Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1918-05-30
REDOIJBLE EFFORTS
FOR WINNING War
EDUCATIONAL DIRECTOR For
FOOD ADMtNIsT RATION ASKS
FOR INTENSIVE WORK.
METHODS OF PRICE FIXING
Patriotism of Tennessee Farmers APP
psaled to in Effort to Stimulate
Food Production During
Duration OF War.

! KnoXyille.-Before the East Tonnes
see farmers convention here last
week J, l. Finney educational director
of the United States Food Administra-
ton in Tennessee, made an earnest
and eloquent plea to the producers to
redouble their efforts for the winning
of the war. He discussed the relations
between the food administration and
the farmers, speaking in part as fol
lows:
The food administration has been
criticized because it has fixed the
prices of certain farm products, Whine
! at the same time making no effort -
| fix the prices of the implements and
| the tools and the labor that make up
| the cost of those products. 1t is a
| popular misconceptton to think of the
| food administration as primarily a
| price-fiXing institution. 1t is not.
| Only in the rarest instances has 1t
used the price-tiXlng power and then
only when, conditions over which it
had no control made the exercise of
this power imperative, il it were really
to perform its mission and render eff
fective service to a nation walking in
the valley of the shadow Of death.
Arbitrary price-fiXing is economically
unsound l do not think that state
ment will be seriously controverted.
In ordinary times, when men are per-
mitted to pursue their peaceful avo-
cations in life, the laws of supply and
demand provide the best method for
price determination. But this is an
extra ordinary time. Nothing is nor
NAL in war. Especially is that true in
democracy, instituted for peace, not
war We must for the common good
do many things that we would not toll
crate in times of peace. But with
the nation engaged in life-and-death
struggle for its existence, with nearly
half of the world on the cross, with
a Gethsemane in every home in the
land, surely, surely we cannot hest
tate to take any action necessary to
solve any problem merely because we
have no presidents.
| appreciate the fact that farming
involves factors that make II 1mpos-
sible to fix a fair and equitable profit,
and do not believe that any one will
insist that because farmer makes a
bumper crop this year of certain
product and sells it for an unusually
high price that his profits in all farm
ing operations can be fairly or justly
estimated over a period of years from
the returns that he received from
that one commodity. Take wheat, for
example. 1t is true that the govern
ment guarantee is higher than the
hu
cent, but he would be a short-sighted
individual who would argue that be-
cause of this fact the growers OF
wheat in Tennessee were on the
high road to wealth Even should
weather conditions continue favor
able and the farmers of Tennessee |
make an average wheat yield this
year. their profits would not be large. |
Everything that enters into the cost |
Of wheat has largely increased. That |
Is not all; last year the wheat crop |
of this state was almost a total fail |
ure. Hundreds and thousands of |
acres never saw reaper. The money |
loss was almost complete. That is |
often the case with the farmers crops. |
We hear much of the bumper corn |
crop of last year among the people of |
my section of the state and of the eX-
ceptionally high prices received for it, |
but not word about those awful |
drouths Of 1913, 1914 and 1915, when
our yield was less than half of the
average. The farmer battles with the
elements, he Is In constant combat |
with both the seen and the unseen
forces of nature, over which, at best,
he exercises but an Indifferent con-
troll His crop is constantly assailed
by insects and blights and rust and
drouth and floods and hail and winds
His is no royal road TO wealth or ease.
The price of wheat was fixed at
$3.50, not to bride the farmers of this
nation with dreams of wealth or tc
satiate their ayaricious appetites for
gain, but it was fixed at that price
because it was believed that it would
guarantee them protection against the
Spectator and would at least insure
them fair return for their expendi
ture of brain and Drawn and capital
While at the same time giving bread
the great staff of life, to the millions
of workers who are not producers OF
food. but whose efforts in the nations
behalf are absolutely essential to its
existence. The food administration has
sought 10 uedl larry anu justly 10 |
tween the farmers and the consumers
1t has denied and I repeat with all
the emphas at my command that the
farmers Of America ask no SPECIAL ia
vors of government; they would be
the first to bitterly resent the imputa
ton that they wanted to be favored
and petted class.
More than that. my friends, this wal
cannot be won without the wheat OF
the American farmer. 1t is Just as
essential to our victory in this awful
conflict a. Is the powder and the shot
and shell with which we are armine
the forces Of destruction. England
and France, VITO alone, without ouI
aid, for nearly three long and soul-try
ing years, kept burning the feeble
flame Of human liberty in Europ
would starve without the wheat from
American farms What they have they
must ultimately pay for. We hold
thair solemu Obligation for every bush. |