The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-05-11
THE COST OF LIVING TO THE
FARMER.


and particularly in the cost Of food
stuffs or what the family eats. So
great has been that complaint that
efforts are being made in congress
to reduce this part of the cost of
living, and feeble efforts are also
being made to reduce the cost of
distribution of food products after
they are started to market.
The main thought in the people 8
minds when the cost of living is men,
toned is the cost of purchase and
distribution of food products. The
cost of living to the farmer, however,
is not in food products. A large part
of his food is, or at least can be,
grown on the farm. The fruit, veg
etables, eggs, chickens, pork and
beef-all these the farmer can pro-
vide for himself, if he wishes. The
cost of living to the farmer is there
fore very different from that of the
laboring man, the professional or
business man. The laboring man
does not as a rule furnish his own
tools, and the cost of them is mat
ter of utter Indifference. That be-
longs to his employer. The farmer,
however, has to bear the cost Of his
own tools-his haying and harvest
ing machinery, his plows, his har-
rows, his cultivators-all these he
must purchase for himself. The
price of all these have advanced, not
so much perhaps, as the price of food
| to the laboring man in the last year
or two. though there is probably lit
tie difference between the increase
in the price of tools and of foods,
now than farm products have fallen
in price about twenty-five per cent.
The farmer needs more machinery
| than ever before in order TO make
his labor more efficient. The older
| the land becomes, the more difficult
! it is to farm, and better and greater
variety of machinery he must have.
| What has been done, or what is like
| ly to be done, to decrease this part
of the farmers living?
| Another great part Of the cost of
the farmers living is keeping his
fran in repair, painting his buildings
and putting in modern conveniences.
keeping up mis- wire fences. We do
not hear of any strong movement to
decrease the cost of the farmers liv-
ing in this respect. He is paying high
| 81 III ltCS 1o1 IACSC CAA1SS IliGu ONS'A,
and is likely to continue to do so un-
ing, by legislation or otherwise,
decrease in this part Of his cost OF
living.
Another large element in his cost
of living is his clothing. Do we hear
of any attempts being made to de-
crease the cost of living in this re-
spect? He pays higher prices for
clothing than ever before, and gets
a poorer grade. He may think he is
buying an all-wool Slit, but unless
he pays very high price, he will
find that it is largely cotton or else
shoddy. He may imagine he is buy
ing all-wOol blankets to sleep under,
but he will find on examination that
they are largely cotton. His wife may
think she is buying linen for the ia
bles or the beds, but she is grandlv
mistaken. They are sold for linen,
but are for the most part cotton, as
any expert will tell her.
Another large item in the cost of
the farmers living is freight rates;
but the cost Of freight rates are de-
termined largely by the cost of iron
and steel. The manufacturer o! ag-
ricultural implements must pur-
chase his iron and steel from the
steel trust or some of its weaker
rivals, who aim to enforce the same
price asked by the trust. The cloth
ing the farmer wears is largely un-
der the control of great corporations,
some of them trusts; and these are
! protected by tariffs which enables
them to maintain prices at point
far above that which obtains in 9TH
err countries. Sugar is protected by
, two tariffs, one on the saccharine
matter which is in imported malado
or moiasses, and the other cClor
duty, which last shuts out OF thu
market the old grade Of brown sugar
whl:h OR mothers and grandm others
believed, and believed truly, was
quite equal to the retired sugar, if
indeed rot superior tt it.
| The farmers constitute about one
third of the population of the United
States. Congress is making an effort
by various bills to reduce tie cost of
living to the !aboring man, to- the
townsman, to two-thirds of the peo-
pie of the United Staes; but they
seem to have forgotten that this leg
lSldIlOIl, IL SudCI0u, Will ISuuCe luS
cost of what the farmer has to sell;
without in the least affecting the cost
of his living.
The cost of living to the townsman
is undoubtedly too high. The farmer,
however, is not to blame for that.
There are too many people to be fed
! and too few to produce the food. The
cost of handling these products after
they leave the farm has been so high
that the farmer receives only frac-
ton of the price paid by the ultimate
consumer, in many lines not more
than IS per cent and in none much
more than sixty or seventy per cent.
Will the farmer put on his think
ing cap and inquire how he can act
so that eventually the cost of living
to him will be lessened? Most of the
things the farmer must buy in order
to live are governed by trusts, and
these trusts are backed up by tariffs
much higher than necessary. The.
man who lives three thousand miles