The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1917-07-05
PAGE TWO
THE EXALTATION OF THE FAR
MER.

uS country IS D0luS swept ny al
frenzy Of praise, encouragement, and
exhortation for the farmer. Never
in all our history has anything been
seen or heard like it. Back Of all
this laudation and eXhortation from
congressman, governors, chambers
Of commerce, editors, etc, one can
not fail to see that there lies fear,
real fear, born Of the apprehension
that they in common with others,
Will have to face the pinch Of hun
ser.
We have vast country, for the
most part fertile and productive, we
have farming population Of more
than forty millions Of people, enough
under proper conditions to produce
food for 800 millions of people.
What then is the trouble? The real
trouble lies in the fact that all these
gentlemen now so abundant In APP
reals, written and spoken, have for
Fifty years utterly ignored the needs
Of the basic industry Of the world
with the result that we are paying
the penalty. Under governmental en-
c0urag cement, banking, commerce,
manufactures, and speculation have
had an abnormal growth such as the
WorId has not before seen.
Paper wealth has reached un-
dreamed Of figures, out Of all cor
yespondence with the intrinsic
wealth Of the country. All the bank
ing capital Of the country has been
1T the command Of the paper wealth
makers, leaving for the farmer no
method Of procuring working capital
in
individuals through mortgage brokers
and at excessive rates
Resulting from the inability to
procure capital at moderate rates,
farming as an occupation has become
Loss profitable than other occupa-
tons, and this has tremendously
weakened the business Of farming.
AS if this was not enough a horde
cf parasites have fastened themselves
On the farmer so that he gets but a
small part Of the ultimate value of
lis product The gentlemen, now so
deeply concerned, have not heretofore
had any concern for the farmers in
terest and now they see danger to
their own
The first concern of the American
people always should have been to
make farming the most attractive Of
al occupations by working out
methods that would have insured the
farmer fair profits. But they could
not see this. The dollar held too
lose to their own eyes so obscured
their vision that they were unable
TO grasp the fundamental truth that
the permanent prosperity of the
country is absolutely contingent upon
the prosperity of the farmer More
even than prosperity, life itself, is
IL the balance. If the cook should
Gle suddenly one might manage to
make some sort Of makeshift at cook
ing ones own dinner, but if the man
who furnishes the material to be
cooked drops dead, it is a bad out
look for a dinner.
Our wonderful national stupidity
has caused the controlling forces to
use the farmer as a field from which
10 draw great profits without doing
anything to maintain the fertility of
the field. Is it surprising that the
field is wearing out?
Now, consider briefly what another
country has done which long years
ago took the correct view of this
question.
Do not misunderstand me- am
not tinctured in the slightest degree
with any prO-German proclivities. I
am pro-American to the core, but L
am not too proud to take a lesson
even from an enemy.
Germany is a small country with