were planning to buy one and two had friends owning 

 farms. All were potential purchasers of lighting 

 plants, and three had bought plants after they made 

 inquiry and before the investigator called on them. 

 That is, the true farm market extends all the way 

 from the forty-acre farm in the isolated rural district 

 to the top of the highest office buildings in our great 

 cities. 



Farming and Other Industries 



The importance of the farm market is also indi- 

 cated by the vast and rapidly increasing amount of 

 capital invested in farming as indicated in Chart 1. 

 The value of all farm property in 1910 amounted to 

 approximately forty -one billions of dollars, which was 

 more than the capital of all the manufacturing 

 establishments, railways, mines and quarries of the 

 United States as reported by the Census. In 1918 the 

 value of farm property, conservatively estimated, is 

 at least one-fourth more or fifty-one billions of dol- 

 lars. Some estimates place the figure much higher. 



Increasing Value of Farm Property 



In the period from 1860 to 1900 the value of farm 

 property steadily increased at each census period as 

 indicated in Chart 2. But in the decade 1900 to 1910 

 the value of farm property more than doubled. That 

 is, the increase in farm property in this decade was 

 more than the entire accumulation of farm property 

 in all the preceding years of our history. The increas- 

 ing capital invested in farming is of great significance, 

 for it indicates a profound change in farming meth- 

 ods, a great increase in buying power, and a funda- 

 mental change in the ideals and standards of the farm 

 family. 



[9] 



