Norwich bulletin., 1917-04-14
THE FARMERS WORTH BRINGS HARDY
 RECOGNrTION
RECOSNIINN

aorn who knows no more what 3 south wind portends than he does of what low-nying swallows mean over | But the earsi- gambler may, if he is shrewd enough and dishonest enough of chance by sleight of hand trickery or other. frauds.
 games on the weather.
 The weather cards are always shuf- I ffed by his invisible opponent; always shuHled fairly and honestly; and he gets just what's coming to him.. He can't vary the precipitation by A mill meter nor the thsrm monefer pyia 2 q tenth .s, of a degree, no matter how sharp' nor how tricky nor how wise he may i be. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. indiscriminateiy. and the drought burns up the crops Of the
 wise or the foolish; regardless. | Until farmers gre % highly capital 1 ixed that they can afnord to cover: in their acres with hafl-prnuf glass roof ed greenhouses. and irrigate them only at will with rivers drawn from underground supplies by powerful lpumps.-urtil then, they've got to take | the weather as it comes and the sea
 They've got to continue their cus- tomary occupation of guessing and gambling guessing what the weather will be and gambling on what it will let them do; and Of taking the results with a grin or q groan, according to their fundamental make ups. We know afl this: always have known if, whether we've said it in go 1 be told the 4 B c of our business by even metropolitan" newspaper. l But it marks a stage of progress in the enlightenment of the civic popula- I ton when SO generally able a sheet as The New York Times. even in the midst of rather crotchety and inprac- ticable suggestions. ernits so many as | two sentences of primary and kinder gartenish truth about real farming One thing iss. perfectly clear from the most cursofy observation Of the | whole situation. That is that our ] friends Of the market places are wor- -ying. They are worrying oyer the future food-supply of this much boast ed land of abundance.
 They have, whether through isnor- ance or lazinesss or. greed matters lit tie, for years and years been adding to the farmers natural difficulties of tproductton araff1ciai olastructfons in the way of his traHFfc. When, by some combination of good luck and good
 
 crop, they have seen to 1t that his deserved profits have been taken from him by a system of commissions and tolls and freight rates and docfcage ers' profits and wholesalers profits and retailers profits and clerk hire and delivery costs and telephone costs, etc, etc, etc.
 on one side in his gins. the long necked and nany-heaced Charybdis 5natched all his deck-ioad, wherein consisted his possible profit. from the other side.
 And they grinned while doing it. He's nothing but a scaly l1ayseed. anyway" was the expression of their attitude, if not of their spoken words.
 Strictly limited and harshiy held down by his natural conditions. har- ried by these hounds of market avaric- iousness when by chance overcame his home enemies, his lot has not been a happy one in the immediate past.
 It is good if light is beginning to dawn over Egypt. It is good if his belittiers and detractors are beginning to discover his usefulness. They may yet attain unto so high a degree of good business to drive a. free horse to death. If they have to tighten their own wristbands a little in leaving, the constriction may perhaps hasten H.
 Sc far aa we professional. farmers are concerned in our practical work, I don't think we can bank too securely on any expectation of permanent re- formation in the treatment accorded us The furry fs probably temporary. When the devil was sick. the devil
 monk would be;
 When the devil got well, the devil
 yVannI, to
 When New York city gets hungry 1t 1niauws like a sick kitten or howls and ki-yis like a whipped dog. When struts and elbows its country. neigh bors out of the road,--or runs 'ern down with its high-power automobile. Just at present, it is sore because it has to pay dollar a peck for pota- toes and ten cents a pound for cabbage and six or eight dollars a busffel for onions; and twenty-five cents a pound for beans.
 at and denunciations of farmers are alike inadequate to lower these prices, 1t is now canniiy trying the. effect of soft soap and honeyed words. By of discovering that fully fifty per cent Of the overcharges it is now paying are to it's own honne-bred and home-dwe1i- ing sharks, through it's own incapackty or 1Uuss1iAn$AsSs 70 c1e1n us own house Of them and their allied 6epredators.
 In the meantime, what with the shutting off of imports and the short age of carried over stocks and the enormous increase of demand probable from a state of war, there is small danger of we eastern farmers over doing things and giutting the market
 Wefd all better try to raise as much as we can,-for our own sakes. The reasonable expectation Is that we shah continue to get good prices for any eafabies we have to sell.
 THE FARMER.