Omaha daily bee., 1919-03-23
Views amd Reviews
NeV Book By William StuN on
Farm Problems.

u
Crisis and Americanism," by a we'll known
Omaha man. William Stu. 1t is not fat or
pretentious volume nor is it encased in fancy
cover There is no frontispiece portrait of the
author and no pretenSe that the book answers
an irresistible popular demand The book On
reading proves to be just what anyone acquainted
with the writer would expect-an outspoken
discussion rejecting ideas of his own based on
long experience with farm conditions in the
middle west, wide observation and critical read
ing of history and current economic literature.
That must not be taken to mean that | agree
with all Mr.. Stulps assumptions or conclusions
he has always been and is a bear" on farm
ing-the farmer, in his view, is always getting
the worst of it. Compared with other elements
OF the community, money invested IN farming
is the least remuneratlve capital put out any
where and the future so unalluring that no one
will want to work farm hereafter unless some
thing is done at once to correct the deplorable
situation And he has the figures and statistics
to prove it to his own satisfaction-exhibits
showing how the mortgages on farm lands are
increasing year by year and never decreasing,
tables setting out that the farmer is getting less
wages for his work than the common laborer on
the streets, price quotations indicating that the
farmer is losing money on everything he sells
even at wartime levels. A few things are, of
course, overlooked, that might furnish Offset or
at least explain how we happen to have so many
rich farmers who started with nothing, and
why, despite constant complaining. the farmers
credit at the bank is gilt-edged beside that of
the wage worker or professional man. The lot
of the farmer can not possibly be so bad as
painted or there would not be so many of them.
What Mr.. Stull says in his book about the
Federal Land bank is characteristic of his fear
lessness in expoundng a deep-set conviction.
He does not believe that institution is based on
right principles or calculated to serve useful
purpose for The Betterment of Agriculture.
This is what he says about the method of enact
ing that important piece Of legislation:
When the question of establishing q new
national banking system was before congress,
the best bankers throughout the country were
taken into councils, as well as into the con-
fdence of our Lawmakers. Congressional
committees seemed always glad to receive sug-
gestions called in bankers of experience.
great and small, from all quarters of the
country. The council of these practical bust
ness men of experience in that particlar line
did more to bring about better banking sys-
tem-one which seems to respond to every
emergency-than any congressional commit
tee, without such efficient aid could have ever
secured. When the system was established
from among these bankrrs, and following their
counsel and in keeping with the consensus
of opinion of all bankers, men were selected
to organize, supervise and control it. In the
creation of the federal land bank system, none
of these steps were followed to any per-
ceptible extent. have never heard of a
man OF high standing large and long ex-
perlence IN the farm mortgage business, who
was called before the congressional commit
tee, or summoned to hearings held through
out the country ostensibly to gather informa-
ton as to its desirabiity or method of opera
ton. On the contrary, the men so called
seem to be selected from among those most
likely to favor the scheme, usually job-hunt
ing politicians, land boomers, or impecunious
farmers or renters, who desire greater credit
for themselves.
Naturally, Mr.. Stull espouses the cause OF
the farmer as against that of organized labor
insisting that the farmer is constantly the step
child of the official and public servant, while the
labor union is the favored member of the family
He believes that our Lawmakers for political
reasons listen to the proponent of labor and
turn deaf ear to the legitimate demands of the
tillers of the SOIL He overlooks wholly the
TACT that our laws are not all made in congress
but are also made by state legislatures, and
that we have in agricultural states like our own
legislatures completely dominated by farmers.
II the laws then give the farmer the worst of
it. it could be not in disregard of the farmer
class. but because they themselves disagree as
to what they, want. The truth is, however, that
our statute books are full of more laws in
tended to benefit the farmers than to benefit the
laborer. So far as the farmer is manual la
6orer, and Mr.. Stull puts stress on this aspect
OF his work, many of the labor laws should
operate to his relief. The chief difficulty in
diagnosing the farmers situation comes, l be-
lleve, from failure to see that the farmer is at
one and the same time himself capitalist and
laborer and has the conflicting interests of
both competing for ascendancy AS a la
borer earning hire on his farm and as mer-
chandler of its products, he has two different
reckonings to observe. That is his misfortune
and at the same time his salvation
Hz e.