THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 333 



" Effect upon value of land per acre of a change of 

 one cent per one hundred pounds in value of crop : 



"From these tables, the effect of any change of rates 

 of transportation or of price, upon lands employed in 

 growing either crop in either State, may be readily cal- 

 culated ; also the profit on every one hundred pounds 

 of each crop necessary to yield seven per cent, interest 

 on any value of land per acre ; also, the effect of any 

 change in rates of freight per ton per mile, the distance 

 to the controlling market being known. Thus, from a 

 farm nine hundred miles from New York, a change in 

 freight rates of one nine-hundredth of one cent per one 

 hundred pounds, or one forty-fifth of one cent per ton, 

 per mile, will affect the value of wheat land in Illinois 

 one dollar an acre. It is easy to see, also, that there 

 are limits within which only these effects follow, fixed, 

 on the one hand, by the lowest cost of raising any crop 

 compared with its value at a consuming market, and 

 on the other hand by the cost of land. But within those 

 limits, as far as the price of crops is controlled by dis- 

 tant markets, all the profits and even the very existence 

 of agriculture depend upon the rate charged for trans- 

 porting its products. It is not strange that the owners 



