Show boom in farm prices and rapid turnover fears collapse will follow peace memory of drop after world war I 1 still Is vivid to many farmers when GI in joe e comes back to his farm home from the war he may find a lot of new f faces gd around the neighborhood and he may miss a lot of the 0 old id lam familar it 8 r one ones th the family amy bup up the ro road d me may have moved bag a and nd baggage to oregon A new 0 owner may be tilling the bottom lands on the back eighty rural america is IB on the move forms farmers I 1 like their city cousins sans like have halt ben been shifting flung their b base e of operations erat evat ions atell at an ever increasing te tempo P in the months month since pearl a I 1 H harbor harbar more farms are changing hands this year or than n of at say any b time in the past part generation they are charging changing for scores of reasons but back a of f almost 1 a t eve every ry sale is the c chance h once b to strike pay dirt to realize reale a profit an the old aid b homestead on d mary many far farm folks ar are e frankly con berned orned over this trend thy they or are e troubled n not nt so mu much about t t the hi mi gration as e they th ry or are about the e steady sd increase in m farm real estate they tear fear that the long threat tried ened land inflation is 11 under d r way and they are re kag asking t themselves trosel veit will the old cycle of boom and bust bast be repeated every previous war has brought its a own land boom that left a wr wreck eck age of deflation behind the 1 col I lapse of the speculative one era to follow ill 1 ing world war I 1 is painfully f fresh re ih in the memory of many a farmer fame r midwestern land prices climb 18 in year ri a jd J d the bath 18 federal reserve district which incle a iowa kit hig and northern of indiana and filmdom 1 iv symptom symptoms a are already evident sug gosling that history could repeat itself in world war 11 II unless brakes see are applied to the fast moving up surge in farm land buying F for to stance instance land values have ve r ns s ajer lj er en as 3 38 g per cent above their 1935 35 3 39 a average ver age and or are already up t to too per cent of at their pre corid rl p W war I 1 levels farm sales during 1943 were at a record volume surpassing even n the previous high reached in 19 1919 I 1 sales in 1944 are forging abbad ahead of last years record P plenty ll 11 ty of money messy floating three s facto factors r a are believed to be de broo immediately bitely responsible for the urge to acquire additional holdings I 1 both farm farmers and nord have large id and increasing anig funds fund available table for far land purchase 2 present high income and the rosy may prospect of more to come make the par purchase of 1 farms farm seem at especially 7 attractive not net only to farmers bu but city dwellers as well S long term credit at low law interest miss land and rates makes it easy to acquire S speaking of income nearly early 20 bil U lion dollars 19 to be ex se act t flowed into farmers p pockets from t ren the he 1843 1943 bumper r harvest last Y years ear t total ta we was roar more than the four t tunes c the lowenb depression income of 4 billion it dollars liars in 1938 it t was about 37 50 flo ollif in ex excess s of i tb the 1942 lots lota when operating costs at hi including chiding m taxes ut Ot terest erest wages for labor in machinery a hi m e ry and other items tem are am deducted farmers were left with a sp endab income that was al most double that or of on 1939 mean while the lost at of 01 living had ad danced only one fourth U S department ot commerce estimates ti onate of individual savings aidi rate cate an aw increase rease of 7 5 billion do dol lars tor for 1940 to 36 billion ion 1943 A very large part of these soloist savings is at in hi highly ahl hl Y liquid assets of currency and d b bank s k deposits deposit whenever er an industry does data as well wall as A far farming in h has 11 done there is a ten deru dency to speculate p ecart those already dy art ui in the business seek to expand their r operations operation 0 others ris seek to get e in n on the good thing ft g and elk thus u a spiral SP aral in ing 9 boom can be bore bom in the mid midwestern area ame comaris ing g the seventh federal feder reserve district atrit for instance which may be considered fairly representative it is estimated that farm lead land prices ii have halt risen about 17 per celt cent between april 1941 and it april lita 1944 from in the beginning of the year or until april 1 the advance has ahen been about 2 per cent Themer the increases easm have albeen been largest in indiana illinois and la iowa we in which states the per cent a of f purlar purchases ch 0 ic by city invest investors om was larg al est t being 30 to in 37 per cent of all lf a sales it is true that former farmers he have abeen been u using 9 much u h of f their e 1 larger er incomes I 1 to buy bay bonds d and nil to pay off debts the steadily dacre decreasing aag lot volume u a of farm fam mortgage ge debt NI is evidence idne a of this trend but now reports indicate ad that heavier debts are am frequently quent 1 y being assumed when farms a are r rb bought 0 aught this is especially true c of t tenants who are buying on can contract or 1 with relatively small down payments all sorts of buyers surveys by county comfy banks bank adu indicate ate that all types of farm buyers buyer are now in the market tenants are acquiring their own farms owners are expanding their pres present e al units or are taking on an additional ional acreage perhaps for sons now in the iier service vic eve even n large e commercial form farms in some a instances are changing hands at mcrea increasing sing prices local business and professional people and city investors bent beat on an hedging against inflation or higher income text taxes are buying land wat war plant workers too are am making purchases expecting to turn to farming who when their nou munitions irions lobs jobs are ended all aff these n conditions are cremins e cent of what occurred in world war lent I 1 for far that too to w was a a story of agn gri c cultural up upsurge rge farm income rose ose from 6 billions in 1914 to 14 1414 b billions in 1919 high prices and a r ready dy market for agricultural products plus easy credit facilities encouraged cauro cou raged ged farmers to bid up land prices farms were bought on speculation p 1 with the expectation of a quick am sa sale il 1 at 1 a profit to fi t lead land values value were in inflated f ed from an average of 40 an acre in 1914 94 to 70 1 in 1920 W within t hm those six years year a farm rea real I 1 esta estate is rose in total value from 39 billion dollars to 66 billions the sequel was a his history tory making crash land prices fell from an average of 70 an acre to 2 28 more or than thea third of the rations nations six mil ala lion im farms were foreclosed by the end of the depression all ali form farm land end and buildings declined in value from 66 billion to 31 billion it is natural that people today fear that the same thing aill j happen all 11 over gain again As a result t some me agricultural I leaders already are urging legislative controls some same of these are drastic some milder proposals range all the way ati from n re a of at landi landowning g privileges legs I 1 in n some c cases to credit control and ad h heavy eavy fe federal eral capital gains taxes bie dangerous dangerous remedies lest last the remedies be as fatal fatai a as the disease they are designed to cure however farmers were re bently t 1 urged cd by ray bay barric i editor of capper C a apu pe r a farmer to look look carefully or f into the these prop proposals I 1 their un im and what she else may be I 1 p proposed in the future before on en dorsing doming them T the h a land boom of the first world war and its awful consequences consequence throughout 20 years year have halt been red cred tied by some t to unwise s land load avae ownership policies he debited declared up of prices with the e second 1 I world war love have engendered n the I 1 ear that anath another boom b was w in I 1 the miss mak fag and an d that its consequences T q cries would be the same as the first buyers have been warned repeatedly peat edly still reports of advancing prices multiply some belief holds hold 1 a that voluntary onto ry act action would li be e ineffective so legislated mit remedies 1 I are proposed most drastic proposal is the permit system advocated by william G murray of iowa and others it would require a prospective purchaser to appear before befar a board and an it show how reason why he h should be tilled allowed till ed to buy a farm is it the board found him an unfit p person ea man to own land or like his attitude it apparently could turn him down no permit would be awarded before the land had be been appraised limited loans another proposal is credit c cintron arol first provision ourn is that no loans loan should exceed 50 per cent of the value ol of the land presumably valus value ghisi would Is uld be established establish c it by appraisal such a regulation might be legislated and it might stick presumably ingnal su I 1 Y also Is I 1 lending end ing agencies graci would establish a policy ey of refusing to I 1 lend nd to men who paid long prices an apin approach c h to this is already in effect the land banks bank mortgage trust and minimum insurance carn companies pinne have been duic discouraging aure or borrowers both from paying big too much and from borrowing bora too much of the a purchase cf th price but they don t have hale any control over folks who are prepared to pay P cash sh or the private monay lender e r who is willing to take a long ng willing t ake X chance for a high later interest t rt rate or the owner who can finance his own sale it mildest of or these piro proposals poss is to impose a stiff federal capital gains tax such a bill was placed before congress by senator gillette of iowa it is directed at speculators by P providing drag a to tax amounting to 90 per cent of the profits it if the land is resold before the end of two years each ea h year thereafter the tax to would be decreased until the end it of six a years when none would be levied it there is no doubt as to the class clas of I transactions which the lem legislation bitio is intended to c urb curb but would a in farmer IT who wa was s ob obliged ailed I 1 to sell oil within 1 th the limits specified be subject to th the to tax all the schemes thus far advanced a tern seem to b be c pointed led toward keeping the buyer from making a fool of himself but ot of course every sale must haw have two parties so the man who wants wa ants to t quit farming faur in ing the man who wants ar n to to a retire m t ire on proceeds from sale of his land the fellow who wants to sell and mow move elsewhere the e widow who has been ban hanging m on until she she can ae get i the family equity out intact the n non operator who is sick of wrangling with ten ants a and nd who has b been ven longing forging for the time when he can an ge get t out and saw save his shirt rill all these welcome the upturn opium of fir prices ce now lots lot of in farmers wim w who their have n no desire to sell who think I 1 hn k their troubles ft b ae are caused by folks they the y dont believe should be allowed to t own land applaud these the proposals prop s al and they may be right right but it will be well to look into the them 1 I their imph implications what els else e may be proposed in the future before endorsing doming them have this count country can have control of land and sales and purchase in two ways first by doing nothing second on d b by Y w whooping h mining it up for the proposals cammers farmers will be more vitally vitaliy affected than any other group if they want a federal fe deral agency empowered to say who ho may own land 1 or 11 they can have it it if they dont doni care they can have it anyway a Y w forms forces sponsoring the change chang en in land policy will diee to that but if farmers dont want or it they may be able to forestall it by protest |