Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Current Economic Affairs (1924).pdf/68

54 The net worth of the farmers of the country is summarized as follows:

Dr. Gray computed the net worth of farmers who were full owners of their property (as distinct from part owners) as averaging $13,476. If we divide the total wealth of the United States, which I have estimated at 290.6 billion dollars at the end of 1920, among 40 million workers or 25 million families, the position of the farmer respecting property does not compare unfavorably with either of these averages. Nevertheless, it is clear from all analyses that the farmer does not as a worker get enough for his annual labor; nor as a capitalist does he get adequate return upon the investment, as capital returns commonly go. “Speaking broadly,” says Dr. Gray, “the figures suggest that the accumulation of wealth in agriculture would be a very slow process without on the one hand the practice of rigid and painful thrift or on the other hand the fortunate incident of rising land values.” In this connection, however, it is well to pay attention to recent, words of Dr. David Friday, a specialist in agricultural economics, who says that a “Fundamental fact which