Paf>e Eighteen 



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THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Farm Real Estate Values Average 



Slightly Lower Than Last Year 



FARM real estate values as ot Match 

 I. 1^30, show a cit'clinc ot about 1 

 per cent below the preceding year, as a 

 nation-wide averai;c, the lUueaii ot 

 Agricultural 1 ciinoniics annouiK'ed re- 

 cent!\'. 



\I.iMK. Conn/^iii. 111. W \uiiiiii;;. C.cio- 

 laJo. i\e\v Mexico antl (.)reuo!i each 

 showed .'. sniai! increase in values tor 

 '.l;e \e.i:'. IKchnes are reported t.ir al! 

 ■ ■liier stales. notabK in the Nhddle Ai 

 I imic, I .1st Xorih t entral. West North 

 ( eniral and Soutli Atlantic j;roups. 



The bureau's index of real estate val- 

 ues is based upon the average ol the 

 prewar \e.irs, 1912-H. It shows that 

 values readied !/(• per cent of the pre- 



Farm Real Estate: Estimated Value 

 age Value, by States, March 1, 

 Average Value in 



war average m I'^Jii, but ili.ii b\ the 

 \ear I'^'J^i values were onl\ -~ per cent 

 .ibove pre-war, and that mikc then the 

 ilow nward trend has c<iiit;p.u <.'. hui 

 values have not ilechneil so i\-.;JI>. 

 Tiie indcN tor Mar^h i. ;''>.' 

 [il.iced at I I 'i per cenl fi i!-. pr.-v\.:.- 

 .neraged, conipirev.1 with i 1 (. p. r cm 

 • if pre-war m \')2'). ]\~ per cent m 

 I'lJS. ]]'> per eeiu in l'':". nid 124 

 per cent in 1^)2 f^. The estini.nes tor 

 ]';;n ire based upon preliniinirv ^uni- 

 ni.iries of reports made bv the bureau's 

 ..orrespondents in an annual smvev ol 

 couiiitions in tlie farm lan<.is market. 

 The following figures inckide ill tarm 

 lands with improvements: 



per Acre, in Terms of Pre-war Aver- 

 , 1930, with Camparisons (State 

 1912-19 14 lOO'I 



Main Street Holds 



Its Own, Says Galpin 



Farmer Demands Better Living To- 

 day Than Formerly 



AMKRK.AN hamlets and small vil- 

 lages may be destined for the dis- 

 card, but tovrns of from 1,000 to 

 10,000 population are doing more busi- 

 ness than ever, in the opinion ot Dr. 

 C. J. Galpin, agricultural sociologist of 

 the U. S. Bureau of Agricultural I^co- 

 nomics. 



"Although the general trend," he 

 said, "has been for farmers to shift their 

 buying from stores at country cross- 

 roads, in hamlets, and in small villages, 

 to larger retail trading centers, the shift 

 in farmer buying to towns ranging 

 from 1,000 to 10,000 in popii!it;on is 

 increasing the trade area ot th 's.- tow ns, 

 increasing tiie trade, and in-rea-ing 

 their purchasing fulcrum." 



Why the Decline 



Doctor Galpin gave it as his opinion 

 that the decline of the hamlet and smdi 



village is the result both of a decreasing 

 farm population and of the higher 

 standard of farm living in recent years. 

 He said that although the farm popu- 

 lation has decreased by 4,000.(iiMi per- 

 sons since 1920, the gross cash income 

 from agriculture of the 27,OOu,(I(mi of 

 farm population today is the same — 

 si 0.000,000,000 a year — as that of the 

 31,000,000 of farm people ten years 

 ago. 



"The American farmer." Doctor 

 Galpin said, "is no longer satisfied with 

 family consumption in the nature of a 

 minimum of subsistence goods. He de- 

 mands tor himself and children parity 

 in standard of living. His slutt to a 

 larger trade center means th.u he is 

 seeking a higher grade, and a w ider va- 

 rietv and a better choice ot ,dl kinds 

 of goods. 



Where Farmer Spends 



"This does not mean that farmers 

 are spending the bulk of their money 

 in cities over 10,000 in population. 

 The bulk of farmers' income is now 

 spent, and will be for a generation, in 



farmers' towns with a population 

 range from 1,000 to 10,000. The 

 well-to-do farmer, like the well-to-do 

 townsman, has alwavs made certain 

 purchases in large cities, and this prac- 

 tice will continuiJ; but the bulk of the 

 buying by both the farmer and the 

 townsman will be at home, where thcv 

 liave personal relations and many so- 

 cial and economic ties." 



Dr. C?alpin libeled as unwarranted 

 the assumption "thai the 1930 census 

 w ill show decreast'd eiuinierations in in- 

 corporated villagfs anil towns s.Ti.iUcr 

 th.in ! 11,0(10 popuialion. It is expe>.teef, 

 however," he .ulvled. "that the 1930 

 census will show .i decline in many 

 hamlets and uninorpoiated villages, 

 ami in \ erv Mii.iil ineorporated villiges. 



Forecasts Future 



"There vvill be indiv iilual case- ot 

 tlecrease, .is iisii.i.l. in incorporated 

 towns up to 10,00(1," he said, "and 

 some whole counties will undoubteilly 

 reflect in an unusual ilegree the unusual 

 agrarian disturbance of the last 10 

 years, but the unusual movement of 

 farm population, during the last ten 

 years, to these same towns and villages 

 will compensate for movements trom 

 farmers' towns to larger centers. 



"The farm population will turn out 

 to be thinner; the hamlet and small v ii- 

 lage population will also be thinner; 

 but the large village and town popula- 

 tion will hold its own. and probably 

 will increase enough to make up the 

 loss in the other two elements." 



Cheap Money for Farmers? 



tt\T 7 F don't object," say industrial 

 VV leaders, "so much to farmer 

 organization as to financing of such or- 

 ganizations by the government at lower 

 interest rates than we can obtain for 

 industry." Let's look at that a minute. 

 On June 19, the New York Feder.il 

 Reserve hank reduced its rediscount 

 rate, vxhich is the charge at which its 

 member banks may borrow, from 3 per 

 cent to 2'/2 jJcr cent. News writers 

 interpreted the reduction as "another 

 move in the policy of reserve authori- 

 ties to stimulate trade and industrial 

 recovery by easy money rates." Easy 

 money for industry, it seems, is per- 

 fectly satisfactory in industrial circles. 

 Easy money rates for farmers, however, 

 is "unfair and discriminatory" — in the 

 same circles. The answer is, of course, 

 that even if farmer-owned and farmer- 

 controlled co-opcrativcs arc receiving 

 money at low rates of interest, thcv are 

 the beneficiaries of no policy that is not 

 being applied, at the same time, for the 

 restoration of industry. — Farmers' Na- 

 tional Grain Corp. 



