Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-05-15
Discomfort ON FARM.
what Are the Principal Cuuses--IIo,v
Overcome.

At the regular grange meeting in
Springfield a paper by George Tanner
was read on the question given in above
heading, and the text of the paper fol-
lows:
According to the title of this paper,
we are supposed to take 1t for granted
that farmers are a Disseminated lot, and
for the sake of an argument, az they say,
we will assume that such is the case
But | will say right here that 1t Is only
human nature for all Of us to think that
the other fellow has all of the best
places, and / fail to see why the farmer
should be more disconnected than anyone
working at any other occupation.
We are continually hearing Of strikes
in one business or another, all over the
world which is an indication of discon-
tent. There are so many things that
might cause discomfort among farmers
that it is difficult to tell which is the
principal one, but / think without doubt
that the most serious problem that we
are facing to-day is the question Of eff
cicnt farm labor
In some cases foreign help has been
employed and found satisfactory but in
others II has not. OF all the people that
are continually coming here from other
countries, but few find their way to the
farm even If they were farmers in their
own country. They seem to prefer to
work in the shops and mills of osr cities
where the promise of shorter days and
the attractions of city life are calling so
many of our bright young men and wo-
men away from the farm.
1t is surprising how many people are
Just living in our cities who could live
i'm plenty in the country. SO many have
left the farm for the city that there is
not enough left to till the soil property.
thus the production of food has gradually
fallen off, while our population has stead
/ lily increased. II was not so many years
ago that the United States exported a
large amount of food stuffs annually, but
if the present condition continues, we
will have to import produce or the people
will go hungry, for there must be limit
somewhere. and | believe that these con-
ditions are largely responsible for the
high cost of living that we have heard so
much about for the past few months
There are some people who would be
dissatisfied with any kind of business
and I do not have much respect for a
/ man who is continually running down
the farm and still keeps at 1t. If | didn't
like the business | would quit 1t and do
something else.
Almost any business has a dark well
as a bright side and I would not wish
to go on record as saying that this is not
/ true OF farming, for l am well satisfied
the farmer is not getting all that he de-
serves, which is another cause for dis
content, but how to overcome them is
one Of the great problems for us to fig
ure out In the future.
There are several ways that ] would
suggest; we might employ foreign help
as have spoken of before or we might
own smaller farms, which one could man
age alone, or If more people would come
back from the city and occupy our aban-
doned farms 1t would help to solve the
problem. Only a few days ago a promi-
nent contractor and builder told me that
4 he was tired Of his business, and was
! going to get out on his farm and do some
farming. but said that he didn't know any
more about farming than a goose. For
the past few years we have heard Of
many similar cases, where business men
become tired and seek rest in the quiet
of the farm If they have been successful
in business and have the means to tide