Page:Walter Renton Ingalls - Wealth and Income of the American People (1924).pdf/117

Rh as being “due in part to the fact that prices for farm implements and machinery were unusually high at the beginning of 1920.” I think that this is the major explanation for the highness of the 1920 figure as compared with that for 1910. I think that a reasonable estimate for 1920 on the basis of deflated value would be $275 per farm. Estimating 6,400,000 farms at $250 per farm in 1916 we arrive at a total of 1.6 billion dollars for that year; and estimating 6,450,000 farms at $275 per farm we arrive at a total of $1,773,750,000 for 1920.

The number of head of live stock and the aggregate value thereof, as estimated by the Bureau of Crop Estimates, U. S. Department of Agriculture, is given in the following table:

Farm animals 1916 1920. Number Value Number Value Horses............. 21,210,000 $2,182,307,000 20,183,000 $1,664,166,000 Mules............. 4,723,000 558,006,000 4,999,000 578,473,000 Milk cows......... 22,894,000 1,365,251,000 23,321,000 1,491,900,000 Other cattle........ 41,689,000 1,497,621,000 42,870,000 1,346,665,000 Sheep............. 47,616,000 339,529,000 45,067,000 288,732,000 Swine............. 67,503,000 792,898,000 66,649,000 865,633,000 Totals....... $6,735,612,000 $6,235,569,000

The estimates of the Department of Agriculture are intended to indicate only the number of animals on the farms of the United States. The number not on farms, i.e., in cities and villages, is not estimated yearly, but their number in 1910 as reported by the census was as follows: horses, 3,183,000; mules, 270,000; cattle, 1,879,000; sheep, 391,000; swine, 1,288,000. For the purposes of the present estimate I may not be far out