PROFITS IN AGRICULTURE 



891 



$2,745. If we had sold all the crops this would have left net receipts 

 in excess of expenditures of $3,830 or 9! per cent on the value of the 

 land. But this is not all of a farmer's profit. We got from the farm, 

 without additional labor, pasturage for 75 sheep, 10 milk cows, 20 

 work horses, and the entire herd of 300 beef cattle. By feeding the 

 corn, oats, and barley to the live stock we got more for these grains 

 than the market prices mentioned above. Taking our average live 

 stock sales, it adds another $3,000 net profit to the cash income from 

 the farm or, in all, something more than 6 per cent on the investment 

 value of $100,000, not all of which investment, however, is utilized 

 in producing this income, as more than half of the land is not used 

 at all. 



"Now consider what we get out of this investment. We have first 

 a living, which includes everything except clothing and groceries, 

 and part of them are paid for by the products of the farm which are 

 not otherwise converted into cash, such as eggs and butter. This is a 

 living for two families. To support two families in either Minneapolis 

 or St. Paul, and support them as well as we can support ours on the 

 farm, would cost, with present prices, from $2,500 to $4,000 a year 

 for each family. I am in a position to estimate this accurately 

 because I know very closely what it costs my sons who live hi those 

 cities to get along. If a living for two families is worth only $5,000 a 

 year in the city, then the income from this farm is equivalent to an 

 income of $12,000 a year in the city. 



"In addition there are many other conditions which favor the 

 farmer rather than the city man. My son's manufacturing business 

 pays him a good salary and an income on his stock, but he is facing, 

 first, a constant and rapid depreciation in the value of his buildings 

 and machinery, a fluctuating market which may at any time reduce 

 his profits to a very small amount if not wipe him out entirely, and 

 a tremendous fire risk compared with any such risk we have on the 

 farm. If all our buildings were destroyed by fire, they could be 

 replaced for probably 15 per cent of the entire capital value. Depre- 

 ciation on farm machinery of course figures out at a rapid rate, but 

 the total machinery investment is small compared to that in a factor}'. 

 The depreciation on buildings is at a much lower rate than in the city. 

 And I am not taking into consideration at all here the fact that if 

 we did not raise anything on the farm except barely enough to live 

 on, we should still be making $2,500 a year through the increase in 

 the land value, which will average at least $i an acre a year, and this 



