Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-25
Profits on the Farm.

fectionery as food at least $1O,Ou,OU
must be added.
Profits on the Farm
speaks from experience, says: THE suf-
fering consumer might easily get the i'm
preston that the farmers prosperity Is
the fundamental cause Of the increased
cost Of living. and that the farmer has
just deliberately raised the price of
farm products SO that he himself may
have more money and all sorts Of COM
forts and luxurfes. The average con-
sumner Is go ignorant Of conditions on
the farm that it would be just like him
to think that the case He seems to think
the products Of the farm just come out
Of the everywhere into the here. when
nothing could be further from the truth.
Farming Is hard work, and always
will be, for the man who performs the
actual labor, and 1t takes a small for
tune to buy and keep in repair the ma
chinery used on the up-t0-date farm. 1t
is a mighty discouraging business. too,
when nature acts contrary" The crops
years are not nearly SO large as they
could easily have been had natural con-
ditions been perfectly favorable Then,
when natures acts her best, the corn
louise. the chtpch bug, the Hessian fly. the
cut worm, the gopners, crows, ETC., do
their worst. So between one thing and
another the farmer kept guessing from
the beginning Of The year to the end.
However. the end is usually better
than he expects. and now, with prevailing
prices the business of farming pays. But
why does 1t pay now. when only few
years ago the average farmer could just
barely make living? Because there Is
now oversupply of farm products. In
pace with consumption. Because of this
natural condition the farmer is more
prosperous He does not set the price on
a single thing he sells. It is the demand
that makes the price SO high.
Not Getting Too Much.
Secretary Wilson is right when he
says the farmer is not getting any more
than he earns. He knows that we will
have to have more and better farmers If
we continue to produce enough food for
a rapidly growing population. Better
prices for farm products mean that farm
ers will put forth their very best eff
forts and 1t may bring some men back to
the farm who left 1t because 1t did not
pay.
THE daily mall the telephone. the COM
forts and the luxuries are paying invest
ments farms, because they help to
keep the people there. These things mean
90 much to us. For instance, on account
of terrific snOwstorm this winter, our
mail carrier could not get to us for three
days. Those three days were the longest
I ever remember. In this part of the
country we have had rural delivery f0r7
nearly ten years. If that one thing had
to be given up we would probably be
leaving the farm.
fits the farmer is benefit to the whole
nation. and l believe that is true.
II some way could be devised by which
producer and consumer could get nearer
L. b. to- o.
consumer. He has to pay SO much more
for what he buys than the farmer gets
for what he sells.
II want to call your attention to an
Breeders Gazette, for it contains a great
deal of solid sense and 10 written by
one who understands the situation:
Eastern Land Unproductive.
If those who think they have a divine
right to feast upon porterhouse steak at
Is cents a pound, after that article has
been labor.ously produced by western
farmers from sixty-cent corn. believe
there is an excessive profit in farm
products q prevailing prices. and
that these prices bid fair to continue in
definitely. it may be In order to suggest
that they begin at once buying up the
millions OF acres Of cheap agricultural
idn0 tndt Is now IyIHS IAliOW OF IL O01N8
carelessly handled in every state east Of
the Allegheny mountains. Surely this
situation presents the opportunity for 4
quick solution of the long-standing prob
lem Of tho abandoned farms Of the east.
This is not the first time. however,
that agitation of this sort has occurred
We have seen high prices for cattle.
hogs and wheat at intervals in this coun-
try for the past fifty years We have
also seen these values recede to an aver
age level just as soon as natural cor
receive forces could work out the in
evitable laws Of supply and demand. 1t
is probable that when this senseless
crusade has served the dual purpose of
beating down prices to point where the
producer loses money. and Of weakening
the hand of our government In the pend
ing readjustznent Of trade relations with
foreign countries, we shall soon hear the
last of it. Meantime. production 10 dis
couraged just at time when it needs
stimulation. Let us hope. therefore, that
1t Is merely passing tempest In q tea
pot. and a. such probably not worth all
| the attention it has been receiving"
It pays to read the want columns of
The Star Hundreds Of sftuationa are