2,4 
AGRICULTURAL RELIEF 
Mr. FuLMER. Are your farms in better shape out there now, than 
they were three or four or five years ago? 
Mr. WELLER. 1 would say not. No, sir; we have not recovered 
from the tremendous losses that we suffered during that war period, 
our farms carried on during that war period; for instance, our farmers 
carried on during that war period. I would happen to have a family 
of boys, say, who were too young to go to war, and undoubtedly with 
their help I might have accumulated quite a bit of profits during that 
period. But where we were paying for farm help the competition 
with the factory labor and the usual rate going, we run into the hole 
during that time. Following that, let me say, that is the thing we 
hear from down this part of our country in regard to the farmer being 
hard up as the result of his land speculation. There were some farms 
bought largely by a farmer whose boys would return from the war 
and he wanted to keep them at home and undertook to buy an adjoin- 
ing piece of land. But that money stayed there in our community 
in most all cases. There were cases where mortgages were issued. 
That money also stayed there for development. I believe that in 
our State not more than 5 per cert of the land changed hands during 
that period. We believed that money was very plentiful in America; 
that the price of our farm products was going to be permanently good 
in proportion to manufactured commodities. The land value is 
based largely upon the return of a year’s labor of the farmer. We 
believe that our land prices perhaps doubled. 
I might say that Mr. Crowler, who testified before your com- 
mittee yesterday, told about land prices in his district. He happens 
to be in a delta of the Missouri River, where the Missouri River is 
joined by the Sioux River. There 1s a large area of land in there 
that is somewhat exceptional. He talked about the houses and 
improvements in the Sioux River district. Their land prices, by 
yr largely based on the anxiety to keep themselves in 
Mr. KincHELOE. What do you raise right in your immediate 
country? 
ara crops. Corn, wheat, oats, barley; you might say all the 
Mr. KincHELOE. What is the principal agricultural product? 
: ? 
2 Mig WELLER. Corn—half of our acreage is in oor: the rest 1s 
1v | ed into alfalfa and sweet clover. 
Mr. Kincneroe. Do you think that tariff of 15 cents a bushel 
put on corn some time ago has been of much help to your people? 
o or. 0 mem, I would say that we run up against this proposi- 
Pacific const man. a Prod opm lt Soe Spo Cons, o had 1 . 
, ry or whatever use he had Ior 
corn, as he could get that from South America at the cheap ocean 
rates and he had a 15-cent duty to pay, it 1d shut hi tf 
South American to the extent of 15 Eni To ko en * lain 
of a large amount of corn coming f Se ink that that calm 
a club to beat down oa ng from South America was used as 
the way, for corn mow r corn market. We are getting 62 cents, by 
Mr. KiNcHELOE. Ye 
son of th e 42-con rand an wien farmers become prosperous by rea- 
Mr. We g es J 
aniff on boii oo hava is nothing to indicate that we get the 42-cent 
: . are aware that the hard wheat mixed with