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AGRICULTURE, BANKING, AND CARRIER
1911 1907
Cost of road and equipment * $14,984,796,837 $12,940,379,220
Revenues 2,852,854.721 2,570,795,058
Expenses 2,005,528,462 1,737,698,201
Balance 847,326,259 833,096,857
Taxes 102,657,157 79,640,013
Operating income 744,669,102 753,456,844
Increased cost of road compared with 1907 2,044,417,617
Decrease in income 8,787,742
* Cost, taken from balance sheets, is far less than present real value.

In other words, with $2,000,000,000 new capital put into the business there was nearly $9,000,000 less return. How long will people go on putting money into a business that makes no return on the new capital required?

In 1900 the value of farm property in the States of the American Northwest was $1,843,409,554, and in 1910 it was $5,436,255,070, an increase of 194.9 per cent.

1900 1910
Minnesota $788,684,642 $1,476,411,737
North Dakota 974,814,205 255,266,751
South Dakota 297,525,302 1,166,096,980
Montana 117,859,823 347,828,770
Idaho 67,271,202 305,317,185
Washington 144,040,547 637,543,411
Oregon 172,761,287 528,243,782
$1,843,409,554 $5,436,256,070
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