Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-08-20
The Farmer Not Responsible for High
Prices.

A 'hN "l1ICl VI lulS Is III Lle
East he always buys copy of the
New York Sun the first thing in the
morning. This is so in spite of the
TACT that he does not like the paper.
, lie buys it because it is interesting
reading. 1t is often said to be the
brightest paper in the country. The
Sun does not look at things from the
point Of view of the farmer.
1t is generally believed that the
farmer is prosperous, and that, work.
ing hard for everything he gets, he
deserves his prosperity. The Sun has
. different point of view. Everyone
knows that the cost of living has in
creased considerably during the past
decade. This is accounted for in yari-
Gus ways, and the blame is variously
g placed.
The blame is not usually placed
upon the farmer, but the Sun places
1T just there. In a recent editorial it
deplored the high cost of living. ex-
pressed great sympathy with the Door
D er classes of people in the cities es-
'peclally, and with great show of feel
ing rOundly denounced the farmers as
the real octopus. The feeling may be
assumed to have been sincere. It said
that the people of the country are Just
now awakening to this condition of
things, and that they will not always
stand for it. They will demand that
the farmer sell his products at rea-
sOnable price. 1t was claimed that
the present prosperity of the farming
class is at the expense of the rest of
. our people. This is at variance with
Che common view that when the farm
erprosper all classes prosper.
.. Reference was made in the Sun to
the extraordinary high prices for
wheat at the time the editorial was
written. But these high prices did
not materially benefit the farming
class as whole. A majority of the
farmers of the country do not raise
wheat. In Kansas, the greatest wheat
state Of all, comparatively few farm
ers. had any wheat to sell when the
high prices came. The farmers were
8 not responsible for the price of wheat.
They did not fix it. Perhaps they
should have something to say about
the price of wheat. But at present
they do not determine the price at
which they sell it. The unusual price
OF 80 days ago was fixed. we suppose,
by. an unusual scarcity, and also by
manipulation with which the raisers
had nothing to do. Mr.. Patten of Chi
cago may not have been wholly re-
sponsible. He declaims responsibility
Still he doubtless had more to do with
it than all the wheat raisers in Kan
sas combined. Mr.. Patten is said to
have cleared $5,0OO,OOO out of the rise
In wheat. This seems to be wrong
somehow. The farmer who raises the
wheat is entitled to a profit, so is the
. dealer who buys the wheat from the
farmer. The railroad which hauls it
and the miller who makes -four out of
1t and the grocer who retails should
make some profit out of the service
they render, but just how Mr.. Patten
or any one Of his kind comes in for a
profit of $5,OOO,OOO is more than the
writer can understand. But the Sun
isn't the kind of paper which at any
time is disposed to find fault with Mr..
Patten or with any operations of that
kind in wheat or any other product.
1t chooses to lay the blame at the feet
OF the farmer.
The Sun also feels bitterly towards
g the farmer because of the high prices
Of meat at the present time, with pros
poets for still higher prices. The Sun
does well to show concern. Retail
prices for meat in the cities are ex-
scessively high. Meat is coming to be
regarded as a luxury by many fam
lilies which formerly regarded it as
an everyday necessity. That it should
Ssell at a lower retail price in the cities
appears to the Kansas Farmer to be
most desirable. A few years ago we
read that the laboring classes of Eu-
rope could not afford meat even once
day. Well, similar conditions are
Salready existent in this country. But
8 here again the farmer pleads not
guilty. He does not fix the price of
meat. This indeed, may be said of
nearly everything the farmer sells,
'.and also of about everything he buys.
:And it isn't true that the farmer is
getting high prices for meat. When
the writer began keeping house he
. bought his meat from a German
butcher, typical German, thrifty, in
dustrious, honest, good business
man. He ran every part of his busi-