The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1917-08-10
RUSSELL TALKS ON FOOD LAW

proper thing at the right time when
the occasion demands. A few days
ago when the food control bill was up
for consideration in the House, Mr..
Russell made the following remarks,
which are of great interest to his
many friends throughout this State, a
very large number of whom already
have him picked as Governor to lead
the Democracy to victory in 1920:
The so-called food-control bill is
now pending before conference COM
mittee composed of members of the
committee on agriculture of the House
and the Senate. / regret that the
parliamentary situation was such
that | was not permitted to discuss
the provisions of this bill, or of the
Senate amendments to it, before it
was so referred; but as | was not per-
mitted to do so then, i desire now,
with the permission of the House, to
briefly discuss one of the Senate
amendments.
-, The primary purposes Of this bill as
applied to food were, as | understand,
first, to stimulate and to increase the
production Of wheat; second, to fur
nish consumers of this and the allied
countries food at reasonable price.
There are some who seem to think
that the purposes of the bill were,
first, to urge farmers to produce large
crops of wheat, and second, to PEN
/alize them for complying with the re-
quest. The first essential recognized
and contemplated by the proposed leg
islation was to encourage next year
the production of large crop. To do
that you must all know that the wheat
farmers of the country will expect to
be assured that they will be able to
sell their wheat at fair if not a re-
munerative price; that is, at or above
the cost CT raising it.
] have had some considerable ex
perieBce as a wheat farmer and know
something of the cost of its produc-
ton. / know that some years ago |
have raised and sold wheat as less
than 81 per bushel at fair profit,
but know equally as well that it cannot
be done now. The cost of everything
that goes into the production Of wheat
is much higher than few years ago,
and the price of some of them, includ-
ing land, seed. and labor, have more
than doubled in price.
Representative Quin-Taking into
consideration the value of the land,
the farmers implements, and the
high overhead charges, what does it
cost to raise a bushel of wheat?
Mr.. Russell-In my opinion, not
less than S1.75 per bushel. Mr.. W.
L. Nelson, secretary of the Missouri
State Board of Agriculture, has made
a careful Investigations the cost of
raising the present crop of wheat in
that State, and says that it was more
than S1.75 per bushel. In this estimate
he values the land at $75 per acre,
while l personally know that a great
majority of the land in my district
upon which wheat was gro Vn is worth
in cash an average of more than 500
per acre, which, at 6 per cent on the
increased valuation of the land above
Mr.. Nelson's estimate, would increase
the cost price of the wheat 10 cents
per bushel and thus raise the esti-
mate to S1.85 per bushel. Some in
sist that the minimum price fixed by
the present bill of So per bushel is I'M
reasonable in amount, and to those
who so contend permit me to call their
attention to the fact that wheat
shipped from my district sold in the
st. Louis market on last Saturday at
$2.43 per bushel, and in the face of
the passage of this bill, that had al
ready resulted in lowering the market
price of wheat throughout the coun-
try and in the midst of large deliv-
cries of the present crop of wheat
from the South and Southwest.
Representative Bohrer-I would
like for my colleague to state from
Lis own knowledge, whether he thinks
it has ever cost S1.75 a bushel to
raise wheat?
Mr.. RUSSELL do, on land worth
500 to S125 per acre and at the pres
ent high prices of food, feed, labor and
all farm machinery.
Representative Smith of Idaho
Are not the farmers being treated
fairly when we place in the food bill
a minimum price Of So bushel for
wheat?
Mr.. Russell-Yes, think SO; but we
do not know but that provision will
be in this bill when it passes the
House, and that is the very thing /
am now talking about. | believe it
ought to be retained, and hope when
the conference committee reports it
back to the House that their report
will retain the amendment placed in
this bill in the Senate, which provides
for a minimum price for wheat until
the LIST day of July, 1919, at 81 per
bushel. That is the very thing | think
ought to be done, and / think it will
be unfair and discourage the produc-
ton of wheat next year unless we have
in it some assurance of that kind.
Representative Morgan.-I ask the
gentleman if he does not believe the
men here representing the wheat
farmers ought to refuse to vote for
the bill unless that provision of 81
as minimum price for wheat is re-
tanned in the bill?
Mr.. Russell-Every man must
Judge that for himself. AS far as /
am concerned, I think / will vote for
the bill whether that provision is re-
tanned in it or not. / have great con-
fidence in the President of the United
States, and | believe that he will have
something to do with the naming of