The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1909-02-26

The Farmer More Important Than
Revising the Tariff.

30
New York, Feb. 20. They talk
about revising the tariff, " said James
@. Hall to d Hearst News Service re-
porter to-day. Why, at our present
rate Of expenditures the tariff is now
scarcely On q revenue basis. How,
then, Is # to be scaled unless we shave
down the cost Of governments | am
not 4 free trader, /" he went@on, but |
see the evils in present tariff schedules,
although / do not know how they are
to be remedied unless we shall call a
halt upon the cost of government or
shift the tax thus placed upon the peo-
pie to domestic products. As to trusts,
guess Mr.. Havemeyer was about right
when he testified before commission
at Washington that the tariff was the
mother of trusts
But these questions or problems
will be solved. They are much more
soluble than the one of supreme inn
portance, which is how to extract from
the soil the maximum OF production at
the minimum of cost. The trust will
break down Of its own weight long be-
fore we solve the greater problem.
Upon its solution depends wholly the
answer to your question, What is the
cause Of and what is the remedy for
the present high cost of living?' =
NOT ENOUGH FARMERS.
New England" he said, illustrates
the condition we shall be in as a Nation
before the generation of young men
Just taking holdsof affairs turns the
reins over to the next generation, unless
we bring about radical changes in our
farming methods. When / asked an
intelligent New Englander recently what
New England now produced, his answer
was: College diplomas and edged tools.
But do you object to the college
diplomat asked
Not at all, he replied, unless it
takes from the blacksmith shop or the
plow good blacksmiths and good plow-
men It ought to fit each class better
forsthe work to be done, but fear it is
not doing that. New England's soil is
worn out and its civilization is showing
the effect of this in spite of the vast
educational resources of that section
PRODUCTION LAGs.
Did YOU know that the value of the
agricultural products of this country
last year was 81, 800, ,OO0,0 That is
greater than the foreign trade OF all
Europe about which we hear SO ekuch
from persons who do not know what is
saiiing us. Do you know, furthermore,
that 20 per cent of our exports are
products of the farm and that the vol
lme of these exports is decreasing in
stead of increasing? These facts are of
tremendous importance. Primarily they
show that our greatest industry still is
agriculture and that production is not
keeping pace with home consumption.
So there you have the situation in a
nutshell.
Twenty-Five years or less ago the
same amount of capital produced, let
JUS say, twice as much as now. With
facts like these before them, can't the
American people see and understand
why it costs them more to live now
than ever before?
SCIENTIFIC FARMING.
The farmers occupation is the first
to exist in the civilized States. 1t is the
basis of all other industry, and only
recently we began to realize that it is,
or can be made, an exact science. Not
until it is practiced by a larger proper
'tien of our farmers as an exact science
viii we obtain relief from present con-
ditions.
1t is as well assured as anything can
be that the population of the United
States will be 200, 900, 90 by about the
middle of the century, or in less than
fifty years.
For the last three years our con-
sumption of wheat per capita has been
either slightly under or slightly over
seven bushels. Suppose it is only six
and a half bushels per capita. 1t will
then require at the present rate Of lv-
ihs A total production Of l 800, 600, 600