The Washington herald., 1918-02-13

WI tnln the next lew uhNS NOnSItss
is to be beseiged from all over the
agricultural section of the country
to give most critical attention TO two
problems of surprising Importance.
One problem is that OF price-fiXing,
and the other is farm labor.
Views of these problems are sum-
married. in statements quoted here
with The first is from an official
who has made a countrywide study
OF the food problem. II is the view
OF thousands of the farms best busi-
ness men and most farseelng pro-
ducers. The statement boiled down is:
THE policy of so controlling the
present crop that it creates a lack of
confidence in the minds of the pro-
ducers is not only a national but an
international peril.
This country will be wise TO take
warning, to realize that the inevita-
BILE end OF price fixing and food reg
ulatiOn of the European style is a
meal ticket and people standing wait
ing in line wasting more hours of
valuable time than their raIions are
worth. 1t involves countless officials,
masses of printing and stationery. in
terminable DELAYS, endless frauds,
wholesale forgeries and absolute de-
generaCy OF the people Of the COM
munity.
Germany has hlundered in food
control. Great Britain is now making
the same mistakes that Germany made
in the earlier part of the war; both
know they are in error. Must We re-
peat the hlUnders they have made to
prove that they are both now in their
right mind when they state that food
control is failuTe.''
This is very real condition To the
farmers of the nation. But il is no
less real than the problem Of farm
labor. Listen to the complaint COM
ing from the agricultural section
again-this time another man very
much in touch with actual conditions
saying something which finds general
Endorsement throughout the West.
William Stull says:
Il find that among the drafted.
the best young farmers and farm
labors-those of the highest value
to agriculture and who can serve
our country to a vastly better pur-
pose on the farm than in the ranks
are, by patriotism and pride. re-
strained from pleading exemptions.
On the other hand, it transpires
that the idlers. and those who work
only when forced bv necessity TO
do sO-thOse young men seeming tu
have everything, except the inclina-
tion and ability to direct and cX-
ercise their own efforts for the best
good of either selves, families or
communicative neither pride
nor scruples about claiming eXemp-
finnS These Of SIa =
ers" are defeating the real purpose
of these exemptions. viz, the better
ment of agriculture.
There are remedial steps which
Congress can take. 1t can either
repeal the price-fixing provisions OF
the food control law. with relation
to wheat and some of" the other
farm prOducts-or it can fix the
price of all products which the
farmer has to buy.
In the farm labor problem II
can provide, to some extent, for
the return of soldier farmers tC
their land. where they can be OF
vastly more aid to their country
than they can on the firing line.
1t is a big part of the battle
If we are to make the world safe
"hiSh w arc SOlHS " 40 we can
be assured. we must begin our ef-
fectiveness at home. Congress has
two PROBLEMS of vast Importance
here. Both will give ample ground
for endless debate. There is room
for discussion of months, but the
problem. all patriots hope, will be
settled long before that.
Some rather interesting reyela-
tions have been laid before the
members of Congress with respect
to the hitherto considered "Iowly
freight car" The facts are, ac-
cording to Bruce Crandall and some
of the car experts from Chicago
that railroad companies have made
big mistake in past years in hav-
ing too much of their freight trans
portation equipment of the kind that
takes long to unload. If the cars
had been constructed so that the
process of unloading could be done
in one half to one tenth the time
the roads of the nation would
have had use of thousands more
cars during the congestion period
Apparently there are an endless
number of details to be taken into
consideration when running roads
1t is to be hoped that whether the
ownership is private or public from