The Wilmington morning star., 1947-10-11
Babson Review,
Farmers Income
BY ROGER ". RApsn.

LAS NlCf
Yes, farmers are now n.L ~
big profits. The farmers A'n'
come skyrocketed from D 1s H.
lion dollars in 1945 to 10 on
lion dollars last year. II win OIL
over 20 billion dollars THE T'4 Os
notwithstanding the Door wear
crop. This compares v.i. So'N
prewar income of IL bi,bo,
lars or less. oo.-
But farmers are not hid.
up '""d values and borro"Na9
mo- as they did during WoMgg
War 1. Instead, they are "ollC
their profits to pay off m r1,as
cages, improve the farms 'U'l,
its buildings and build no b sna
accounts. Farmers bank oank
its and government bond N[poS'
chases last year are said pur'
have been about 20 million "
lars. Moreover, the instsIi.0 oo'
OF electricity, telephones
bathrooms has increased 0 WI.
per cent since World War 4"
This makes farming ans
the cover 100 billion dollar9 "
dustries when the land III
stock, machinery, crops s,
other investments are consiS al0
ed. This prosperity is most 90.
dent when one travels tbro,.
the country-as I have the ns s4
three Weeks-and sees how p pTJ,
the houses are painted; the s.
automobiles being driven .ns
the farmers ability to SONY
their boys and girls to coIleoa
Farmers are entitled to evsrm
cent they are making tod.,
The farmers profits should !.
judged by an annual sver. =.
over a business cycle of tvensv
years. When their profits Az.
figured in this way, farming i,
the poorest paid industry IN N,
world. Over a term of wears tbs
farmer works harder for a doI,
lar than any other class of men.
pie. For city people to complain
about present high" food pric.
eS is a crime. This ~esnacialln
applies to white-collar and IN.
ion labor which works onlv for.
ty hours a week in ~air-cooIp1
plants in summer, and well.
heated rooms in winter, all with
modern lighting and eonvenl
ences.
Food prices are high tcdsv
compared with prewar prices;
although not as high as wages
but again l say they should be
judged by their twenty year av.
erage. They will soon enough b,
low again.
Regular readers of nv col.
umn, know how l urged the pur-
chase of a farm in the 1905.
told you almost every month
that a small farm is the best
hedge against initiation along
with Religion, Health and Chi
dren. Now that farms are
double in value and farmers are
having the best of steaks, eggs,
milk and vegetables free
you wish you then had taken
my advice!
But if you then did not do
this, it is better now 10 wait
until the next slump comes
Now is the time to store up
money with which TO buy q
farm later. Keep in mind the
business cycle which has al
ways operated since the days Of
Pharaoh in Egypt when Joseph
was in charge of their OPA.
It is true that farmers profit
from initiation because Their
costs are pretty much fixed. Al,
though they need to pay more
for help and machinery during
good times, yet if the farm is
paid for, their chief interest is
in the rain, sun and weather
which treats everyone alike at
all lines. Hence, any increase
in the price of farm products
initiation is largely prof
it.
When, however, deflation
comes, the farmer suffers most
because he can do very little to
his costs. AS unemploy'
ment hits the cities, the workers
there have less to spend upon
meat; then the price of live
stock quickly falls; less grain
is fed to cattle, hogs, chickens,
etc; and this also knocks down
the price of corn, hogs and ev-
else. The farmers then
"hold the bag.
In the meantime, the only So
is for all of US to re-
examine our buying and living
habits to see where we al re-
duce waste, especially N the
case of food. Those who have
been consuming carelessly
should set an example for
use of our scarce resoufc'
es and goods during this peri
Cd, when many people tlnd II
increasingly difficult to puI'
chase what they really need
Copyright, 1947, Publishers
Financial Bureau, Inc