Norwich bulletin., 1918-01-05
CLAM FARMER ARE -sa NOT TO BLAME

State Vegetable Growers ,Assoeation Say They. Are Not, the Cause of
 High Prices. l. Every. now and then during the past year, and especially frequently of late, some individual or group of individ- 1als, with an axe to gr;rd. break out in public speech, and usually intol newspaper prominence; ,proelaining fhac the farmers, or certain classes of farmers of the country are. the cause of the high cost of food, are. reaping spending much of their time running around the country in high priced au- tomohiles
 The executive committee of the Con- necticut Vegetable Geowers associ- ation; desires to emphatically dispute such statements or imputations, and to put before those in authority in our government and the public generally. a true statement of the agricultural con- ditions in Connecticut, which, no doubt are quite similar to those in most of | our western states. 2 It. wishes to au- nounce its endorsement. of the de- mand made last summer by the dairy men for the increased price of milk 1 production, and to deny that this has l resulted in unfair profits to the dairy | farnaee at the |entires expense of the middle -man and the consumer
 There is no class of men more loyal to our government in and out of it's times of unusual need, than are tf1 farmers of this and other states. No set of men in moderate means in any kind of occupation or business will continue to work or do business with mi 7t lA9 st nY-d Ty, the past the farmers more than any other class of men have been doing this. Today under, the unusual war conditions, they are. asked to grow certain crops when it oftens means a financial loss to them, and they can not and will not keep this up unless l they make enough on their operations as a whole to more than compensate.
 for their loss It is well for those in
 authority and the public in general, to 1 bear this in mind, else another year the food situation may grow worse rather than better through the failure | of growers to grow proftless crops. l s What is the situation that has faced ! the Connecticut vegetable grower the past year. and to- certain extent the
 fruit grower as well
 l First. He waseasked to increase his crop production falready adequate to l local market condition), which is of a l kind for which there is no foreign ex- portation to take care of the excess and thereby increase Or keep up the l price, and to- do this that we might ileSsen the consumption Of our ex- portable crops, grown elsewhere, which were sure of ungfutted market and a, profitable return.
 Second. He was brought in market competition with excessive production
 of similar crops grown elsewhere.
 Third. Local competition with him
 through individual, society, and fac
 tory gardens was encouraged to the
 utmost as a way for showing ones patriotism
 Icreased prices for his seeds, his fer tilizers and his machinery and hors-
 es, if he bought any. His artificial
 fertilizers in most cases lacked the ele- ! nlent of potash so essential to a full
 crop production.
 F'iftI, His labor situation was most
 unusual and critical. General farm
 labor is the lowest paid labor on the market. because there is thel least profit in farming of any business With greatly increased demand else. where the farmer was the one wht was short handed because he could , not psiS IIS ltlCTGdSGu CSulpct1tlN0 pIltt that resulted. Then, too. the draf took away labor that ought to hay,
 been available, and is threatening tt make more serious inroads in the. flu : ture. To meet this the farmer hat 2 to employ day laborers that come t hand occasionally, school boys. stu dents, women, criminals from the jails eolored people from the south, etc. l most of whom cost more and were les
 efficient than the trained laborers O
 previous years.
 g To meet these conditions he ras hat to market most of his early crops a :. little or no profit, and in some case at a loss. a Unusual ways of market ing the crops by road side stores ant . stands were devised Some crop were left go to seed to decrease tn l loss and relieve the glutted markets ;. and some few were plowed up. 2 certain grower fed his summer cab ! bage to his pigs as the most profit . able way of disposing Of his cror From midsummer on the condition
 were better, and helped pull the grow
 CTS through. It is safe to state tha
 no farmer became wealthy and mos
 of them were glad to close the sea n son with reasonably small prof
 or 10 break even.
 The farmer today is a better edu d c&ted man than was his father at tn : time of the Civil war. The agricul = tl,ra1 colleges and experiment station = and the U. $. Department of Agricul t ture have helped to bring this abou = Therefore he demands more benefit q for his work than formerly. Lik t the Japanese he has been +awakene e to the advantages of education an = progress, and like them he is going V get these either as an individual c
 through organization. What he want If of the government and the public a it present are:F e. 5.'t e First-A dependable. sufficient an s. profitable labor supplp. =
 $ Second--A market for his crop ths l. is fairly reliable, so that he. can dis - post of all he is asked to- produce. $ Third-A reasonable prodt so that f $ and his can. enjoy their. share of u, a advantages of modern civilization l. Fouyth--Ag place in the .politica II business. and social world conmensu ir rate with the Importance of h.s cal B ing.