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Now let ns examine the facts, and see if they do not fully sustain 

 the presumption ; and take the whole United States, a field broad 

 enough to include good and poor farming, the wise and the foolish, 

 the thrifty and the thriftless, the sections of good markets and 

 crops, and poor markets and crops ; those who farm with the best 

 advantages, and those with none, and see if under these unfavora- 

 ble circumstances farming does not pay for the cost of carrying it 

 on, and a rich per cent for all the caj^ital invested. To ascertain 

 this with any degree of exactness, we must know the sum invested 

 in all the farming lands of the Union, (in other words we must 

 know their present worth) including unimproved land and farm 

 buildings. We must know the amount of capital invested in all 

 farm implciaeuts, vehicles and machinery. We must know the 

 actual value of products on the farm before a new value is added 

 by transportation. And we must know the entire cost of producing 

 the crops. The cost taken from the income, and the remainder 

 divided by the capital, will give us the per cent, of interest on the 

 capital invested. I make the statement so that the process by 

 which I obtain my somewhat remarkable result may be perfectly 

 understood. Now the entire capital invested in farm lands and 

 farm buildings, of every description, in farm stock of all kinds, in 

 farm implements, vehicles and machinery, is $10,015,289,946. The 

 gross annual income from this capital is $5,515,593,077. The total 

 cost of all labor and board is $413,711,713. Labor and board is 

 actually more than haK the cost of growing of crops, but we will 

 call it half, which would make the total cost of producing this in- 

 come $827,423,446. The cost taken from the gross income leaves 

 us $1,688,169,620 as the net profit of our agriculture, and this di- 

 vided by the sum of the capital, gives us fifteen and three-fourths 

 per cent, on our whole investment. But some one who has not 

 seen this fifteen per cent, may object ; if so, I reply, it must be, be- 

 cause capital is but the surplus earnings of labor. Eventually 

 farm capital is the surplus of farm labor, and if it did not more 

 than support itself it could not have accumulated the inconceivable 

 sum of nearly eleven billions of dollars. But the objector will an- 

 swer, " many of our farms are mortgaged." But most of them 

 are not, and here is my strong argument. We all know that these 

 are the kind of mortgages that are rarely foreclosed. They have 

 been bought by young men with little capital, and the farm held 

 for security. But these men will, out of the profits of the farms, 



