The Monroe journal., 1915-07-16
WHY NOT BUY A FARM?

What VIII Happen Xhen Farmers
Take All the Live-at-Home Advice?
Correspondence of The Journal.
The land question which is coming
so rapidly TO the front during these
last few years. and is of the most
vital Importance of any question that
could be agitated is presenting itself
TO the average man in light that he
had not heretofore dreamed Of
II is beginning to occur TO the man
of ordinary means that its mighty
hard sailing on this turbulent sea.
and he's beginning to wonder
where such unbearable pressure is
coming from.
The old time politicians answer
that poverty and restitution comes
from downright state OF general no
aecountness and refusal on the part
of the effected TO work is no longer
taken at par. In fact. men of ordina-
~ intelligence knows that this is not
true TO any very great extent. Men.
women and even children 1.-THE latter
TO a shameful degreel have been I'M
ceasingly at work for all these years.
and the fact that the world is now
much richer than ever before, shows
us that the labor of this vast army
of workers has been bearing fruits
most bountifully, and yet, in the face
of these known facts, the cry of the
labor is heard on every hand. Give
US justice. and away with your
Wanted charity"
Now if these limitations are facts
tand we all know they arel there
must be a supreme cause somewhere.
and this supreme cause. We think. is
to be found in the present monopoli-
zation of natural resources the land
chat is, the forces of naturel is the
one of paramount importance and the
one on which hangs the nations
destiny. When We come to realize
that its as impossible for man to ex-
list without land as it is for a plant
to grow when disconnected from the
soil, we will mighty quick remedy
the cause that is very soon going to
start this nation to drying up just
like the disconnected plant dries up
when its roots are exposed to the
burning rays of summer sun But,
says some one. whats the matter?
Is not the land all here? Yes. certain
ly. but have the people access to it?
Not much, | aver. Then, what are
we going to do about it? The old
barborous method was to get up war,
kill OFF the excess of population and
make room for the ones left. VIII
that plan appeal to American civili-
cation today? Surely not. Then
there must be remedy. Are we look
ing for it? or are we going to just
letter rock? The indications are that
she won't rock much longer. OF
course the land monopolists don't see
il this way. He's in mighty good
shape he links, and If there is Sc
curtity in owning the earth he's right,
but If there's not he's wrong. What
do you think about IL? There is now
a great deal of agitation concerning
these very questions. They have got
to he answered by this generation
| The agricultural class is seeing more
and more the necessity of making the
farm self supporting. Those who
produce the nations wealth are wond-
ering more and more why they do not
possess any of II. All these musings
are going to result in an intelligent
understanding of the universal
troubles with which we are afflicted
and the case thus being diagnosed
will be ready for a remedy. Are you
going to be able to cast in your por-
ton of the compound? or are you
going to wait for somene else to dc
it?
When farmers begin to take the
scientific advice being given them
with regard to making all home sup
plies. then traffic in produce isgo-
ing to wonderfully diminish. When
the farmers buy little and sell little
then railroads can dispose of half OF
their trains. When railroads "cut
out" half their trains they will at the
same time LAY off" half of their men
When these conditions arise mer-
chants will dispense with half their
clerks and this process will work all
through the entire commercial world
This will turn loose in the country
something like half its labor force
who will be out of job. Then what
Oh! says some one, let them pull a
bell cord over a mule. Alright, that's
the point now. Where is he going to
start? Get out and hunt up place
My country. there's lots of farms,
yes. Yes but they belong to Bill Jones
or Tom Smith. and since there's such
an increased demand for land
brought about by the increased num-
Der wanting homes, rents have
been doubled and men can't get a
living out of it. Well then. let him
buy fam and quit paying rent Now
don't you know that wont do? II
rents double on account of demand,
won't the selling price (which is bas-
ed on prospective rental value }
double also? If land is already so
high that a man cant buy II and live
on 1t unless he has the money already
made, how In the name of all that is
reasonable can he buy II when it gets
twice as high as 1t is now?
But, says some one, we cant make
any more land and therefore, whats
the remedy?
Well now, you struck the key note.
We can not only not make any more
land. We have never made any yet.
When God made the land for his
creatures to live on, he thought He
had made enough. and there has al
ways been enough until the Nine
tenth Century when land sharks and
money grabbers began to bride gov