The Washington herald., 1916-11-25
Seen and Heard
By George Miner

ocUESC NAinCh
New York, Noy. AIN all the
talk about the high cost of living the
farmer is rarely heard from. The
consumer and the middleman are the
fellows who are discussing il and
monopolizing the public prints with
their letters and interviews. These
expressions of opinion are all inter-
esting and doubtless correct from
the point of view of the author, but
few of them point out any remedy,
any way out.
Mr.. Horace Markley is one of the
largest and most experienced farmers
in the East. He has some decided
views on this cost of living question
that am glad to pass along.
Whenever this question comes
up" said he, "they always bring out
tine trite old snags of transportation,
distribution, middle men, cost OF ad-
vertising, expensive, up-to-date meth
DDS of handling in cans and cartons
and so on Sometimes the incompe-
tent farmer is blamed.
Almost all that is said on these
phases of the subject is nothing more
than lot of noise. 1t is the beating
of the tom-toms while the witch doc
tors of modern trade ply the harder
their profit sorceries.
1--WE cannot undertake to better the
transportation of food products until
we have a better understanding OF
what we are producing and why. 1t
has been a government policy for
half a century upon which billions OF
money have been spent, to boost pro-
duction on the farms. Whoop her
upl Let's have great, big bumper
cropsl Let us have more intensive
farming. Jam in and ram in all you
can plant; the country is hungry and
somehow big crops mean prosperity
for some one. That has been the
policy and slogan of those who by
some hook or crook, mostly crook,
assumed the agricultural leadership
of the country.
And how many billions of dollars
worth of bumper crops have been
raised and have rotted where they
grew and left a mortgage hanging
about the neck of the producer?
"And then comes up the question
of distribution. How wrong, how
inadequate, how wasteful it is! Fam
inc in one place and wanton waste
in anotherl People dying Of hunger
in crowded cities, producers hungry,
but in another way, because the pro-
duct of their toll rots before their
eyes. Such matters are stern facts.
When the bumper crop comes, the
cost of transportation and other fac
tors prohibit its proper distribution.
at is a crime to stimulate the TAR
mer to produce so abundantly that
he is poorer for his abundance.
"There is no necessity for the pre-
vailing high prices today on all the
food products that have risen so
abnormally. The cause exists in a
lack of knowledge as to actual crop
conditions, and in lack of any au-
thority to adjust prices and distribu-
ton alike in the interests of producer
and consumer.
"If it be right that government can
appoint a commission not only to
wise the acts of railroads, but also
have authority to determine if their
tariffs are fair and alter them if they
are moi, why is it not equally right
that a commission should have some
authority over our food supply? Let
this commission say that the price
of wheat of given quality must not
be less than a certain price because
the farmer cannot afford to produce
it for less. We know these facts OF
production today just as certainly as
we know the cost of carrying a ton
per mile.
"Why should not such an authority
also know and have jurisdiction over
the distribution of crops and the reg
ulation of price to prevent initiation!
81 believe that a large portion of
our farmers are ready for any ST. III
cooperative action. If it does not
come through an outward force of
the public at large, it will come
though deferred a little through the
farmers themselves. Then it will not
be so we'll for the consumer, because
the farmers will have created their
own authority by organization within
their ranks.
"In other words. my contention is
that the only remedy for the fluctuat-
ing, uncertain and ever rising cost OF
food products lies in establishing GER
tain fixed standards of quality, OF
weight and of price. Any price set
would not necessarily extend year
after year, but such values should be
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