The Delta independent., 1913-03-07
Looking the eul. Dog in the Eye

GoON'N2 ttC DUH S09 III AHS Eye
1t is very beautiful theory to have
educational trains running all over
the west to enlighten the farmer on
their ancient calling, but that is not
what we need. Our folks are already
producing enough of the soils bounty
to feed the nation and if they grew
any more there would be a surfeit
What we now require is more eco
nomic distribution and a fair division
OF prices as between grower and con.
we must undergo great revolution
and the moving picture trains will not
bring it. Until this is done, however
ranching will remain in it's present
condition. The work of revolutioniz-
ing must be done by the farmers
themselves because no outsiders can
do it for them.
The state or the nation can not
step in and limit the farm shipments
of milk, eggs. poultry, meats, butter
grains, fruits and vegetables so as to
regulate the market needs Only the
farmers can do this. The recent joke
of country life commission found that
the farmers who are prospering live
well in their country surroundings,
and that those who are not prospering
live meanly, hardly and carelessly
There is no mystery about either case.
The only fault is that the farmers as a
class fail to organize and thus get into
position to put their business on a
plane OF regular profitableness The
professors on the agricultural trains
do not know anything about these eco.
nomic questions and consequently they
are not talking about them. Further
more, they are preaching nothing that
is not known to every thoughtful faIM-
er in the country. Everybody ought
to know by this time that with all its
charms ranch life is hard and strenu-
Gus under present conditions for the
owners as well as for the farm labor
ers
/ They will stand ready to assert and
prove that it is impossible for them,
under existing conditions. to pay the
laborers any higher wages. or furnish
them any better quarters. or shorten
their work days. or meet their views
in general and particular unless they
can in some way rearrange their bust
ness. so that their net income shall
mean a profit on their production
These main presentations will be
oth tpiyht
as well look the bull-doy squarely in
the eye Farming as an industry is
not prosperous on the whole for two
main reasons. first. because with but
few exceptions every line of produc-
tion in agriculture is oversupplying in
its consumptive demand and. second.
because the farmers are generally
without organization and therefore
can do nothing toward compelling the
middleman to divide equally with them
Abe money paid by the consumers for
ranch products.
These two business evils are the
source OF all the other wrongs that be-
set farming. Were the farmers bet
ter organized and cooperating to con-
troll the movement OF their crops to
the markets. they would be in a posi-
tion to fix prices which would give
them a profit regularly. Then they
would not exhaust their soil fertility.
but could increase 1t. They could
keep their places in better condition.
They could pay. feed, house and treat
the hired help better. Thy could ac
cumulate money. They would strug-
gle with no burden OF interest on mort
cages They could work less continu-
ously. They might put more time on
the easy things and the pleanant fea-
lures OF living. In short. they would
revolutionize their business in their
own way but the fancy professors on
the special trains are not going to
show them how to do II. These trains
are put on primarily to increase the
freight tonnage of the railways at the
same outrageous rates that have pre-
vailed without abatement for the last
forty years.-Field and Farm.