Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-02

tempt at Invasion, and should that
contingency eventually arise we shall
be ready to meet it as never before.
Say what we will. and criticise as we
may, vast things for the defense of
the realm have been accomplished in
the past year. and much of it because
we have been called upon to provide
vast quantities of fighting materials
for the warning nations.
Let the Jingo rage or despair, as
suits his mood; the thoughtful citizen
will not be alarmed by his rawlings.
THE FARMER AND THE PUBLIC
TIME New York City Club got a
new angle on the food situation
when S. ]. Lowell, president of
the New York State Grange, told
them that the 120, 1000 farmers of New
York were going TO have something to
say about any system OF food adjust
ment, and that If New Workers wanted
things to eat. good food and more
food. # was time they admitted the
tiller of the soil into their councils.
He said that in view Of the constantly
decreasing number OF farms and the
increasing number of persons in New
York city who wanted to eat, it was
high time the farmer got some con-
sideration. and incidentally some more
money. Said he:
The members of the Housewives
League came up to Albany to talk
hon NlRs. IL
their bills for food were too high.
and each one of them wore more
jewels and furs than farmer
could buy for his wife il he sold his
farm and everything else he had.
The President of the United States
told the farmers. in talking of the
this happen again" The President
meant to say that the farmers were
not on to their jobs
But the President did not know
that about year ago we had some
very warm weather and many of
the fruit crops We're ruined by pre-
mature budding and that-caused the
shortage. The President of the
United states said that must never
happen again. II the President OF
the United States will tell me how
to heat up cold air and to cool off
hot air / Will guarantee that the
crops will be annual
The farmer works hard and gets
little. You have been talking
about putting embargoes on food.
on what we raise. What will that
mean? 1t Will mean that we will
stop growing food. We have learned
that we can now get more money
from half a crop than we can get
from a whole crop. And for your
sakes / say that is a bad lesson for
debt this year. The lot of the New
York farmer is getting to be a poor
one, You gu rich people pay ?. such . high
from us. and We can't cultivate our
acres.
Here we have two radical views
diametrically opposed and both biased
and unfair. as radical views are APT
to be. The Housewives League OF
I New York should know better than &c
| lay the present high prices at the door
of the farmer. To be sure, he takes
the best price for his products the
market affords, But nearly everybody
is doing that. Every man who tries
to get raise of pay IS endeavoring tc
advance the> price of his product
which is labor, That IS the natura
course of events It is to be expected
However, the farmer IS not to blame
for the prevailing high cost of vege.
tables and other farm wares. In most
cases middleman-possibly two OF
them-add their profits to the farmer.
| price, and the consumer pays the
freight.
On the other hand, the farmer who
could not make his farm pay last yeal
will never make money growing
things. Either he is no good as 6
farmer, his farm is badly located, ol
it is incapable of profitable cultiva,
ton, Instead of blaming the House
wives League for having money tC
spend he should look where the blame
really lies,
What is needed are better market
ing and distributing facilities, To G
large degree that would solve the
difficulty, but nothing will be gained
by farmers calling city people hare
names or by city folks calling the