The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1917-05-04

ne eulIOT Oh Inc MeSSeIlStT DSllSNSe
that he has a reasonable amount OF
sympathy with the farmer; sympathy
with him in his toll, sympathy with
him in the unavoidable misfortunes
that come to him and sympathy with
him in his aspirations for fair remuner
alton. We believe we are qualified to
sympathize because we know from per-
sonal experience what farm work and
farm life is. But when congress is
asked to guarantee prosperity to the
farmer by an arbitrary fixation of
prices for the commodities he pro-
duces we are unqualifiedly against that
plan unless it is made to apply all down
the line and to all classes of products
and industry. The idea of guaranteeing
prosperity to single class of citizens
in an hour of national peril and of leav
ing! other classes unprotected and un-
provided for is monstrous. 1t is class
legislation. pure and simple, principle
to which the American people have al
ways, and with eminent common sense
and justice, been opposed. Moreover,
it is, as we believe, an unwarranted re-
Election upon the patriotism and indie
pendence of the farmer in that it in
sinuates he will not do his duty by him
self, his fellow men and his country UNI
less he is guaranteed a profit. Where
would our country look for the self
sacrifice necessary for its defense in
time of peril if this sordid principle
were held to constitute proper and
sufficiently elevated ideal for all classes
of citizens? To elucidate this argu-
ment, let us state that such legislation
has been proposed by the Michigan
Agricultural Development Association,
which numbers among its membership
some of the best known agriculturists
in the state. These men have urged
that the high prices of seeds spell ruin
for the farmer in the event of a large
crop and low prices during the present
season, but no one knows the fallacy Of
this argument better than the farmer
himself. With half the world at war,
or happily just emerging from war, be
our crops as large as they may, the de-
mand for them is sure to be immense
and no artificial value or arbitrary valu-
alton will need to be placed upon them.
This fact has been recognized by no
less parsonage that the president OF
the United States, who having at his
hand the best knowledge of the world
on the subject, in his proclamation to
the people on April 10, last, used this
language: mot only during this emer-
gency, but for some time after peace
shall have come, both our own people
and large proportion of the people of
Europe must rely upon the harvests in
America. The farmer is undeniably
the most important unit in society as
regards fundamentals; without his pro-
duce we surely could not live, but in
the complex organization which society
has now reached the men who make the
iron and steel. who manufacture the
leather and the fabrics that go into our
clothing, operate the means of trans
portation, and perform other multifar-
ious services to humanity are scarcely
less important, equally honorable and
equally deserving at the hands of the
And so, we say. if the
government assumes to fix the mini
mum price at which any commodities
shall be produced let it fix also the max
and let the schedule cover
every essential, whether produced on
the farm or in the factory. The great
mass of consumers in this country, the
men who go to fill its armies in time of
war and manufacture it's utilities in
times,of peace and their wives and child
rem are as worthy of paternalistic care
On the part of the government as any
other class. 1t it be proper to fix
minimum price at which the necessities
Of life may be procured, then. surely, it
must not only be proper but necessary
to fix a standard of wages sufficient to
insure the procuring of these necessities.
It seems to us that if the government
to interfere in this matter of
prices it might well expend its initial
effort upon those concerns which at this
time hold the vast bulk of the food
,tuffs of the nation upon a speculative
basis and which have for some months
been preying upon the people in de-
gree unparalleled in our history.
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