The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-01-28
PROTECTION OF
FARMERS URGED
MCuM5ER FEARS DEMAND FOR
FREE ENTRY or COMPETE.
TIVE FOOD PRODUCTS.

FREE ENTRY OF coMPETI-
TIVE FOOD PRODUCTS.
\ washington Jan. Ex-senator Nc.
Cumber of North Dakota believes that
unless the farmers Of the country band
togethtr, for the protection of their
products. there will be a general de-
nIand for the free entry of all com
| petitlvo food products by labor and
other organizations. This view of the
situation is TIT reason for the presen-
tat,"u Of his resolution authorizing an
| Investigation by the senate committee
OH agriculture. into the prevailing high
| prices. In connection with that reso-
| luton. Senator McCumher made the
| following statement to The Forum:
I'm an address before the Tri- State
Grain Growers convention at Fargo
the other day, / urged as strongly as
possible an agricultural union i'm every
gre at agricultural state in the country
for the purpose of defeating and pro
fecung the interests Of the tillers OF
the soil. I declared in that address
that as soon as we reached condi-
ton where consumption in this coun-
try would about equal production and
the value of farm products had ma
telially advanced, so that the farmer
would be receiving a just and fair
remuneration for his products, there
would Immediately follow a demand
throughout the country to throw down
the wall Of protection which now ex-
lists against the importation of fore
ign food products.
Fear Was We'll Founded.
Il urged this organization that we
might be prepared to meet that de-
mand when It should be made. In that
address / prophested that unless we
were so organized as to make our
wants known and our voice heard i'm
congress, in less than ten years every
important food product would be
placed upon the free list and the price
of raw food materials would drop to
the level of the worlds prices, that
this would be brought about by the
demand for cheaper food, not only by
the general consumer, but also byI
great labor unions, and that the manu-
facturers themselves. who would
necessarily have to pay wages that
would conform to the higher prices of
food products would join in this |
crusade"
That this fear was we'll founded is |
evidenced by the bill introduced in the |
house to remove the tariff from beef
cattle and meat products, and in the !
demand Of several Of the great city |
papers that wheat be placed upon the |
free list.
ITO meet this demand introduced a |
resolution asking the committee on |
agriculture to investigate the question |
of competitive prices of food products. |
the price which the farmer received |
on his farm, the wholesale price and |
the retail price in the great cities, and
to also show the comparative labor
that is expended i'm producing the raw
material and the labor and the added
cost expended in preparing it for food.
Il have made some Investigations
along that line, and find that with far
less labor expended upon the farmers |
products after they leave his hands |
than was expended by him i'm produc- |
ing them, the value is, nevertheless. |
increased from 100 to 400 per cent, aft |
ter leaving the farmer, and if you fol- |
low the food product to the table, in
an ordinary restaurant, in a large city.
an increase of from 1000 to 1000 per
cent above the farmers prices, will be |
noted. -
Farmer Is First Assailed.
THE farmer is the last man to strike
at in attempting 70 secure reasonable
prices for the consumer, and yet he is
the first one you do assault by legisla
ton of the kind proposed. The farmer
today receives less for the actual num-
Der of hours expended by him i'm pro-
1ucing any article than any other la
oorer in the United States In other
words, If you will estimate the farmers
labor at the same rates as you do the
labor of the artizan in our large cities.
you will find the value of his product
nearly double what it Is at the pres
emit time
Il will give but one illustration. An
ordinary restaurant in this city by
charge of 10 cents a service
for bread, would receive about so cents
q loaf. One bushel of wheat makes
about seventy-flve loaves. A farmer
In my state would receive 80 cents a
bushel on the average of his wheat. Al
so cents loaf the restaurant keeper
would receive $3.50 for that bushel
The labor performed in producing the
wheat was more than the additional
labor expended upon 1t afterward. Of
course, there is some waste, but after
making all due allowance, the spread
as will be observed, is enormous.
Remember, also, that within the last
ten years, land has doubled in value.
Now when the farmer pays $50 an acre
for his land, and from $3.50 TO SO a day
for harvest hands, his wheat should be
worth at least $3.50 buslel in order