Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1913-11-13
Squirting On The. Farmer.

ing the condition of the farmer upon
intensive methods. fancy breeds and
the general prescriptions for the two.
blades-grass idea. to realize that those
who concern themselves more with the
equitable distribution Of what is pro
duced, or its equivalent. are not oppos-
ed to increased and improved product
ion. No sane man advocates standing
still in either quality or quantity of
production.
But it is the quintessence of irony to
tell the farmer who is already doing
the best that his light and his circum-
stances admit Of, and whois obliged to
sell much of the product of his toll for
less than the sctual cost of production
and to allow lot more to rot because
does not pay to harvest and market it,
that the reason he is not prospecting is
because his crops are not large enough
or their quality is not high enoughs
That there may be, here or there.san.
instance WHEREOF some exceptional
reason-a farmer raises some particu-
larly large, high-quality crop and is
suitably rewarded FOR IT, may be true
enough. These instances are always
hlazoned aloft' But there are thousands
upon thousands. tens of thousands hum
dreds of thousands, who are raising
large crops and crops of unquestionable
excellence, and who are getting practi-s
cally no actual net returns at all for
their labor What ahout them?
However, it is not matter of in
stances and exceptions. it is a matter
of the average returns ard of simple
justice. The laborer is worthy of his
hire, The producer is entitled by right
to The full value of his contribution to
the sum of produced wealth. Farmers
do not get this. Plain, ordinary COM
mon sense indicates that increasing the
quantity or improving the quslitv of
their products is not going to get it
for them. Suppose the wheat crop of
the country should Fe uniformly in
creased next wear and for each year
thereafter to treble the present crop,
does any suppose that the real farmer
who really raises wheat, not the mere
land owner or the fellows who farm the
farmers. would be any better off. He
Ger tainly would not be.
Suppose that every appl, growing
farmer in the country should improve
the yield and the quality of his apples,
and the grading and the packing SO as
to make the yield per acre, quality and
package for the entire apple crop 81
the country equal to that of the famous
Hood river section of Oregon. Does
anyone suppose that these apple grow
ing farmers would be profted by it?
Do we not know, as matter of fact,
that there would simply be thousands
more carloads to rot though some de-
serving people would be wanting apples
and thousands of growers wonld be
ruined by the added expense of SO in
creasing and improving the product.
A pretty fair way Of testing all these
economic proposals is to give them dis
passionate consideration carried out
logically to conclusion.
There are many very silly ideas adj
vanced as causes for the famers' fail
ure to prosper as he should They run
oil the way from charging him with
extravaganza to the notion that it is
because there are too many people
living in the cities. A writer who re-
Gently advanced the first idea does not
know farmers, and those who advance
the latter forget to think while they
are writing.
If those well-intending folk who SO
zealously advocate fancy breeds and
new methods and redoubled efforts, in
creased and improved crops, as the way
to bring the farmer to his own are
really in earnest about wanting what
they claim to seek; or even if they
want larger and better crops alone, ir-
respective of any other consideration,
the simplest means of assuring this is
ready at hand. See to it that economic
justice is done, SO that the mass of
consumers can afford to buy what they
want and pay for it what it is worth.
AND see to it that the farmer receives
not merely thirty-five cents of the dol
Tor the consumer pays, as at present,
but that he gets every penny Of it be-
yond the actual, fair cost of distribu-
ton, and this last is not to include any
frills, or supernumeraries, or special
privileges, or, most of all, land rent
extortions for. the benefit of the idle.
The farmer is neither tousled lump
of grizzled greed nor haloed distri-
butor Of charity; he may love his farm
and his vocation, but he does not labor
for the sake of the labor. He wants
the results of his labor for the comfort
and the safety and the maintenance of
himself and his. See to it that as a
laborer, as producer, in short, as a
farmer, his efforts are paid for in pro-
portion to the indispensable service
that he renders the world, and he will
produce enough and the quality viii be
satisfactory. never fear. Let him
know that his crops are going TO be
certainly and generously profitable to
him and he will raise enough. Let him
but know that if he adds quality to
quantity there viii be no doubt of it