The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-10-14
more men, LESS TALK,
WANTED FROM CITIES
Farmers Get Lots Of Wind
but Few Hands Out
of Townfolk.
EXPERTS LAUCHABLE
Some of Ponderous Advice
Shows Ignorance of
Problems.
EXPERTS LAUCHABLE

The farmers say they are much
obliged for all the well meant advice
that is poured upon them from the
newspapers and magazines; but they
arc of the opinion that if they could
have all the men they want. they would
take good care of crop production
without the aid of these well-intcn-
toned mentors. Fully half farmers"
says w. w. Reynolds in leading arti-
Gle on "Thc Farmers Side in the
Rural New Yorker. understand their
business as well as any other class in
the world do theirs 1t is rather hard
or to learn farming. he thinks. than any
other occupation. Such being the case
he Is amused by most of the printed
advice that he reads. The trouble
with the farmer at present, he says,
Is not incfficjcncy, but scarcity of Ia
Dor. Our farms are worked today by
middle-aged and old men. Give us
mems cries this farmer. land we will
feed the world" They have, he says
the plant and the expert knowledge,
and they are willing to pay for help.
When will they get it? We read:
Advice From the City.
1T has always been amusing to read
nicely written articles by our advisors
and critics, but they are too serious
under the present distress. Herewith
Is q sample, out of n swivel chair, in n
trade paper: When the editor secs
farmers using two horses and a single
share pillow. instead Of u iX-horse team
with gang-plow turning three fur
rows. he knows that ignorance is cost
Ing the country dearly Another, by
Theodore II. Price in the Outlook Of
june u, oycrlooks that blowing and
, planting Ire the smallest part of the
work with a crop, and gives us a nice
ly written discussion of the tractor
turning three burrows, and the abso-
lutte necessity of it's adoption. With
that combination, at my age. l can
plant more than twelve men can care
Tor and sac at harvest, but where are
the men? We have the gang pillow
and the six horses all right, but nearly
all the work done on our 200 acres OF
productive soil is done with two or
three horse team. Mn. Price is in error
about u scarcity of horse power on the
farms. regardless of the numbe. sent to
Europe. There are idle work horses on
almost every farm nearly every day in
the year, and SO many of them that
there Is absolutely no market for any
thing but shippers. There is too much
motive power on the farms. because
there is no extra help to save crops.
"A city man considers the blowing
and planting of a whole farm. regard
less OF fertility or care of the yield
as efficiency. Does he know any man
ufacturer who partly finishes unlimited
material as preliminary for selling q
small output" We have a six horse
farm, and would gladly work full ca
pacity, but we work as it pays us best.
! was fortunate in saving my one boy
as farmer, but If Uncle Sam drafts
him, we have six horses to sell and
some other things. A tractor would be
about as much use to US for cult;vat-
ing corn and harvesting as a flying
machine.
Grain Rots in Field.
Our lesson has been learned. Grain
handled by incompetent help has rotteti.
husked fifty-scven corn shocks in
one row last fall. each and every one
down, and partly decayed, after | had
MADE tens of thousands earlier in life
none of which fell. The men who cut
and set them up had So per day for de-
Struction. and | ask what inducemcn,
Is there to plant more than We can
save? The advice of idealists and men
who think they understand farmine
viii do no good. Give us men, and
we will feed the world at even lowe,
prices than exist now. We want to d,
1t and haze the soil, the rolling stock
and the know how. and are not afrai,
10 pay the right kind of helpers. Ar
observation for boys and young men,
Iherc Will be no place in the worle
during the next generation where ;
family with the amount of land the,
themselves can handle will he so wei
H~eu as on a farm. The farmeI
starves last"