350 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



will prefer Olmsted farms. If, however, one is willing to hazard 

 the risk of steadiness in income for the sake of the probability of 

 a larger yearly return, and at the same time wishes to realize gain 

 from increase in the price of land, preference will undoubtedly be 

 shown for Renville farms. Men who do not own enough capital 

 to buy an Olmsted farm may have enough for a small wheat 

 farm. In this way the poorer farmers tend to settle in the wheat 

 region or on the frontier. All the data presented tend, therefore, 

 to emphasize still further the conclusions already reached. 



It remains to be considered whether charges for transportation, 

 alone or with other causes, are of importance in determining 

 which kind of farming is the most profitable. It is true that 

 transportation charges have some effect. Freight charges are 

 higher on a dollar's worth of butter than on a dollar's worth 

 of wheat. If, therefore, all other things are equal, it would pay 

 better to raise wheat than to go into dairying. In the study 

 made of Renville and Olmsted counties, however, transporta- 

 tion charges cannot be said to have had any influence in de- 

 termining the kind of farming in the two localities. Renville 

 County has had advantages in transportation that exceed those 

 of Olmsted or Freeborn. All of these counties ship to the large 

 cities. A direct railway line runs through Renville County to 

 St. Paul, and has given this region cheaper transportation than 

 has been accorded the counties further south. If the southern 

 counties were induced to carry on intensive diversified farming 

 because of advantages in transportation, then surely Renville 

 County had a still better reason. The influence of lower transpor- 

 tation charges has been a general one, and has made possible the 

 movement of all industries across the continent. The example of 

 Renville County, however, as compared with the counties further 

 south, indicates clearly that dairying has not been encouraged 

 thereby rather than wheat-farming. It may nevertheless be noted 

 in this connection that, if a new railroad is extended into a certain 

 region, there will be increased demand for the land of the locality 

 and prices of land will go up. If the price of land be raised high 

 enough, so that more intensive farming pays better than wheat- 

 raising, we have a result that can be attributed to changes in 



