Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-22
CONSIDERING THE FOOD PROBLEM

Cwritten Specially For The Bulletin.) Mir. Alfred Sykes, president of the Corn Belt Meat Producers associa- tion." has been talking to the senate committee on Agriculture. at Wash ington.
 According to, Mir Sykes. the coun- try's meat prospects are about as blue As any other. He told the committee that three quarters of the live stock in his part of the country was out of the market, for one reason because there weren't any cars to move it. Mean time, unable to sell. the farmers had to keep feeding expensive grain to maintain condition. Already, he knew of many who had lost as much as 8 hundred pounds on what they had fattens1; and the ratio of loss was rapidly increasing. Cattlemen were becoming discouraged. They could not find 8 profitable market. They could not get their stock to any market, if they did find one. They were met by government fixed price on wheat, which inevitably reacted by making the cost of corn, etc., higher and the cost of producing beef. greater. In neither of these commodities. how ever. was there any governmental in- reference to protect either producer or consumer. 't' Meat producers were going out of business, MT. Sykes told the commit tee, because they had to pay simply outrageous charges for feeding stuffs; because they couldn't get living pric- es for their cattle; and because they couldn't get cars to ship them in, no matter what old price they might be willing to take. .s 'Only patriotism keeps any of them l in business" said MT Sykes.
 MT. Sykes. speaking presumably for and in behalf of the associated farm CTS of the corn belt who are or late- ly have been engaged in producing beef, wants not less but more govern ment interference. He calls atten- tion to the alleged fact that the Food ! administration has no farmers on it, I though he says they tried to get rep ! resentation and failed. It is made up he gays, of men who have theories but lack experience. 'The govern ment is losing the confidence of the farmers" says MT. Sykes, because of this mishandling of the food prob lem. They feel that they ought to
 have some voice in the regulation of I tnelr own business"
 l They urge,". he went :. on, "a scheme of pr:te regulation that will embrace all commodities. They want regulation based on fair profit 
 That same day Mir. Sykes was argu. ing in, favor Of more government in.
 terference at Washington, President
 Schurrnan of Cornell University ad | Nf e. taking exactly the opposite view ol
 the question. "Our food problem" hs
 said. ''is simply one of augmented
 supply from enlarged production. That is, the problem means: How shall we so stimulate production a. to provide an augmented supply O. products? Not, he held, by price fix. ing. For price fixing leads to the op posite results. We have tried that ex pertinent with coal producers, and tn,
 result is heatless Mondays We hay,
 tried that experiement with the rail
 way companies and the re.ulI is !; paralysis of transportation. We hav'
 tried that experiment with wl<at, an, i've have sent the price of corn abov wheat, compelling the farmer to fee, 1 wheat to his poultry and animals ant
 discoura gfng him in the planting 0
 Winter wheat.
 "looes the government want to stim
 ulate agricultural production? Thel
 strike the shackies ok the farmer an
 leave him as free as other producers
 In the name of common sense, of jus tic,e and of patriotism make thi appeal to the president and congress Food will win the war. Give the farm CTS a fair chance to win il" 70
 So there you have it.
 'IFix the price of everything so a Ito assure everybody just a fair profit, llsay the stock raisers of the corn bel
 through their spokesman.
 Stop fixing the price of anything
 and thereby give the farmer fai
 chance," cries MT. Schurrnan.
 Don't you wish you were the gov iernment. and had to decide betwee
 just. such contradictory disputant
 every day in the week. and some It isn't by any means so simple problem as either one of these mutual ly opposed advocates tries to malS , out Take MT. Schurman's idea frs 5 Stop all interference with prices an l give the farmer fair chance,"r he sayt eGreat Scott! With the farmer on on l side, and the meat trust and the mill
 CTS combination and the market or ganizations and the unlimited million of Big Business on the other side, M
 Schurnan demands that all seHlblanc
 of protection for the farmer be with
 drawn. Tear down the fences, thro7
 away the guns, break the traps.'' is tn
 essence of his plea, land give the shee
 a fair chance against the wolves an
 foxes, and bears" No doubt tn
 wolves, etc, would vote this hig
 statesmanship. But do the shee | really want it?
 The trouble is that our business GU. toms, our laws, our whole system
 commercial life have all grown int la huge scheme for NOT giving u J farmer a flair chance" while oiuir