Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-07
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
RACK TO THE LAND

To the Editor of the Telegruph:
The only solution that | can see
to the problem of the high cost of
living is the fulfilling of the slogan
Back to the land" | am n trucker
on IL small scale, living in a farm
ing district. | am engaged in the
pursuit of vegetable gardening, rails
ing poultry and marketing my wares.
l have studied the situation for some
time at home and away from home.
have covered the farming districts
OF three States, Pennsylvania, New
orll and New Jersey, and find that
the same conditions practically pre-
vail in each State.
The trend of the migrating pub
lie has been from the farm to the
city or town for years. The farm
ing sections are becoming depopu-
lated more every year, while the
cities and towns are increasing their
population by leaps and bounds.
What does this mean? 1T simply
means that the producers are becom-
in less all the time, while the con-
sumcrS of this produce are inCreas-
ing ut n wonderful pace. Now does
il take Il philosopher or a scientist
to figure out the cause for the high
cost of living.
acres of the very best land in the
three States mentioned which were
ten or fifteen years ago being well
farmed and truclled, simply lying
idle. These farms were short time
ago producing many hundreds of
| bushels and crowding the markets
to find Il sale for the same, while
now even the families that lived on
these farms. are now buying their
living in our markets. | Travelled
about twenty-five miles in one of our
! States through the best farming dis
trict and in this entire distance did
not see two well-kept up farms.
met travelling man in one of the
towns of the State and asked him
the cause of all this. He replied in
this fashion. well, | will tell you
the story. of my own family and
this will apply to the whole situa-
tion. was brought up on a farm
in the State. of New York. There
were three boys and two girls in
our family. Father and mother were
farmers all their lives. They were
very prosperous farmers and sent
many thousand bushels of grain,
vegetables and fruit to our city mar
kets. They were eager, however, to
give us children Il college education
and prepare us for some professional
life. Naturally the farm life was
not tempting to us after having a
taste of college and city life. What
was the resut?? We all left the
, farm and went to the city. Father
and mother stuck to the farm until
old age overlook them and they
died. Not one of us wanted to take
up the farm. We rented it for a
few years, but il went down in every
respect, so that to-day the buildings
are not fit any longer for habitation.
We rent it for a little more than
enough to pay the taxes to Il dairy
man who uses it along with a lot
of adjoining farms of the same kind
for grazing purposes"
| hope this will open the eyes of
all who read it to the real situation.
| have attended our Broad Street
Market for about thirty-five years
market to-day from that of other
years. l know the time when the
markets were crowded with goods to
the doors, and when farmers had
to go about seeking purchasers, but
now the farmer can hardly get n
chance to unpack his goods until
| he is crowded with buyers.
In those days the buyers would
linger until the time for market was
nearly over and then go in to buy
bargains, but now if the buyer does
not go early she cannot find any
thing that is worth carrying home.
You may talk about your trusts,
and your gougers, your middlemen,
your forestallers, your profiteers and
your boycotts, and your what nots.
You may find a remedy for all these
but you will never find a solution to
the high cost of living until you find
a way to send a lot of the consum-
ing city and town folks back to tn