The Holly chieftain., 1918-11-28

marketing and cropping. There are
only about six potato raising states
of importance. yet 1t il proposed
that these consume all the culls and
that only graded potatoes may be
moved to other states, an absurd
proposition that cuts off Chicago
and other heavy consuming centers
from Wisconsin and Minnesota and
the South that do not raise late
keeping potatoes from the North.
Potato grading often has been urg-
ed In this paper, but with the OBJ
ject that higher grade of potatoes
should increase supply not as an
arbitrary measure, and potatoes
must receive their final grading ut
those of production II the crop ia
to be economically used in cOun-
try where the potato growing area
is SO small and restricted In proper.
tiOn to the whole. We are not the
only country that has had the ridi.
culOus "eat no lamb and veal prop
aganda, and host of other fool.
ishness that has cut off the milk
supply. Therefore this Is not q
criticism of the methods of this
country, but q notation of the fact
that until farmers are fit to make
themselves felt, in no country can
farming be on an even keel with
other industry. A sufficient food
supply has always been the basic
necessity of the world, the one on
which all government and industry
rested, and without which allfailed
to opening of new lands, for 20
years led people to take food for
granted and to forget that it is the
major and indispensable industry
food will ever again be beyond our
needs, except for seasonal variation.
The labor unions have shown us,
even before the war, that some can
enforce demands for pay far beyond
what Others can accomplish, and
their power. broadly speaking, rests
on the basic necessity Of their work
and their power to arrest industry
A railroad strike carried out to the
ultimate would starve it's own as
well as nearly all other workers and
capitalists together.
If renters should set the price of
their services and product we
should have q situation more ana
lOgous to the railroad situation, or
one might go step further and
say If the workers without equip
ment did so, for the railroad man
brings nothing to his task but his
physical and mental ability. All
the plant that he operates is in
the hands of some other interest
Yet it is recognized that the owners
of railroads should not be ruined
or too much handicapped, that
apart from equity it would be a
bad policy to do SO, but there is
no such recognition Of the situa-
tiOn in which land owners, yeoman,
renter or the working man on the
farm may be placed. All effort ut
all times is simply that he should
produce more food. A very great
part of Germany's strength has lain
in the fact that she did not neglect
the agriculture and that the agra.
rian party were always strong
enough to insist that agriculture
should be regarded as basic and it's
cmoluments enable it to command
labor and capital in proportion to
its Importance. In all manufacture
ing countries the urban vote ex-
ceeds and is more concrete than
that from the country, but there is
disposition in parliaments to lis
ten to the other interest when it is
intelligently represented, and it is
most important to the nation that
the cities should see that their own
interest Is bound up with that of
their food producers that it is one
and indivisible. Steel and concrete
may take the place of lumber, pa
per of boards and cloth, but there
are very few changes that can he