EIGHT
THE ALLIANCE HERALD, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16. 1921.
The Nation's Business
(A Series of Articles by National Leaders Published Ex-,
clusively in This Territory in The Herald.)
"The Goal of the Future Farmer," by II. C. Taylor, chief
of the Federal ISureau of Markets.
Editor's Note H. C. Taylor, chief
of the Bureau of Markets for the
United States Department of Agricul
ture, is both a scientific and "old
fashioned" farmer. While his yearn
of speciuliation and intensive study
have given him a wide background on
which to base theory and practice, he
has also undertaken the task of under
standing the actual conditions which
..confront the American farmer. He if
"recognized as one of the men who will
light the way for the American agri
culturist to a future of greater produc
tion and ever reducing overhead.
The' American farmer is now pass
ing though a barren and inhospitable
waste, a sort of Death Valley among
his landmarks. Having been through
such experiences before, we may con
fidently count on coming through, as
we always have in the pat, but we
are livinr in a fool's paradise if by
that token we hope to come out at the
same nlace we went in. We miirht as
well admit once for all that the "irood
old times" of American agriculture,
the free and easy times of cheap land,
continually advancing in price, are
gone forever.
The change 'of base was inevitable.
Henceforth, instead of an agriculture
conducted loosely, with one eye on the
Increment in land value, we must
have a tight and rational agriculture,
based upon sound agronomy and ani
mal husbandry, and a knowledge of
the cost of production and of market
conditions. Henceforth we must con
duct our farming operations so that
they will yield profits on a farming
basis, rather than as a side line in a
f peculative deal in real estate.
This being the situation, what of
the outlook?
Worst la Past
From the purely economic side the
outlook is dark enough, though there
. is reason to believe that the worst ia
now past. The consuming public
seems to have no conception of the
plight in which the farmer has been
left by the slump in farm prices. All
that tho consumer knows is that re
tail prices have not come down to
anywhere near the pre-war level, and
he may assume that the farmer is still
getting high prices, when, as a matter
of fact, ho is getting smaller net re
turns for his products than he got in
11)1.1, and in dollars that will buy only
about half as much per dollar as would
his 1913 dollars.
Take a concrete example. The U. S.
Department of Agriculture has made
on annual analysis of the business of
100 representative farms in cenntral
Ind'ana for the past eight year. In
15)13 the averajre net income of these
farms, the return for both labor and
capital, was $l,f03. In 1920 the net
income was only $1,2G9. However, this
falling oiT does not measure the actual
decline in the farmer's income, for in
1920 wholesale prices of commodities
other than farm products' averaged
more than two-and-a-half times as
hiRh as the corresponding prices in
1913. That is, it took at least (2.59
of this 1920 income to buy what a dol
lar would have bought in 1913. Con
sequently by over (200, and a dollar
shrunk to forty cents, the average
1920 income of the group of farms in
question would buy not more than
one-third as much as would the aver
age for 1913. On this basis, the situa
tion looks something like this:
1913:
Farm income
Buying power
1920;
Farm Income
Buying power
Since the current year, thus far, cer
tainly ha been no more favorable to
.he farmer than 'was 1920. we may
gain from the plight of these Indiana
farmers a fairly good idea of the
plight of the American farmer at
large. It should be borne in mind in
this connection that the above com
parisons are drawn on the basis of
wholesale prices, that the farmer cus
tomarily buvs at retail and sells at
whoesale, and that retail prices are
still relatively very much higher than
wholesale prices. It is also important
tn not that, thoueh wholesale prices
have fallen since 1920, the prices of
farm products have fallen mucn iar
w than those at other commodities,
With these facts in view, it is clear
that u-0 have not shown the condition
of these Indiana farmers in its worst
ihU asDect. Some farmers have
doubtless done better in the past year
and a half than have these men; many
especially in the South, certainly have
not done so well. On the whole, 1
thinV w mav say that the above is a
conservative statement of a represen
tative situation. - ' : .
Is it possible to glean any comfort
from such a situation i . . . :
From the strictly economic muu
point it takes very close study of the
price curves, and perhaps a bias to
ward optimism, to detect signs of im
provement, but it begins to look -as
thugh the farm price curve has dipped
as low as it is going on this swing.
More Optimistic. .
There is another point of view, how
ever, from which the outlook i3 more
definitely encouraging. If we turn for
the time from the cold, statistical
viewpoint, and consider the situation
from that of human life on the farm
in its relat'on to what we call eco
nomics, we find that the situation holds
promise strangely in contrast to the
present unhappy conditions. It may
sound paradox icated to say that the
economic crisis through which we are
now passing promises in the long run
to make for better farm homes and a
higher standard of living on the farm,
but there is an aspect in which our
preent loss seems to foreshadow de
cided gain in that respect.
We are all familiar with the farmer,
of that type so common in the past,
whose only idea of efficiency is to rob
the soil to the limit, and whose only
Idea of a way to use profits is to in
vest them in more land, and still more
land Strangely enough, this course,
which would seem to lead at least to
financial prosperity, serves to defeat
its own end. The continual effort to
invest farm profits in more land tends
to bid up the price of land beyond the
level justified, by' return from the
land, and thus to increase the cost of
production by increasing the charge
for the use of land. At the same time
the effort to Justify the Investment
tends to increase production, irrespec
tive of market demands. Thus we
have a vicious circle about which th :
farmer chases the will-o'-the-wisp of !
pront, only to nnd that his effort has
increased the price of land and lowered
the price of the products of the land
The day of this kind of farming is
about over. The farmer of the new
day knows that such tactics are those
of the dog chasing his tail; that in
effect they serve to put him in compe
tition with himself, and that they lead
periodically to agricultural depression.
He knows that farming Ls a funda
mental industry, that the laborer is
worthy of his hire, and that he is ens
uring upon an era in which sound
agronomy and sound business prac
tice must prevail over the haphazard
methods of the soil-exploitation era of
American agriculture. Knowing this,
he will realize that the steady now of
profit necessary to the successful pro
secution of his business and the hap
piness of his family will depend on the
way in which he gauges his produc
tion with reference to demand, and on
the efficiency with which he grows and
markets his products, rather than on
his skill or luck in handling real estate.
Slump Brings Good. '
From this viewpoint, at least, the
agricultural slump is not an unmixed
evil, since its tendency is to shake
but of the running the type of farmer
whose influence has tended to keep
down the prices of farm products and
, .i -i i . ? .
lower me sianuara oi iivinir on me
farm. To the progressive farmer, who
certainly has been hard hit by the
slump, this may seem poor consola
t.on now, but as the situation develops
it seems likely that the advantage will
swing more and more to his side. The
farmer who is fitted to cope with the
new situation ia the farmer who is
able to adjust himself promptly to the
new conditions, and who sees that, in
the long run, the cause of agriculture
and of rural life in general is served
by maintaining or raising the standard
of living on the farm, rather than by
using all surplus profit to bid up the
price of land when there are more
bidders than the profits of the soil will
justify.
. After all. better living ia the true
goal of the farming business. There
is no more biting commentary on our
modern life than that cynical aphor
ism to which it has given currency
"business is business." That business
should become "its own synonym," a.
some one has put it, is a shameful
thing, and the farmer who thinks of
the farmine business &a havinnr no
object beyond mere financial success
is in a fairway to miss the best tot
me. , ,
There is a great class of forward
looking farmers in this vicinity who
know better than that. We may rest
assured that these men, in working
out the vexing problems that the agri-
tultural slump has spawned, will not
be so foolish as to forget that the
question of the financial future of
American farming in inextricably con
nected with the question of better
living in the farm home and the farm
community.
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Over that distance 3"c
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McCorruick & Burnworth, Trops.
Phone 919 US Box Butte
FIRST FLAYED IN IRELAND
Croquet Made Its Way From That
Country to England, and From
Thence- to America.
The first treatise, on croquet that
came to our little village was by
Mnyne Reld. The hook was first pub
lished In London Ih 180.1; there was
a New York edition In 18G5; a rtnston
edition In 1SCO. , S-me of the bojs,
disdaining the mallets on sale, h&d
them made of fancy but heavy woods.
The first stakes were tall, thick, with
gorgeously colored rings to'roatch the
balls. The game encouraged flirtation
among the older players. Toung wom
en were coquettish In putting a foot
on- the ball and saw to It that they
were handsomely shod.
Was croquet a development of the
Dutch game, closh, or did It pass from
Brittany Into Ireland? It certainly was
played tn Ireland before It wa popu
lar In England, writes Philip Hale In
the Boston Herald. It has been stated
that it was playednear Dublin under
this name In 1S34-5. The game and
mime were Introduced Into Engr'and In
1S32. In 1S58 a writer In Field said
croquet came Into the north of Ireland
some twelve years before from a
French convent. Trollop?? Mr.
Cmslile played croquet In 1S02. In
1S77 an Ivory, turner of Iondon, one
Dickson, remembered having made a
set of croquet Implements for Ireland
forty years before.
The game went out of fashion In the
country when lawn tennis became the
rase. The men that persisted In cro
quet were suspected of being passion-;
tely addicted to soda lemonade. There
was at least a revival, with grand
tournaments and strutting champions.
Herkimer Johnson tells us that sum
nr cottagers at Clamport play as
Iduously even when It rains and th$
whacking of the wooden balls often
distracts him from the Investigation
of sociological problems.
? f P)
. Hpr ftr
a 92
Trinket Has History.
Elizabeth Irving, granddaughter ofj
Sir Henry Irving, and herself a taxw
rite of the English stage, wearies
charm which her distinguished Cn1
father always wore on the flndfnlght
of a new production. Theyctiann has
an Interesting history andf Is said t
have been worn by Mrs Slddoua and
When a
kind of a
know that
Invest!
red
JO.
rit,-tnd t
Tempus fugit,-&nd the up-to-date
youngster oi tpuay may be the old
fashioned man of tomorrow.
ap is In love with that
irl, at least two people
hair is auburn.
17
o
Is The Pub!
ic Buying
Many dealers, many manufacturers, will tell you
no. Hard times, no demand, buyers' strike it is an old,
old story. '
And yet
'The public is eating.
The public is working and playing. .
7 The public is clothed.
A man may wear his last year's overcoat turned.
But the day comes when it is beyond restoration. He
may have his old shoes repaired. But mended shoes
don't last forever.
He can put off buying just so long. Then he is forc
ed to buy. And it isn't a question of whether he will buy,
but how and where he will buy.
That is the situation facing the retail merchant to
day. The public IS buying. Not, it is true, as it bought
year or two ago. Not extravagantly or wastefully; but
carefully, thoughtfully. Buying so as to get the most
.for its moneq. , Buying by trade-mark buying through
advertising.
Advertising protects the buyer. It is his guaranty
of quality and his price protection. And because that is
true it is the most important factor today in influencing
public buying decisions.'
It is a wise merchant who recognizes that fact and
acts upon it Who advertises consistently today, not
only to swing , present-day sales but to clinch future
business. Who realizes that the man wearing half-soled
shoes today will be buying new shoes tomorrow, and
tnat advertising is going to determine wnose snoes ne
will buy when he does buy them. ; .
It is a wise merchant who definitely establishes his
name with a great buying group like the Alliance and
Box Butte county public through a medium whose 2,000
circulation, reaching many more readers, is the most
effective force in influencing the decisions of Alliance
and Box Butte county buyers.
ALLIANCE HERALD
First With Discriminating Buyers.
tors find that a woman can
XCSW finJ woman who i, titling 7
be clothe
for a year, tut can
' ... . : - I . " t
w r.-
