Evening journal., 1910-01-18
FARMERS NOT
PRICE BOOSTERS
David S. Clark Says Soil Til
IerS are Not Getting Rich
These Days

Since the recent boost I'm the cost of
living many opinions have been ex-
pressed by those who feel the extra
burden. Everywhere the farmer is
getting most of the blame for the
present high prices. City people say
they are paying out all they earn to
the farmer for enough food to live
upon while the farmer is rapidly grow
ing rich Commission men say that
the law Of supply and demand covers
the sale of all farmers products that
the farmer gets the highest possible
prices when goods are in demand and
in consequence the poor man is bar
red out. 1t has been suggested that
the farmer ought to be satisfied with
certain fixed percentage or profit over
the cost of production which would be
just to poor and rich alike
While discussing the subject yester-
day from a farmers viewpoint. David
S Clark. the retiring collector of port,
said "In the first place the demand
is much greater than the supply in
farm products and the scarcity of farm
supplies is largely due to young men
and women leaving the farm and going
into the cities where they can earn
$40 to $50 a month.
'It is a difficult matter to get labor
sufficient TO till the soil The wages
in the cities in almost any branch Of
business are much higher than farmers
can afford to pay. The city people
cannot expect to buy farm produce at
much lower prices until the farmers
shall have a supply of labor at reason
able wages.
The farmers are not getting rich as
many suppose. The bulk of the crop
of corn that was raised in 1909 went
into the market for less than 60 cents
a bushel. At the present prices farm
ers are receiving for farm products,
they are not getting any more money
than was received for the same pro-
ducts six to eight years ago. This is
due to the fact that there is a great
scarcity Of farm labor and the in
creased cost Of such labor. Eight years
ago it was possible to hire a farm
hand at from $i2 to s14 a month. Now
they ask from SIS to s25.
when a land renter tills farm and
raises $500 bushels Of corn thereon
he Is called upon to give the owner
Of the farm one-half Of this produc-
tion. or the $50 bushels remaining
he must feed 400 bushels to his stock,
leaving him but $50 bushels to sell
which will hardly net him $3.50 We
have land renters on the Peninsula
who after paying their bills at the end
Of the year have not money enough
10 buy suit OF clothes. Corn must
be grown at 10 cents a bushel and
wheat at $125 a bushel to give the
farmer a fair profit.
In speaking of the proposition to fix
a percentage or profit over the cost of
production Mr.. Clark said that such a
thing was impossible and all the wise
men in the country could nat bring
about such condition. ''It is easy to
explain why such a thing is impos-
sible" said Mr.. Clark. zone mans
farm may yield fifty bushels to the
acre while another's may yield but
twenty-five. There are thousands of
acres of ground which show such a
disparity Ground is not all alike by
far when it comes TO producing grain
and other produce. AS a result it would
be impossible TO fix a rate of profit
over the cost of production. II the
ground could be made to produce uni
form crops such a proposition could be
entertained Labor costs the same