The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-01-17
.LATT DIFFERS
 WITH 'YIM HEEL ,
Mayor of Spokane Says Trusts Are Responsible
 for High Cost of Living
Says Cold Storage Compa-
 nies and Speculating Com
 binations Boost Prices.

Nelson S. Platt, mayor of Spokane, , successful farmer and 1umberman in the Mississippi and the Pacific northwest, takes exception to the weeping statement by James J. Hill that the present high cost of living IS chargeable to the extravagance 5arelessness and lack of thrift of the agricultural classes of the country aying.
 T am more than surprised that a nan with the understanding and ob- servation of MT. Hill should under take to make such broad charges in
 Jew Of the fact that the methods of , quarter of a century ago are not 70 be compared to the present system of farming. There is nothing to bear out MT. Hills contentious. U
 AS result of a. recent visit to several of the largest districts in the middle western and Pacific states, I am prepared to say there has never i.een a time when general farming was conducted along more economi- gal lines than at present. In fact the methods of today are marveIs to those who farnaed land in the '8os. Had we been as skilled and thorough then as the farmers of today we cer- taInly would have been equally suc- cessful
 Tt is not overstating the case when say that the modern grower conducts his farm along the same ilnes that prevail in we'll organized business establishment, and as a re- suit he is not only making a good liv- ing and educating his children, but IS also putting money into improve ments, as we'll as into the bank.
 It Is idle talk to charge the high cost Of living to the farmer, as it a in To r11 r, studied the subject that at least three causes contribute to increasing prices of the necessities. The large produc- ton of gold during the last few years IS an important factor, in that it has resulted in making money cheap, and, to a great extent, no doubt, is re- sponsible for increases in prices. Cheap money means high prices.
 Perhaps the greatest factor in the high cost of living is the trusts which compel the cOnsum CTS to pay enor- nous and unreasonable prices. Such farm products as beef and pork are controlled entirely by the so-called Beef Trust, while butter, eggs, cheese and poultry are handled by cold stor- age companies and kindred combina- tions, and the prices of cereals are fixed largely by the speculative boards of trade.
 AS a matter of fact, while in the Mississippi valley short time ago I found that the prices of butter, eggs. cheese and poultry are nearly as high there as they are on the Pacific coast, where the demand at present IS far greater than the supply. I al- so learned from reliable sources that these products are almost entirely controlled by combinations and not by the producers.
 hold no brief for the farmers of the country, but from an experience of almost lifetime as farmer, born and raised on a farm. know that the system employed during my time holds no comparison to the present methods of farming. Intensive agri- culture, with the use of water SUD- piled by artificial means was then largely an experiment, and so-called dry farming, or more properly soil and moisture conservation, was in it's very infancy. These methods are successes today. The agricultural colleges and experiment stations have also been and are strong factors in advancing the industry
 T challenge Mir. Hill to show any period prior to 1894, when there were larger acre yields of grain, fruit. grasses and roots than at present and with this I would also ask him to point to any year when the farmers were more prosperous than they are today. Extravagance and lack of thrift and progress and prosperity do not go hand in hand, and that fac alone answers Mir. Hills statement. .