The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-05-27
KEEPING UP WITH THE TIMES
Reason for Low Price Of Farm Prod.
ucts Is Lack Of Organization
Among AgricuIturists

age Is an infant, In strength fu1
grown. From thirteen struggling co
onles, we have become a nation TIL
strip along the Atlantic has enlarge,
until our country Is washed by tn
waves of the Pacific, and over thos,
waves we are looking after the island
of the sea.
Factories turn on ceaselessly thief
| thousands of cog-Wheels and spindles
Cities have sprung up as If by magic
Long lines of railroads wind through
valley and over mountain The motor
car is abroad, and with the improve
ment of our public roads, distance
will be practically dispensed with. II
looks as If the future life will be lived
on wheels. People will no longer be
separated by distance, but by condi
ton. The vast areas over which
roamed the hunter, the trapper, and
the savage is giving life to a more
complex civilization, and an age of in.
dustry has survived the art of war.
The question arises, has the farm.
er kept pace with the movement of
mankind? Are his burdens Hghtened
| by invention? Is he better housed
and better fed? Land is the basis of
all life, and those who till the soil
should enjoy the fruits Of their labor.
Undisputed facts open to observation
should be faced with candor Will
the average man in town exchange
condition with the man In the coun-
try: The answer is no, writes Frank
A. Collins in the Groesbeck (Teyas)
Journal. On the contrary, people are
leaving the farms and focking to the
already congested conditions Of the
cities. What is the trouble? 1t Is
financial. The hope that by some
means the desires Of life may be sat
listed with less exertion. The pay the
farmer gets for his products is too
small for the amount of capital in
vested and the labor performed The
reason of this Is the farmer has
worked without organization, and fol
lowed the noise of the politician In
the financial centers, state craft Is I'M
derstood, and the meaning Is that
there shall be moneyed aristocracy,
which shall be separated from the
common herd, just as the Bourbons OF
France stand above the peasants. The
government realizing that the condi.
tons on the farms should be improved,
appointed commission for that pur-
pose. II the government would see
that just and equitable laws are
n or oh n ,9,,o ~ g.
favor Of manufacturers and specula
tors, and give the farmer a chance to
get pay for his products In proportion
to the investment, the sacrifice and
the labor he uses, there would be ne
necessity for a commission to improve
the country homes. With money the
farmer will do 1t himself.
But artificial laws, and schemes to
enrich the few at the expense of the
many, are like artificial heat and must
burn out when the means by which
they are kept In force shall be sup,
planted by a natural order. In the
long run nature asserts itself, and the
oppressed rises above the oppressor.
The increase in consumption Is
greater by more than ten to one than
production The land Is the basis OF
all production. Cities are growing al.
most beyond the means of calculation.
These vast centers of population have
to be fed and clothed or perish. The
time will shortly come when the fnan-
c1ers of these centers must see that
unless thew change their tactics tho |
entire population Of cities will tie at
the mercy of the country Thea will |
come the scheme to get control OF !
the land, and If they succeed re shall |
finally become nation OF renters, /
similar to Ireland. Each day that rolls
around 1t is getting harder tn get land
and own a home. In less time than
so years, 100 acres of land In Lime
stone county, Texas, will represent
sortune. With population OF $780,
100000 the scramble for land viii be-
come the problem of the age It is
possible that some benefactor o., the
ace, not engaged in politics, will mod
fly and adjust the question of taxa
ion advocated by present economists,
md by such means protect the people
rom the entertainments of the money
oower, and make 1t so that man may
,wn home.
The man today who wants d, serve
lis country cannot do better thsn own
! home, remain upon 1t, and stand for
he interests Of the agricultural class,