NEW Yl)K» 



BUTMNICAL 



yAKUCM 



REPOKT OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 



Washington, D. C, November 15, 1922. 

 To the President; 



If financial rewards were measured out in proportion to the results 

 of honest, productive effort (unfortunately they are not always), 

 the farmers of the Nation would have little reason to complain of 

 their returns this year. In contrast with various other groups of 

 workers they have produced abundantly and without cessation. This 

 year the acreage of the 14 principal crops is about 337,000,000 acres, 

 which is 7,000,000 acres above the 10-year average, and but 1,000,000 

 acres below last year. Production of these 14 crops is estimated for 

 this year to be a total of about 265,000,000 tons, which is 11,000,000 

 tons above last year and above the 10-year average. This great total 

 is the result of long hours of hard work, aided by favorable weather 

 conditions. If the relationship between prices now was such as ex- 

 isted before the war, this would be a prosperous year for agriculture, 

 and consequently a prosperous year for the Nation. With the dis- 

 torted relationship of prices at the present time, the farmers, not- 

 withstanding their hard work and large production, find themselves 

 still laboring under a terrible disadvantage as compared with other 

 groups. There is food in superabundance, and this contributes to 

 the prosperity of business and industry for a time, but the inade- 

 quate return which the farmer is receiving, and has received for three 

 years, inevitably must result in readjustments in the number of peo- 

 ple on the farms and in the cities, which will not be for the continu- 

 ing good of the Nation. 



In my report last year I dealt at some length with the unfavor- 

 ,-Y^ able economic conditions affecting our agriculture, and pointed out 

 ^ particularly the greatly reduced purchasing power of the farmers, 

 ^^ who comprise about one-third of our population, caused by the decline 

 "^ of prices of farm products to below the pre-war level, while prices of 

 ^ most other things remained from 50 to 100 per cent above the pre- 

 U3 war level. Much of what was said in my report at that time applies 



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