OCR Text |
Show AGRICULTURE TO BE GOOD Twelve months ago most of the six million farmers of the United States were starting on the long, hard climb out of the valley of economic depression. depres-sion. They have not yet attained1 the heights which are bathed in the grateful sunshine of prosperity. Some, indeed, have fallen by the way. Others are still in the valley. Nevertheless, as we stop a bit and lo?k backward we can see that very considerable ground has been gained hy the great majority, and we can enter the New Year with renewed hope and with that courage which comes from the realization that we :T6 really making progress. A year ago, when speaking of the prospects for farming in 1922, I said that while there was a reason to ex-I ex-I ect boom timeB for the farmer in the near future, there-was promise of i etter times, both for the farmer and for those whose business is largely Tependent upon him. The yar has Irought fulfillment of that promise. :'.peaklng generally, times are better, l mch better, than a year ago, both tor agriculture and for industry. Crops have been good, on the ' hole. Prices of the major crops are v-.ostly considerably 'highen. While fiere has been a corresponding advance ad-vance in the prices of the things the i':rmer must buy, the total sum .hich farmers will receive for the rvops of this year is greater by a bil-!'on bil-!'on and a half dollars or morethan 1 'tat which they received for the crops c i last year. This will certainly ; ean better times on the farm, and firm folks will be able to ease up a little on the grinding economy they iro forced to practice the preceding preced-ing year. The labor pst of producing the ops of 192 2 was still further reduced. re-duced. There were some substantial reductions in freight rates. Much ' rlpful legislation has been enacted : '.id more will be this winter. Inter-i Inter-i t rates are lower and the credit r rain has been eased. This has made i' possible for many farmers who v. :re rather heavily involved to refund re-fund their obligations and get thom-s thom-s 'ves Jn condition to win through. There are still some dark spots. In feme sections weather conditions vcre unfavorable and crops were s!:ort, and farmers In these sections are having a very hard time of it. Freight rates are still too high, especially es-pecially for those who must pay for a long haul to market. Taxes are high, but this is largely due to the Increase In local taxes, over which farmers themselves must exercise control. There has been gratifying growth in fnners' cooperative marketing associations, as-sociations, and more of them are being be-ing organized on a sound business basis. ba-sis. Aside from the help which has been given by legislation and by administration adminis-tration activities, strong economic forces are at work to restore a more normal relation between agriculture ind other industries. The peril in the agricultural depression de-pression is more keenly realized by other groups than ever before, and on every hand a sincere desire is being be-ing evidenced to do what can be done safely to help the farmer better his condition. Everything considered, we have i good reason to expect still better i things for agriculture in the year i 1923. |