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Show It's YOUR Business By Carl L. Biemiller . A new feature column entitled ' It's Your Business," by the crack newspaper and magazine writer, Carl L. Biemiller, begins this week in the Herald. The column will deal with the changes and trends affecting ev- en man, woman and child as thei country changes from two war fronts to one, as servicemen are gradually discharged and as the country prepares for peace. The author travels all over the country to gather his material, keeping one ear tuned to Washington Wash-ington for latest developments and he will prepare a weekly roundup of things readers want to know. His first article begins today as follows: Although 4,500,000 farm people peo-ple have left home acres for uniform uni-form or war work, demand for rural property; is tremendous. Those who remember the foreclosures foreclo-sures and sheriff sale riots of the "Thundering Thirties" are beginning begin-ning to fear another disastrous land boom. , A Dept. of Agriculture survey 1935-1939. Prices paid by city showed farm values have risen 42 per cent above the average in dwellers and war workers for "that place in.' the country" are far out of line -with what the ground can produce. And these two classes of buyers account for about one-third of farm purchases. Land values increased 15 per cent during 1944. This increase was higher than any on record except for 1919-1920. And it is sad history that farmers who bought during that period went into debt in the years of low product pro-duct prices. Many lost their farms became tenant croppers, or were reduced to living standards, they wouldn't keep the livestock on. Danger Point Reached . . . The Secretary of Agriculture says "the fever of rural land inflation in-flation has reached the danger point in many areas." Of course, the bait is increased farm income. According to the Federal Reserve Bulletin, both total to-tal cash income and net income to farm operators in 1942 were higher high-er than any prior year. Compared with war year 1917, cash income was up 50 per cent, net to operators, opera-tors, 35 per cent. Even assuming commodity prices pric-es will be higher after the Jap joins the Nazi in the dust, it is not smart business to use war income to . determine the prices of land which will have to be farmed in peacetime. The red light of inflation is growing. We hope it shines in the I eyes of those war workers who are planning to get a living from a farm if times are hard. And we hope it is seen by the men on the business end of the plow for, after all, it's the farmer who has to live with and cope with farm conditions. |