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blessed Badger State, produced another array of figures, which show that while the farmers are getting in debt more and more they are becoming richer at the same time.
The wealth of the farmer, we are told, is accumulating in the form of land values. The census states that while the mortgaged indebtedness increased 111.8 per cent land values increased 105.0 per cent in twenty years. But what the census man fails to prove is that the increase of land values is a benefit to the farmer who farms the farm.
The Fetish of Land Values.
The average value of land and buildings, per acre, was:
| 1850 | . . . . . . . . . . | $ 9.58 |
| 1860 | . . . . . . . . . . | 16.61 |
| 1870 | . . . . . . . . . . | 20.51 |
| 1880 | . . . . . . . . . . | 23.30 |
| 1890 | . . . . . . . . . . | 28.44 |
| 1900 | . . . . . . . . . . | 34.54 |
| 1910 | . . . . . . . . . . | 57.08 |
That's going some. "Getting richer all the time," you say.
Now let me ask you a few questions.
If an acre of land, valued at $9.58 in 1850, produced 50 bushels of corn, how many bushels will it produce in 1910, when its value has gone up to $57.06?
If an acre of land worth $16.61 in 1870 pastured two cows, how many cows will the same acre pasture in 1810 after its value has reached $57.06?
The result of your meditation and calculation will be that while land values have increased, the productivity of the land has remained almost the same. And if with the same expenditure of labor you cannot get a bigger crop on a fifty dollar acre than you got on the same acre when it cost only ten dollars, how on earth is the rise of land values benefitting the actual tiller of the soil. Does the farmer draw interest on the value of his land?
When figuring your yearly income do you state
| Value of land, $10,000. 6 per cent interest on same | $600 |
| Value of crop | $800 |
| Total income | $1400 |
Or do you put it this way—
| Value of crop | $800 |
| Taxes on $10,000 farm | 70 |
| Net income | $730 |
