FARM MANAGEMENT 179 



together were valued in 1904 at $4,000,000 and in 1903 at $2,000,- 

 000. (Bu. Stats. B. 39.) 



Of the influences which during the last half century or more 

 have affected the cost of marketing live stock, some of the most im- 

 portant were those relating to their transportation. The cost of 

 transportation includes not only charges for freight, feed, attend- 

 ance, yardage, and other expenses of the road, but also losses in 

 transit and other items involving more or less directly the expenditure 

 of money, labor, and time in moving meat animals from their native 

 farms or ranges to places of slaughter. 



The growth of economy in the transportation of meat animals 

 has taken place along at least three general lines. One is the saving 

 to the railroads and steamships handling the traffic, which phase of 

 improvement is reflected in lower freight rates. The size and effi- 

 ciency of cars and vessels have been increased and cheaper methods 

 have been devised for handling traffic in stock yards. A second 

 phase is the reduction of loss in transit, a saving which may be 

 credited to mechanical improvements, to legal regulations, and to 

 the change over a large number of routes whereby the freight charge 

 depends upon the weight of the live stock shipped and not upon the 

 number of cars used. The third direction of this growth of saving 

 is found in the tendency to transport meat instead of live animals. 

 This movement is illustrated by the establishment of new slaughter- 

 ing centers nearer the sources of supply than are the older meat-pack- 

 ing cities east of the Missouri river. (Agr. Dept. Y. B. 1908.) 



Cause of Increased Values. Farm real estate in the United 

 States has gained in value in such a degree since the census of 1900 

 that an examination of the causes of this gain may be not only in- 

 teresting, but instructive, to the economic student as well as to the 

 practical agriculturist. (Bu. Stats. B. 44.) 



With the new economic conditions of agriculture in view and 

 suspecting large effects upon land values, an investigation of changes 

 in these values since the census of 1900 was undertaken in Septem- 

 ber, 1905. A schedule was prepared and sent to about 45,000 crop 

 correspondents of the Bureau of Statistics, some of them representing 

 counties, others parts of counties, and still others townships. (Bu. 

 Stats. B. 43.) In response to this request many statements were re- 

 ceived from all parts of the United States showing the local condi- 

 tions which affect farm values. 



From every agricultural neighborhood in the United States 

 explanations have been received of the increases and decreases in the 

 real estate value per acre of medium farms during the period. Subject 

 to some qualifications, the general principle is that the farm land 

 itself has become more highly capitalized by a larger amount of net 

 profit per acre. Only the main features of the analysis can be given 

 in this article. 



In the general matter of price of farm products farming had 

 long been performed under disadvantages that were often discourag- 

 ing until a few years ago. With now and then a year of exception 

 in favor of this or the other crop it has been a general fact that 



