Evening star., 1932-01-17
Farmer Discovers His Luck
BY FREDERIC J. HASkIN.

The American farmer is in better
position in relation to other citizens of
the United States than almost any one
else. according to the view of the De-
partment of Agriculture. This is not
| due to any economic gain which has
accrued to him in the last year, but
because of the heavy drop suffered i'll
! the economic status Of urban dwellers
For years the farmer has had scarcely
any money, due to the long-drawn out
decline in farm prices. Now the city
| worker finds himself without money
and without sufficient work. The ad-
vantage of the farmer in this situa-
! ton is that he has place to live
through the Winter and enjoys the
elemental necessities of food, fuel. and
shelter. There are no bread lines on
the farms, but plenty of bread. There
are no flop houses, no missions provld-
ing an occasional nights shelter in the
rural districts, but there are comfort
able farm houses in which fires roar
in fireplace and old iron stove
The farmers automobile has been
laid up in indefinite storage and so has
his tractor. There is no monev with
which to buy gasoline and little use
to 60 anywhere, for there Is no
money to spend. Old Dobbin has been
put into the shafts once more for the
long drive to the general store or tne
post Office 1t costs nothing to PROVIDE
fuel for Old Dobbin.
So the farmer has finally come into
his own and there Is in the United
states TODAY a situation more nearly
approaching that of pioneer days than
has obtained in many generation.
Although he has no money, ne mas
what his pioneer forbears had-that Is
the land, the farmstead and the I'VE
stock. His granaries have been SO 1ul
that the price of grain has fallen too
low to be profitable, but that very 1act
, spells plenty in terms OF simple Iooo.
He is not like many city dWeller whose
next meal is dependent on the bounty
of some charitable organization.
Less Money-More to Eat.
The harvest of 1881 was 10 per cent
greater than that of 1880, In spite OF
the fact that 2.6 per cent less land was
harvested Most crops were bumper
ones. This circumstance gave further
impetus to the turning g-around OF the
economic situation. The big crops mean
lower prices, but more to eat.
The 1880 crop brought to the farmer
a total of S5,819,000, 900. The 1881 har-
vest brought only s4,123,0 900, in spite
of the 10 per cent increase in volume;
Carrying the money figures back still
another year. it is found that the money
brought In by the last harvest was only
one-half Of the sum realized only two
years ago.
Most Of the meat is slaughtered in
the first 10 months of each year. 1t Is
shown by Federal inspection figures that
during the first 10 months of 1881
slaughter amounted to 10,S34, 900 600
pounds. In the same number of months
of the previous year the slaughter
amounted to 10,759o00 900 pounds. But
for the larger volume killed in 1881 the
farmer received only 81, 900,
while for the smaller poundage OF the
previous year he received 1883 900 0o0.
So it Is seen that in the matter OF meat
the story has been the same-that Is,
less money but more to eat.
Cattle prices dropped from an aver
age Of Ss.78 per 100 pounds live weight
in 1880 to $3.50 per 100 pounds in 1881,
while the decline on hogs was from
ss.68 to $657 and on sheep and lambs
from $3.50 to s7.36.