Evening star., 1917-01-29
DISTRIBUTION PLAN IS
URGED FOR FARMERS
David Lubin Says Adoption of Ger.
man System Would Help American
Producers and Consumers.
Correspondence of the Associated Press

| Correspondence of the Associated Press.
! ROME. January 14.-"The remedy
for the high cost of food in the United
states Is adoption by the national gov
ernment of scieutific plan for dis
posing of farm products" according to
David Lubin. the American representa-
Two to the international Institute OF
Agriculture here. and himself the
originator of the plan Of founding that
institution
The remedy was worked out by Ger
many many years ago. and all We have
TO do Is to adopt this remedy" he said.
The trouble with our present farming
conditions is that the middleman and
the speculator rather than the farmer
get the biggest profit from the sale of
farm products. This is shown by the
TACT that soon nearly so per cent of
the farms of our country will be mort
gagged or merely occupied on lease by
the soils cultivators.
Right here in Rome a long while
ago we had a striking example of
what poverty means to the farmer. In
the time of Emperor Tiberius Gracious,
Rome began to buy her food from
Africa instead of encouraging her
farmers The land rapidly passed then
from the hands of the cultivator of the
soil to other ownership, and the small
farmers ruin entailed that of the ma
ton.
america won't solve it's high cost of
1000 problem by putting the specula-
TORS IN Jail. We must make it impos-
sible for the speculator to operate by
strengthening the farmer The Ger
mans saw this many years ago, and
they worked out a welfare plan for the
farmer and thereby for the nation,
which resulted in placing SO per cent
OF the farms in the hands of the cul-
tivator.
The key to the plan of the Germans,
known as the Observation-Disclosures, is
that Of keeping the farmer informed
market, so that his distribution sys-
tenn is good, so that he knows what
ms products are worth. so that he
knows how to sell, and so that he
knows now to plant his crops.
How It Works in Germany.
"All of Germany is divided by prov
inces. and each province is kept in
formed of the others doings through a
central Office. Suppose there were too
many potatoes in the province of A,
with the result that prices We're low,
the farmers in this province would
make inquiries of the farmers organi-
Zat1on in a neighboring province, say
OF B, how it's supply stood. and so on
through several provinces until the
whole potato proposition was gone over.
and the potatoes shipped to the point
where the supply was least. In the
United States, at present, given the
condition of the province Of A, the
growers there merely continue to sell
their potatoes to the big city buyers
at whatever prices they choose to offer,
the farmers in Kentucky, say. being
unaware of the conditions in Ohio, or
at least inexactly informed.
THE German plan is valuable be-
cause it is farmers affair. All the
business Of information is carried on
through their own agents. and not by
outsiders. Their organization is rec
ognized by the government. All legis-
lation affecting agriculture must by
law first be submitted to a standing
central committee of the farmers. The
organization is entirely independent of
the department of agriculture, as 1t
should be, since no such department
can ever co-operates directly on mat
ters affecting prices and business.
Congress has already passed the
rural credits act. and this winter Con-
gress will also be called upon to con-
slider this German remedy for the high
cost of food. The rural credits act by
itself will not vastly benefit the farm
er unless he is further aided to get
equitable prices for his products by
the adoption of the other and COM
act. By this creation of an
official farmers organization. the farm
er will be turned into an efficient mer-
chant. and the people in California
food plentiful in New York state. be
able to buy that food at prices helpful
to the New York farmer and not pro-
hibitive to them"