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Show PROSPERITY OF THE FARMER. Secretary Wilson of the department of agriculture agricul-ture ia in a position to know the relative prosperity of the farmer of today and the farmer of bygone days. And his conclusion i3 that the farmers of the United States are much better off now than they ever have been. However, he bases his conclusions con-clusions upon the whole country, and not on the conditions whioh prevail in limited sections. No doubt there are many farmers in the womout fields of the east and middle west whose profits are no greater now than they were several years ago, and some whose accounts show an ever-increasing deficit. defi-cit. It was one of these latter in Ohio who entered en-tered his protest at the figures of the secretary, claiming no profit resulted from the operation of his farm. His figures were, briefly, these: He planted plant-ed a bushel and three-quarters of wheat to the acre, drilling in about $3 worth of fertilizer. He got an average yield of 14 bushels to the acre. After counting count-ing the labor of plowing, sowing, harvesting, threshing thresh-ing and marketing his product, there was a deficit. Ergo, the secretary of agriculture was wrong in his estimate of the prosperity of the farmers as a class. If conditions similar to thi3 exist in the east generally, it mu3t be that the western farmers ara getting a handsome profit from the operation of their farms. Certain it is that if the eastern fanners fann-ers are not making good money, and the general condition of the farmers is one of prosperity, the western farmers must be getting a lion's share of the good things of the agricultural world. A Salt Lake man with very little previous knowl- I edge of farm work went to a ranch near Bahl, on j the Twin Falls tract, in southern Idaho, several t years ago, where he has enjoyed an outdoor life, J taken on the ruddy glow of health, and has made enough on hoga to pay for his land and leave a com- j fortable balance in the bank besides. He probably j has had to work pretty hard during the time he was raising his hogs, but his appearance testifies to his enjoyment of that work. Nor is his case an isolated one. Men who have taken up land under irrigation projects in the western country are generally mak-ig mak-ig more than good. The secretary of agriculture is sure the farmers are better off now than they ever were before. The eastern farmer we have quoted says it i3 not true m his case. The conclusion is inevitable that the farmers of the west are doing very welL indeed. |