Omaha daily bee., 1917-01-27
ABSENTEE FARMER
is BANE OF NATION
Let Federal Government Dis
pose of Farm Products and
All Will Be Well.
so SAYS DAVID LUBIN

II correspondence nl nc AtNhilNlru ftfNS ,
Rome. Jan. o-"Thc remedy for
tho high cost OF food in the nitcd
States is adoption by tho national
government OF d scicutihc plan for
disposing OF farm products, accord
ing to David I.ubir, :hc american
representative to the International In
stitutc of Agriculture hcr2 and him
self the originator oi the plan OF
founding that institution
The remedy was worked out by
: Germany many years ago and all We
' have to do is TO adopt this remedy"
he said The trouble with our pres
cnt farming conditions is that the
middlcman and the Spccuator, rather
than the farmer. get the biggest profit
from tho sale Of farm products. This
is shown by the fact that soon nearly
50 per cent of the farms OF our coun-
try will be mortgaged or merely oc-
cupicd on lease by the soils cultiva-
tors.
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 Tihcrius
Gracious, Rome began to buy her
food from Africa instead of encour-
aging her farmers The land rapidly
passed then from the hands OF the
cultivator Of the soil to other own
ershp, and the small farmers ruin
entailcd that of the nation.
Jail No Remedy.
America won't solve its high cost
of food problem by putting the specu
lators in jail. We must make il I'M
possible for the spcculator to operate
by strengthening the farmer. The
Germans saw this many years ago,
and they worked out welfare plan
for the farmer, and thereby for the
nation, which resulted III placing 80
per cent of the farms in the hands
of the cutivator.
"rhc key to the plan OF the Ger
mans, known as the Landwirth-
schaftrat, is that of keeping the farm
er informed regarding the needs OF
the cities, of the market, so that his
distribution system is good, SO that
he knows what his products are
worth so that he knows how to sell
and so that he knows how to plant
his crops.
"All of Germany is divided by prov
inces, and each province is kept III
formed of the others doings through
central Office. Suppose there were
! too many potatoes in the province
of A, with the result that prices were
low, the farmers in this province
would make inquiries OF the farmers
organization in a neighboring prov
ince, say of B, how its 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 sup
| ply was least. In the United States,
at present, given the condition OF the
province OF A, the growers there
merely continue to sell their pota-
toes to the big city buyers at what
ever prices they choose to offer, the
, farmers in Kentucky, say, being una
ware of conditions in Ohio, or at
least inexactly informed.
Farmers Affair.
"The German plan is valuable be-
cause it is a farmers affair. All the
business of information is carried on
through their own agents, and not
by outsiders. Their organization is
recognized by the government. All
legislation affecting agriculture must
by law first be submitted to a stand
ing central committee of farmers The
organization is entirely independent
Of the Department of Agriculture, as
it should be, since no such department
can ever cooperate 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