The Johnson City comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1916-1917, 1916-11-30
HIGH COST
OF LIVING
RISING PRICES OF PROJECTS
DUE TO POOR CROPS, ASSERTS
GRANGE
FARMERS NOT TO BLAME
D$CLARES EMBARGOES SHOULD
BIS PLAC$D on MANUFACTURE
ED GOODS.

BIS PLAC$D on MANUFACTURE
ED GOODS.
Washington, Nov. 2G.-In defense
of the farmer, the National Grange
in annual session here, issued a stete-
ment tonight analyzing the high cost
of living and attributing the rising
prices of farm products to poor crops
and the increasing cost Of what the
farmer has to buy.
If any embargoes are to be placed
to help the situation, the statement
says, they should be on manufactured
products, particularly munitions of
war. Prohibition of gambling in food
stugs and provisions of mere storage
houses under control of the farmers
themselves also are suggested.
Statements Issued.
Following is the statement, drafted
by a special committee under in
structions from the grange.
There has been considerable agi-
tatiOn in the newspapers and maga-
zines throughout the country in re-
gard to the high cost of living, and
many untrue and unjustfable state
ments have been made with reference
to the responsibility of the farmer
in regard to the matter.
"Therefore in order that the COM
suming public may have some of the
facts pertaining thereto, your COM
mittee submits the following state
ment:
In many countries with cheap la
Dor and high priced lands the yield
per acre exceeds that of the United
States. The American farmer, with
cheap lands and high-priced labor
produces many times as much per
man as does the farmer Of any coun-
try in the world.
Causes OF Crop Shortage ,,.--.
"Thc high price of farm products
is due to several causes. Some Of
the more important ones are: The
climatic conditions of this country
during the past year were perhaps
one of the leading causes of crop
shortage. A long cold, wet spring
followed by very hot, dry weather
extended over a larger area ef c0un-
try than usually the case, reduced
acreage and yield to a more marked
degree than has been the case for
any previous year. For example, the
wheat in the Northwest was a crop
failure; the corn crop was in many
sections a partial failure, as well as
the potato and vegetable crops.
1T must born in mind that the
high prices have struck the farmer in
whatever he buys as much as it has
the city consumer. Farm labor is
scarcer and higher than ever before
in this country. Everything the
farmer buys, whether machinery, fer
tilizer, fencing, clothing or the ncces-
saries of life, having increased in pric
by leaps and bounds. This is also
true of taxation, the increase being
in many sections SO per cent, or
more during the last five years.
"Tn former days everything the
farmer needed was produced on his
farm or in his immediate neighbor-
hood. This is all changed and the
farmer of today is the largest con-
sumer of manufactured produsts,
even in too many cases buying his
meats and flour
Method OF Living Raped
"Our city cousins have changed ther
method of living quite as much us we
have. Instead of buying in quantities
as formery. they live in cramped
quarters with kitchenette 6xS and
buy in very small quantities or live
out Of cartoons and cans, and many
cases with little regard to home eco
HOitltS. W Ill ll4io Nstil bN #AbuHlNN'
expensive methods of distribution
which is not the fault of the farmer
"The fact that nearly one-half ol
the civilized world has left the field
of production and entered upon the
work of destruction has increased
demand for all kinds of products and
goods. We believe that prces Will be
high for several years, specially fol
manufactured goods. AS to th'
products of the farm, the fixing o
prices is mainly by the law Of supply
and demand in the markets of tn,
world. The farmer competes Will
the cheapest paid labor on earth
When he sells some of his products
as he did few years ago, at lss than
cost, he gets no redress, no reduction
in taxes nor in anything he buys, an,
ii would be very unfair that when h
is getting a fair price for some of hi
products to place an embargo ol
what he produces to lower the prie
and ultimately reduce the supply. S
that an embargo on wheat andi othe
cerals would in tn long run mean de