The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-08-18
SATURDAY. AUGUST 1s. 1917.
THE FARMERS DILEMMA.

1t is a real crisis that con-
fronts the farmers of North Da-
kota.
Temporarily they are without
any cash market for their grain,
and they face the possibility Of
that grain being ultimately COM
Wandered by the government
at a price that will leave a
majority of them no profit, and
none of them the surplus on
which they were counting to ex-
pand their operations next year.
The situation is known to most
readers Of The Forum, but a
brief statement of it is pertinent.
The food bill, recently passed by
Congress, gives the government
absolute control over grain, and
the right to commander it II
necessary at a price to be fixed
by it. The food administration
department has announced its
intention of stabilizing wheat
prices throughout the crop
year. A certain price is to be
fixed and maintained. That the
department has the power to do
, this, there is little doubt. Its
powers are almost unlimited,
for it can absolutely control ex-
ports. Owing to the long delay
by Congress in passing the bill,
the new system of marketing
/ wheat is not yet in operation.
The price fixing committee is
now in session, and nobody
knows what the price will be.
Meanwhile, the old system has
!. broken down completely for no
, elevator owner dares buy wheat
under such uncertain conditions.
!, He knows that next week the
!, government may announce a
price that may be twenty-five or
/, fifty cents a bushel under what
ihe paid, or possibly as much
over.
! The farmer therefore is con-
fronted with his threshing and
harvesting bills, and all the ac-
cumulated debts of his season s
operations, and no place to mar
] ket his wheat.
That situation in itself is an
iintolerable one, and if it con-
tinues for three or four weeks,
the condition of many of the
farmers will be deplorable.
But the real cause for worry
lis the price that will be fixed.
IFrom the way the prices have
been tumbling in the wheat mar
fkets during the last few days, it
is very evident that grain deal
GERS believe that the government
lprice will be somewhere in the
Sneighborhood of the So mark.
cOn the day that the food admin
Bistration announced its plans,
ewheat was selling at about So a
kbushel. Here is Consumption
of war profits with a venge-
oance, not just taxation of them.
cit is the logical application Of
sthe Socialistic buncombe that
has been fed to the farmers of
cthis state for the last year, but
lsit is applied in a way that the
oself styled farmers friends did
vriot foresee. 1t was to be "the
other fellow" who was to be hit
first.
= But this is not the time for re-
ordinations. 1t is the time for
Ithe farmers of the state to stand
together, and for the men who
have fought their battles and
sstood behind them since North
Dakota was a wilderness, to
come to their aid again. They
are doing it today in Fargo. The
ibusiness men Of the city took
the initiative and meeting was
FcaIled for this morning, the re-
port Of which viii be found in
another column.
y The problem resolves itself in
iIto one of just being fair. Presi-
dent Wilson's definition Of a
fair profit" should be applied.
Business, he said, should be al
lowed a profit that would permit
lac 10 continue, that would permit
Kit 10 pay good wages, that would
provide an incentive to expand
sko meet the growing needs Of a
nation at war, and that would
prpvide funds for that purpose.
Anything beyond that is unfair
the consumer, and the con-