78 FARMERS' UNION AND FEDERATION 



By multiplying the number of acres in wheat by the av- 

 erage value of the wheat, you can find out approximately 

 your wages and interest. The average returns from eighty 

 acres the last forty years shows $763.40 about one-fourth of 

 what is necessary to keep a family now and give interest on- 

 in vestments. 



What an Eighty-Acre Wheat Farm Should Yield in 



Money. 



If the children are to remain on the farm it must neces- 

 sarily be divided into smaller farms as they marry and es- 

 tablish homes of their own. Therefore, eighty acres should 

 be the maximum-size wheat farm, and wages and interest 

 based on it. The eighty acres farmed to wheat should yield 

 an income of $1,650 in wages to the farmer; $800 in in- 

 terest at ten per cent on its value at $100 per acre ; $500 

 in interest on $5,000 invested in improvements and equip- 

 ment ; making a total necessary income of $2,950. 



But the average income from eighty acres of wheat in the 

 United States for fifty years is herein shown to be only 

 $883.20. If this be applied on the interest it falls $416.80 

 short of paying it and nothing for wages. If it be applied 

 on the wages necessary to maintain a family as above as- 

 certained by the bureau of labor statistics ($1,650) it falls 

 $766.80 short of doing it, and nothing for interest. No won- 

 der people and capital leave the farm. They will continue 

 doing so unless wages and interest are raised through the 

 minimum price system to equal that of unionized labor and 

 capital in cities. It may be suggested by some that the 

 farm should be increased in size instead of decreased. But 

 that would result in driving more people to the cities; or 

 that increased yield per acre should be attempted. But I 

 have herein shown by statistics that that results in reducing 

 money returns instead of increasing it. So the only solution 

 is to unionize and fix a minimum price on wheat that will 



