) Loan and Trust Co. adds
his voice to those who consider the
farmers plight as essentially a part
of the prosperity picture. Until
such time as there are abundant
crops that sell for reasonable and
adequate compensation" he writes,
"the prosperity we all hope for will
not be in sight"
Need of Stable Basis.
Western and Midwestern rail
roads. whose revenue comes in large
part from the products of agriculture,
are keenly alive to the necessity OF
increasing agricultural well being.
l.. w. Baldwin, president of the Mis-
souri, Pacific Railroad Co., puts it this
way
Agriculture needs to be placed on
more stable and prosperous basis,
and this, of course, involves a stabili-
cation of the export market situation.
Our railroads, likewise, are greatly in
need of stabilizing influences, espe-
cially with respect to rates, because
that will enable them to work out not
only their problems of finance, but
also their programs for Improvement
Il think it goes without saying that
when agriculture and the railroad
transportation industry are placed on
sound and prosperous basis, the rest
of the country is certain TO enjoy a
full measure of prosperity. 1t is hard
" y
on conditions as a whole when nearly
80 900 900 people on $500, 600 American
farms are prosperous.
THE potential purchasing power OF
this large percentage of our total citi-
zenship exercises so important an in
fluence on business conditions and is
so widely understood that it does not
seem to need discussion. In a gen.
eral way that applies also to the rail-
roads. In addition to the 100000
wage-earners employed on the rail-
roads, there are about 100000 other
persons in allied industries who are
more or less directly dependent for
their prosperity on the prosperity of
the railroads.
Using the accepted averages these
8 900 900 workers represent approxi-
mately 100000 of our population,
and between the two groups almost
one-half of the population of the
United States is represented.
Cities Depend on Farms.
Closely linked with the farmers in
the circle of fortune are the meat
packers. They. like the rural banker
and the agricultural railroad, see the
need for increasing prosperity down
on the farm before there can be gen.
eral prosperity in the CITY, Stabiliza-
ton OF foreign markets appeals might