COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS 37 
On farms actually rented for cash the cash rental charge per acre 
is the actual rental paid the landlord less the taxes and the actual 
cost of maintaining fences and drains, where these costs were paid 
by the landlord. On farms that were owned or share rented the grow- 
ers stated the net annual cash rental per acre that owners would be 
willing to take and that tenants would be willing to pay for the sugar- 
beet land. 
For the three years 1921-1923 the average cash rental per acre 
for all farms investigated in the United States was $13.43. On the 
other hand, a 6 per cent charge on $222, the three-year average mar- 
ket value of land, is $13.32, or only 11 cents less per acre than the 
annual cash rental. This may be viewed in another way: If the 
annual net cash rental is capitalized at 6 per cent, the resulting value 
of the land is $224 as compared with the farmer’s stated value of 
$222. For the United States as a whole therefore it makes practi- 
cally no difference whether the charge for the use of land is on the 
basis of the net cash rental or a 6 per cent interest charge on the 
market value of the land. 
A second method of calculating capital charge is based on the pre- 
vailing mortgage rate of interest on the market value of land. The 
average rate paid in 1922 on mortgages on the sugar-beet farms 
investigated by the Tariff Commission was 7.14 per cent. If the 
annual net cash rental is capitalized at this rate, 7.14 per cent, the 
resulting value of the land 1s $188 per acre; if it is capitalized at 
5.5 per cent, the present rate charged on farm mortgages by the 
Federal land banks, the resulting capitalized land value is $244 per 
acre, slightly more than the farmer’s stated value of $222 per acre. 
The market values of land and the cash rental data obtained from 
the farmers on the cost schedules were carefully checked by the agents 
of the commission while in the field. Stated land values were checked 
against actual sales prices, and both land rentals and values against 
those given by such competent local men as county tax officials, 
bankers, real-estate dealers, county agricultural agents, and officials 
of the agricultural colleges, particularly professors of agricultural 
economics and farm management. Where the values given by 
farmers were clearly out of line with data from these sources adjust- 
ments were made. 
In 1922 the capital employed in sugar-beet production for farm 
equipment—implements, tools, and work horses—amounted in even 
numbers to $26 per acre of beets harvested for all farms investigated. 
At 6 per cent the capital charge for equipment, based on the total 
value of equipment rather than the average value, amounted to $1.56 
an acre, or 13.8 cents per ton, of sugar beets for all farms investigated. 
The values of the implements and work horses were obtained on 
the schedules from the farmers themselves by the agents of the com- 
mission and were carefully checked against actual sales in the locali- 
ties, as well as against the estimates of such local men as farm-imple- 
ment dealers, the local farm-implement auctioneer, horse dealers, 
»ankers, county agricultural agents, and officials of the agricultural 
colleges. Where the farmers’ valuations were clearly out of line with 
sales values and estimates by these local men, adjustments were 
made. The values given by the farmers were those obtaining in the 
ll of 1922 and served as a basis for determining 1921 and 1923 
values.