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Show CONDITIONS TO BE BETTER DURING 1924; Dr. L. D. H. Weld, of Swift & ' Co., Is Main Speaker at Farmers' Conference. There will probably be no great boom in 1924, but conditions will be fairly good, according to L. D. II. Weld, director research division, ! Swift & Co., the great Chicago meat 1 packers, who addressed the fanners' fann-ers' conference at the leadership i exercises at the Brigham Young ! university on Monday. "There is no question but the farmer has had serious troubles, ! but the situation has been exaggerated.' exagger-ated.' said Mr. Wold in beginning his discussion of the agricultural , outlook. The wheat farmer had certainly cer-tainly had a hard time of it, he said, but the dairy farmer had had a fine time. The prices of his t ! products had been on a parity with manufactured products. The poul- I I try and egg raiser had likewise i been well off -during the past two j years. Corn had been abundant and cheap and hogs had brought a good price, a situation which had made . hog culture profitable. During the : past two months corn had increased in price, making hogs less profit- I able. j The sheep raiser, contended the 1 packing house statistician, has not j i much to complain of. Prices began going up during the latter part of 1921 on account of the high price of wool. j In analyzing the causes of agricultural agri-cultural depression, the speaker gave four causes, large crops in other countries, Europe's inability to buy, high cost of production in the United States, and high freight rates. In addition there was a gen- J eral fundamental reason, the productions pro-ductions of the farm had been relatively rela-tively greater than - those of the factory. Mr. Weld believed there would be a general improvement in the situation, situa-tion, depending primarily on two things, improvement in general business conditions and,- a more hopeful foreign situation - -.r .. he explained, goes in cycles, not ot any definite length, but averaging about forty mouths. The high peak of prosperity came in 1919-20 nnd a great depression came in 1920-21. But don't think it has been easy sledding for all the manufacturers. manufac-turers. The leather industry has lost forty million dollars in the last two years, due to (he lack of market for the enormous stock of leather on hand. There was general prosperity in 1922 and early in 1923. since which there has been a general .slump. During the last two months business busi-ness has begun to pick up a little. The speaker believed the depression depres-sion was of a temporary character, nnd conditions would be fairly good in 3924. Europe will probably not have a great purchasing power in the near future, but will show some improvement. The dain- and poultry industries will probably remain re-main good. In regard to sheep and Iambs, the speaker was uncertain. They have been at a high level as compared with cattle and hogs, and lie felt there was danger of a slump in prices. "If I were in the sheep and lamb business I would be eonserva I i ve in my buying' he cautioned; "1 would not do any plunging." |