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Show "WHAT GOES UP" Land Prkcs Sosiir WORLD WAR I 141 1MB IS IS 1420 IH'l 10 80 70 J0 ) 20 -- "t 100 WORLD WAR EL IW mi IS44 IS4-5 Wb IS47 v 80 ;tV- 70 J- I I bO -i 40 j- 30 4- 20 -U , y 100 WNU fCATURIS 1 1 1 1 1 1 Released by WNU. Is speculative ownership of land becoming the "No. 1 Enemy" of future farm prosperity? pros-perity? Are land prices due to tumble as they did after World War I? Will the cost of land go so high that the farmer farm-er cannot make a profit? These are questions that are being asked from California to Maine. Land prices have already soared 71 per cent above the 1935-39 averages. aver-ages. They are approaching the boom levels that followed World War I. Many bankers are frankly worried lest the crash and deflation of the early 1920s be repeated. Government figures show farm land prices during World War II more than doubled in Indiana, Norlh and South Carolina, Caro-lina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado Colo-rado and Wyoming. Increases of more than 90 per cent have been recorded in Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas and Montana. For the country as a whole, farm real estate values have Jumped 13 per cent in the past year. From the beginning of World War I to the inflation peak in 1920, land prices jumped 70 per cent. Prices at the start of World War II were LAND PRICES . . . Went up during and after World War I and then came tumbling down. Prices have not gone as high In World War II as before, but they are soaring. These charts show same trend as In 1914 to 1920. lower than in 1914, but the increase in-crease this time is already 71 per cent, although the actual prices are not yet at the 1920 peak. Higher Land, Less Profit. Farm sales are continuing at the high level they attained during 1945. The number of farms resold after a limited period of ownership has increased, indicating speculation. Farmers who have a "yen" to acquire additional acreage, says a statement by the Middle West Soil Improvement committee, commit-tee, should bear in mind that the higher the cost of land goes, the harder it Is to show a profit, even at present prices received for crops. "With sons home from the war (and with more and better farm ma chinery in immediate prospect, many farmers figure it would be a profitable move to work much more land than heretofore," the statement state-ment points out. "If they will remember re-member the bitter aftermath of World War I's land boom, when food prices were even higher than they are today, they will see the hazards of such a move. "Sooner or later the present world food emergency will be solved and the mammoth demand for American Ameri-can food products will end. Then American farmers will have to compete com-pete in world markets. The only way they can do this successfully Is to produce crops at a lower cost per unit. In such a program, the steady use of fertilizer containing nitrogen. phosphorus and potash will be a major ma-jor factor. More bushels per acre can, and will, mean more food from less land. Increase Yields, Not Acres. j "The wise farmer will be the one who does not buy more land, but who increases the crop-yielding capacity ca-pacity of his present acreage by soil improvement measures. He will study the most practical uses of plant food. He will consult agronomists agrono-mists at state college and agricultural agricul-tural stations for the most effective methods of fertilizer application, the analyses best suited to his particular par-ticular soil and crop conditions and the quantities to use." This advice to farmers to improve im-prove their present holdings rather than to acquire greater acreage, was corroborated by the committee commit-tee on farm land prices of the American Amer-ican Bankers association which urged member banks to admonish would-be farm buyers "go slow," to discourage borrowing to speculate specu-late in farm lands, and to tell veterans vet-erans of "the hazards inherent in excessive land prices." "Country bankers," a committee spokesman said, "are fully cognizant cog-nizant of the dangers inherent in the present farm land price situation. They are urging farm owners now to reduce their debt and to plan savings sav-ings for farm improvement during these years of high income, because when conditions, return to normal and American agriculture is in competition com-petition with other countries for world markets, it is probable that farm earnings will not support prices at current levels." i -y '? - I " ! - 'V J f - - 1 I f " !' M - A - t 'J I t i " 4 f, - ? ' ' '1 - i r ' , 1 I . - " f ' ' " -f ; ' ' I i . M i ,U ' I i: i I ' 1 ' i, ' " J CHECK LADDER ... To prevent farm accidents, the National Safety council warns those who use ladders to set the base firmly firm-ly about one-fourth of the ladder's height from the wall or tree, and grasp the sides not the rungs as they climb up. |