THE MOVEMENT OF WHEAT-GROWING 341 



wheat production was deemed best adapted to the conditions of 

 frontier agriculture. There are, however, certain localities in 

 Minnesota not on the frontier which are nevertheless devoted to 

 wheat-raising. Mention has been made of that part of the valley 

 of the Minnesota River northwest from Blue Earth County. What 

 does this region have in common with that on the frontier that it 

 should be devoted to wheat production, while other localities have 

 changed their mode of farming to that of dairying ? 



Those who recall J. S. Mill's theory of international exchange, 

 as illustrated by the example of the five islands, will remember 

 that each of his islands produced that in which it had a relative 

 rather than an absolute advantage over the others. Similarly, it is 

 evident that when a man has a choice between dairy- and wheat- 

 farming he will choose whichever makes it possible for him to 

 employ most efficiently the productive forces involved. On the 

 frontier and along the valley of the Minnesota River northwest 

 from Blue Earth County wheat-farming seems to pay better than 

 dairy-farming. In the southeastern counties, however, wheat cannot 

 be grown profitably, though just as good crops can be grown, with 

 just as little labor, as in the northwest. But, since wheat-growing 

 does not pay so well as dairying, it is evident that no one could 

 afford to use his land for wheat-growing. Even if, as is often the 

 case, the farmer is a successful wheat-grower, but entirely unfitted 

 for dairying, still he could not afford to grow wheat, for the reason 

 that the land has become too valuable because of its adaptability 

 for dairying. He cannot afford to hold the land for wheat-growing 

 when others will offer him what it is worth to them for dairying. 



On the frontier the land is more valuable for wheat-farming. 

 Now in either of these two kinds of farming the productive forces 

 involved are land, labor, and capital. The farmer will ordinarily 

 raise the product which, after paying rent to land and interest on 

 the capital invested, leaves the largest amount of value as wages for 

 his own labor. If either rent or interest be lowered and the value 

 of the total product remains the same, it follows that the share 

 going to wages will be increased. Accordingly, if land is free or 

 very low in price, as on the frontier, the farmer will have little or 

 nothing to pay as rent. After paying interest on the capital 



