The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-12-26

1913 on Defenders. The report diff
fers in many essentials from those.
usually sent out from the department
of agriculture. Instead of merely
reviewing the agricultural situation,
many broad economic questions are
presented The secretary calls at
tention to the facts that heretofore
the department of agriculture has Of
necessity concerned itself mainly with
the problems of production. He
points out that these problems will be
most urgent for long time. In
creased tenancy, absentee ownership.
soils still depleted and exploited, in
adequate business methods, the rela-
tive failure to induce great ma
jority of farmers to apply existing
agricultural knowledge, asd the sug-
gestions of dependence on foreign
nations for food supplies warn us of
our shortcomings and incite us tor
additional efforts to increase produc-
ton.
The secretary says Their is no ground
for thinking we have yet approximate
ed the limit of our output from the
soil. AS a matter of fact we have
just begun to attack the problem.
We have not even reached the end of
the pioneering stage, and have only
in few localities developed condi-
tions where reasonably full returns
are secured. We have, however, un-
mistakably reached the period where
we must think and plan. He says
that as a nnantion we are suffering
the penalty Of too great ease of liv-
ing. It is not singular, therefore,
that we should find ourselves in our
present plight. Recklessness and
waste have been incident to our
breathless conquest, and we have had
our minds too exclusively directed to
the establishment of Industrial SUI
premacy in the keen race for COM
petition with foreign nations. We
have been so bent, on building up
great Industrial centers by every ma
tural and artificial device that we
have had little though for the very
foundations of our Industrial exist
ence.
Marketing
One chapter of the report is de-
voted to the subject of marketing.
The secretary points out that it is
now becoming clear that we must
definitely and aggressively approach
these newer and. relatively speaking,
urgent questions, and must direct
our attention to the broader econom-
ic problems of rural life.4 We have
suddenly been brought face 60 face
with the fact that in many directions
further production waits on better
methods of distribution, but that the
field of distribution presents prob
lens which raise in very grave ways
the simple issue of justice. That
under existing conditions the farmer
does not get what he should for his
product; that the consumer is re-
CURED to pay an unfair price; and
that unnecessary burdens are i'm
posed under existing systems of dis
tribution, there can be no question.
The various marketing projects are
outlined. These projects cover mar
keting surveys, methods and costs of
marketing, in Guiding available mar
ket supplies in given production ar
cas-; demand at consuming centers;
cold ad other storage systems; mar
keting systems and prices; and costs
Of wholesale and retail distribution
of farm products. There are studies
in transportation problems and elm
ination of wastes in transportation to
be prosecuted; study of city mar
keting and distribution, study of
city marketing nnnedys.. .nnxinh
grades, and finally cooperative pro-
duction and marketing must be in
vestigated. Special emphasis is laid
on the necessity for standardizing
agricultural products as prerequi-
site to proper marketing.
Speaking of cotton and the necessi-
ty for uniform standards. it is stated
that the adoption and application of
one uniform standard would result
in great simplification of all cotton
transactions, doing away with the
complex method of figuring buyers
limits. 1t would not be sufficient to
have uniform grades, but the grade
selected as the basis grade should be
the. same in all markets.
The point is made and emphasized
that in this work Of cooperative eff
fort equity and justice must be kept
in mind. Cooperation does not mean
an organization which shall attempt
to establish closed market and to
fix prices. We should condemn this
as strictly in one field of industry as
In any other. The aim should be an
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