Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1918-01-18


general public in America regarded
| the farmer as merely a machine to
| grow crops, and held that the duty
Of the government toward him was
done when it helped him to produce
| more abundantly. Gradually, how
ever, the government began to see
that the farmer is not only pro-
| ducer, but also a human being with
family, citizen of the republic,
for whom it is just as important to
get a fair share of the wealth he
creates as it is for any other man.
Gradually, the farmer came to see
that big crops often meant small
money returns. and that there were
things in the world which he ought
to have but could not obtain merely
by getting more crops out of the
ground.
The consuming public for years
blindly isunderstood the farmer, 1t
assumed that there would always be
bread and meat for the buying, and
was concerned with problems of dis
tribution and the price it paid. 1t
had little time to spare or thought
to give the man who feeds us all.
Then came the war and the sub
marine Suddenly it appeared that
food was the central question, and
that the answer lay with the Amer
| lean farmer and with him alone. The
| farmer began to get unwonted COM
| plime nts talk of his Importance took
| the place of fun at his expense;
speeches were made to him and about
him. even when no election was in
sight. But the consumer and the
| farmer were still wide apart.
Now, since our country and our
allies must have food, and since the
| farmer is the only man who can sup
ply the vast quantities required, is it
safe to ignore his real problems any
| longer? Since the world can not
have food unless the farmer can pro-
duce it and still support his wife and
family, would it not be wise to think
a little more about him?
The consuming public fairly un-
derstands lawyer, a doctor, a
brakeman, "a coal miner. and the
members of scores of other trades
and professions. But since our ma
ton ceased to live mainly on the
land it has never understood the
farmer
The farmer is a highly skilled
workman far more highly skilled
than any other man of equal pay. 1t
takes years to train a farmer, and
skilled farm labor therefore can not
be replaced by boys from a high
school or tramps from a sIum.
The farmer can not keep on grow
ing crops at a loss He must get
back for what he grows the cost of
production and a reasonable living
profit. And there must be no dis
elimination against him. If the
price of what the farmer sells must
be reduced, then the price of what he
buys must be reduced also in proper
ton.
The farmers is not responsible for
the high cost of living. Far less than
half Of what the consumer pays for
farm products goes to the farmer,
The rest is absorbed in transporta-
ton, trading, and the expenses of the
retailer.
The farmer is in fact a wage earn
er, although he may not seem to
work for wages, but he is also a bust
ness man. He must have credit on
such terms as will make it possible
for him to procure his supplies, grow
his crops, pay his interest and come
out whole.
The American farmer is the key
to the hearts desire of every true
American-the winning of this war.
| AS such, he, at least as much as any
other, deserves to have a voice in
the war councils of the nation. He
should be heard in deciding not only
the countless questions which con-
Germ food and the farmer in the con-
duct of the war, but in all the other
great problems of policy which
| spring out of ii or hang upon it. To-
day he has no voice and is not con-
suited. There is, so far as | know,
not a single genuine farmer in any
place of authority in Washington, in
the vast organization of the Council
of National Defense, the Food Ad-
| ministration, or the numerous other
special bodies which are running the
war.
The farmer is too important in
| this crisis of the world for miSun-