Evening star., 1927-04-04
MIDWEST FARMERS
! ARE DOING NICELY
Idea of Prosperity Can Be
Gained From Spring Influx
of Store Customers.
BY j. G. R0YLE.
Special Dispatch 30 The star.

INDIANAPOLIS, April 4. -- Ade'
Quate methods Of transportation, prop
erly combined. are held responsible
for the volume of retail trade now
pouring into many of the Midwest
trade centers. Customers are being
drawn from the outside district TO
larger extent this year than ever be-
fore. Some of this attraction is due
to good roads and private automobiles,
but experts here say the larger portion
comes over the electric railway lines
and bus lines.
SO far as this city is concerned,
these two methods of transportation
are working together and supplement-
ing each other. When the bus iirst be-
came a factors this section went IN Tor
motor transportation extensively.
Both the busses and the interurban
cars were asked to do what they were
not intended to do. Today they are
operated in conjunction in many in
stances.
Opened New Customer Supply.
The busses are being used as feed
ers. and local merchants say they
have opened a new supply of custom
ers who hitherto had been unable TO
reach city stores advantageOusly, since
they were OFF the interurban lines.
Busses have supplemented infrequent
train service without injuring il.
With a transcontinental highway
running through the main business
street, Indianapolis has been subject
ed 10 traffic and parking difficulties.
Careful regulations have served TO
modify both. The use Of garages for
parking i'm the business district has
grown extensively and has been aid
ed by the providing OF driver service
by garage proprietors, who send for
their patrons car, store it and send
it back with their own drivers when
ordered.
There is no doubt as to the mone-
tary value of the new sources Of rev.
enue thus opened. Despite COM
plants as to the financial situation
of the farmer, buying power in the
great corn belt, which extends in
each direction from here, is tremen-
dous. 1t is true that corn prices have
been low and marketing corn has not
sufflced alone TO give the agrIcul-
turists an adequate return.
Live Stock and Dairying.
This section, however, like many
other progressive farm sections, has
turned to live stock and dairylng 10
build up profits and reserves. Ihe
results in many instances have been
astonishing. Instead of selling their
corn at so much a bushel, they have
sold it in the form of hogs, cattle,
poultry. butter, eggs. cream and
milk. and it returned highly satisfac-
tory prices. Also local packers are
doing a large and profitable business.
Some country bankers complain
that the value Of farm property has
not "come back" as was expected.
An indianapolis financier. in close
touch with the farm situation, coun-
fers this by declaring that values have
come back when owners have done
something to increase the value of
the land other than merely live on it.
Farming Now Business.
He asserts the day has gone by
when farming was a vocation or an
aVocation Now 1t is a business. AS
In every other business some succeed
and some fail under almost identical
conditions.
There is a general feeling in this
connection that proper adjustment of
the tax burden might offer the prompt
est relief from farm difficulties.
Stability is a watchword Of this sec
tion. and it is perhaps for this reason
that citizens of Indianapolis are so
thoroughly delighted over their indus
trial situation In the period before
and during the war Indianapolis had
nine separate concerns manufacturing
automobiles Today there are but
three But those three are turning
out more cars and disbursing more
in weekly pay rolls than were the
nine a decade ago. This also serves
to illustrate the trend of the automo-
bile business in general.