Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 279, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 December 1917 — CROP PRICES AND DOLLAR VALUES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CROP PRICES AND DOLLAR VALUES

Commodity Price* Ar* High, but Crop* Ar* Higher—The Dollar I* Cheap. • When la a dollar not a dollar? Relative values shift so rapidly these days that ih dollar has no definite value. It Is merely a question of how much of the commodity you want, you can get for the commodity you have to exchange—whether that commodity be labor, live stock, com or wheat.

A bushel of corn will buy more fertilizer now than It would In 1914. Every purchase must be considered on the basis of relative values rather than dollar values. The high quotations for spring fertilizers have caused many farmers to ask whether it will be possible to use fertilizers at a profit next season. The answer to this question may be found by a comparison of the relative purchasing power of crops before the war and at the present time. In 1914 the usual corn fertilizer cost s2l per ton. Today the same fertilizer costs around $32 per ton —an increase of 50 per cent In 1914 corn was worth about 60 cents per bushel, taking the country over. Today it sells at not less titan $1.30 per bushel, on the farm —more than 100 per cenl increase. The same calculation could be made for wheat, potatoes, or almost any other crop (excepting in the case of those fertilizers containing potash). Each individual farmer has merely to consider whether fertilizers paid before the war; If so they will pay even better now.