August, 1922 



SCIRNTIFIC AGRIQULTUKE 



389 



treatments for the students have no prepa- 

 ration for anything else, since they have liad 

 no training in general economic principles. 

 It sometimes turns out that the instructor has 

 had no such training. To study economies 

 in this way is to proceed from the unknown, 

 through the unintelligihle, to the incompre- 

 hensible. 



A younger group of so-called "agricultural 

 economists" has been developing in the last 

 few years, deeply concerned, as many of 

 them are, in the economic aspects of agri- 

 culture. In most cases their viewpoint is 

 that of the agricultural colleges, namely, to 

 make the farmers more efficient in produc- 

 tion through extending the farmers' control 

 over the market in such a way as to increase 

 their income returns. It is highly desirable 

 that agriculture should be successful,but agri- 

 cultural economics of this kind, intended to 

 make the farmer nothing more than a money- 

 getter, still leaves him unsatisfied as to his 

 knowledge of the world in which he lives. He 

 may be just as much out of harmony with his 

 environment as a result of this little know- 

 ledge of economics as he was formerly with- 

 out any knowledge of economics. The agri- 

 cultural economics that will be of permanent 

 value to the farmer and to the student of 

 agriculture must be built upon the funda- 

 mental principles of the science unfettered 

 by any preconceptions. 



In conclusion, I may be permitted to set 

 down some of the great problems of agri- 

 cultural economics which are awaiting in- 

 vestigation by those who have a full and com- 

 prehensive knowledge of the principles of 

 economic science. 



1. — Prices, as determined by the equili- 

 brium of demand and supply. Correlation 

 of statistics of production with statistics of 

 consumption to show the adjustment of sup- 

 ply to demand. 



2. — Studies of cost of production. Under 

 certain conditions price tends to be in ac- 

 cordance with cost of production ; but under 

 other conditions it is the price which deter- 

 mines the cost of production. Of w^hat value 

 is cost of production after it has been deter- 

 mined ? What factors must be considered in 

 determining the cost of production with a 

 view to ascertaining the price? 



3. — The relation of freight rates to prices 

 and to production — who pays the freight 

 rate } 



4. — To what extent are domestic prices 



affected by foreign (or international) mar- 

 ket prices.'' 



5. — A complete study of the market for 

 taeh of the great commodities, in order to 

 show what effects marketing costs have 

 u))on prices to the producer and the con- 

 sumer. 



6. — A complete study of the distributive 

 process for each of the great commodities to 

 find the cost of sending each commodity 

 through the various stages to the final con- 

 sumer. This should include the risks, the 

 handling charges, the charges for grading, 

 inspecting, assembling, processing, whole- 

 saling, jobbing and retailing. Only by such 

 a jtudy can we form any adequate compre- 

 hension of the services and remuneration of 

 the series of intermediaries between producer 

 and consumer. This study should be carried 

 out with the view also of discovering, if pos- 

 sible, a means of economizing in these dis- 

 tributive expenses. 



7. — A study of land policies and their ef- 

 fects upon general prosperity and the in- 

 crease of national wealth. Has the home- 

 stead system been a success? To what ex- 

 tent have good lands got out of the hands 

 of cultivators and into the hands of those 

 })rivate owners and companies which are 

 holding them in order to make large profits 

 in future through securing the unearned iii- 

 crement ? 



8. — Taxation in relation to land utiliza- 

 tion. 



9. — Under what circumstances and to 

 what extent can the producers undertake all 

 or any of the marketing functions with a 

 view to greater returns to the farmers and 

 greater economy of the system? 



10. — We should have a series of studies 

 made in connection with the chief agricul- 

 tural products to show the lines of develop- 

 ment which we have followed and to chart 

 out the future policy to be pursued. In- 

 surance companies have made a study of the 

 probabilities of life and death and upon the 

 basis of this information they determine 

 their financial risk with each policy holder. 

 They are building up their business upon the 

 basis of risks, but these risks have now 

 become calculable. Should not the farmer, 

 who is operating each year under great risks, 

 chart his business until he too may be able 

 to carry on his work under conditions which 

 are calculable? To be able thus to minimize 

 the risks would change the entire character 



