10 THE AGRICULTURAL BLOC 



ing districts. Immediately when the stock 

 raisers got a fair price for their animals 

 improved farms jumped from $50 and $100 

 per acre up to $150 and $200 per acre, the 

 banks became full of money and the middle 

 west became very prosperous and at pres- 

 ent after 15 years of such prosperity the 

 best farms in the middle west are worth 

 $400 per acre. But at the same time lands 

 further east which had been drained of 

 their fertility in the years previous to Mr. 

 Roosevelt's help are still depleted and al- 

 most worthless. Under our existing condi- 

 tions, it is only the lands containing virgin 

 fertility that have become high priced. 



What is necessary for our nation'al pros- 

 perity is to extend the system of protection 

 to all our raw materials so that a fair mar- 

 gin of profit will remain to the grower with 

 which he can build up the fertility of those 

 exhausted lands. I will now insert a copy 

 of another letter I read before President 

 Roosevelt's Country Commission, of which 

 Dr Bailey was the chairman 



To the Honorable Country Commission 

 1906) 



One of the greatest crimes in the history 

 of the world has been committed against 

 the American farmer 



This is a severe arraignment, but a great 

 v^ong needs it. Secretary of Agriculture 

 Wilson has made a statement that the 



